Profound vicarious experiences

I agree with you that it is a problem. My point is with quality leaders, like you, who are looking to the future and have confidence they can influence it, vicarious  can be created. I think that the authors of the book make an excellent point in the story of the factory workers going over seas.  We need to invest in our teachers and let them know that although they may think they are doing all that can be done, there are those in other schools who are faced with the same issues and are successful. The Successful Practices Network hosts a Model Schools Conference each year and it is well worth the money to take some of your staff. The key is to take not only those who are already enthusiastic and progressive, but take a few of the less than optimistic as well.  I also advocate for sending your teachers to view another teacher in action. This can be in your own school building or it can be at another school nearby. I ussually sub for the teacher making the visit so it doesn't even cost the district anything, but just means I have a little more work to do outside of the normal school day. This practice also allows me to get back into the classroom and provides me an opportunity to show the kids and the staff that I am still a teacher, despite the fact that I am not in a classroom everyday.

We have our challenges and you are correct that many have not been met despite our knowing what they are for some time. I wonder at times how many administrators have given copies of Breaking Ranks II to board members to get them to support needed changes in our schools. I know there are some of our administrators here in our state who don't even have their own copy. Nor would they be familiar with many of the book references made by our group in recent posts.

I have been thinking about how to create Profound Vicarious Experiences for teachers. I agree with Skip about the basic structure of schools not being ideal for them to occur. I wonder if we need to turn our attention, or at least part of it to educating the legislators. They continue to try to legislate improvement, when in reality their new laws ussually tend to restrict our ability to make needed changes. I would guess that very few policy makers are involved in conversations like the ones we are having here. I also regret to point out that our teacher preparation programs are not preparing new members of our profession to teach to the future. How many professors in these programs are looking to the future and how many are providing a historical perspective of our professio? How many are even familiar with what skills will be needed in the 21st century?  I would suggest that to truly effect change in the k-12 system, some very significant changes need to be made at the university level first.