Giving Compass' Take:

• This op-ed on The 74 from Robin Lake, the director of the Center on Reinventing Public Education, talks about how putting labels on so-called "education reformers" is counterproductive to improving schools.

• The upshot is that we need to talk about what's best for our system without getting into preconceived notions on who is a reformer and who is not. The underlying issues will always need addressing — we need evidence-based practices.

• We also need more standards of accountability, which this article explores.

Don’t call me an education reformer. I’m not interested in debating reformers’ beliefs, who is a reformer or who is not. I’m not interested in responding to blanket accusations about reformers’ intentions, or joining forces with the think-tank types who wish to defend them.

This might seem odd coming from someone who leads an organization that for 25 years has studied the need for systemic reform of American public education. But I’m done talking about reformers. I want to engage with real ideas and real people, not labels and groupthink.

Here’s why. I have no idea what the term means anymore. Who is not a reformer? Are nonreformers people who believe that we can get dramatically different results by standing pat, doing things largely the same way, without any structural or policy changes in public education? If so, I have little to discuss with them.

More often, I meet people who believe it is necessary to rethink those policies and structures.

But to imply that they are some monolithic group of reformers is ridiculous and plays into the desired stand-patter narrative that the demand for structural changes is driven by some elite, out-of-touch, anti-teacher group.

Read the full article about why the "school reformer" label is misplaced by Robin Lake at The 74.