On December 30, 2014, Former Secretary of Education John King, posted the following on Twitter:

What if every district committed both to identifying what made their 5 best schools successful & providing those opps (opportunities) to all their students?

Teachers across the country responded.  He most likely did not get the response he had hoped to see.  Here are some of the responses:

‪#Whatif kindergarten children got to spend 90 minute blocks in the forest instead of 90 minute reading blocks?

‪#Whatif‪ teachers were respected rather than disparaged by this country’s wealthy and elite

‪#Whatif‪ we said it is OK for kids to paint instead of taking tests used to evaluate their teachers?

#Whatif children got their lives back, their joy of discovery and a safe place to learn to think critically? Play is real.

‪#WhatIf‪ every family & student boycotted @arneduncan’s high-stakes testing & we moved to a well-rounded education w/authentic assessment.

‪#WhatIf‪ the DOE committed both to identifying what made their 5 worst reform initiatives failures & removing them from schools?

‪#WhatIf‪ the parents of my students were paid a living wage which enabled them to provide their children with adequate nutrition?

‪#WhatIf‪ my ESL classroom wasn’t a converted office with a dry erase sticker instead of a board?

Source: Washington Post

Anyone who has spent serious time with children in any classroom in America knows that a Twitter solution to the complex operation of public schooling is ridiculous and preposterous. 

Schools, where all of the children in the school have extended opportunities for learning, play, and socialization, are successful schools. 

When a school includes experimentation that is focused on students discovering information for themselves, it is a successful school. 

When students are provided endless opportunities to make mistakes and even more opportunities to learn from mistakes, they learn and grow. 

Schools that include positive social connections, individual support to develop and grow, experimentation with various solutions, and authentic discovery are successful places to learn.

When mistakes are celebrated and that response is deeply embedded in the school experience, it leads to success for students. 

I have worked in several schools that do those things.  They are places of deep learning.

I also know what it is like to be disparaged as an educator by people who do not understand, nor care to unpack, the goals of a teacher, a classroom, or a school. 

That is a recipe for failure.