I’m often struck, after all, by just how massive the divide between educators and education reformers has become. I think both sides bear some of the blame for this, and that both can do much more to bridge it.

The real problem is that we have a world of education reform so fueled by passion—and a vision of how things should be—that there can be little patience for frustrating questions and inconvenient concerns.

But doing so recognizes that we’ve created a world where it’s hard to have the discussions that can help bridge that divide. Accomplished educators tell me they’re frequently afraid to utter simple truths: that dramatic increases in test scores or graduation rates can indicate fraud as well as excellence. That efforts to “reform” school discipline by reducing punishment can make schools less safe. That too many parents aren’t doing their part to ensure that their children succeed in school. That evaluation and training can amount to little more than a mindless distraction. And that many policies governing accountability, school improvement, and teacher evaluation are often goofily designed and ultimately destructive.

Read the full article about school reform by Frederick M. Hess at American Enterprise Institute.