Innovation is not always innovative

How do you define innovation? Does it always have a positive connotation?

Part of the problem with getting money to begin "innovations" is that those who give money want data and evidence, and many innovations are not quantifiable because they are, by definition, something that has not been done before. And certainly not all of them are good ideas. As Arthur Camins points out in this article, many innovations in education policy deal with assessments, which are not necessarily innovative, or even good.

So how do we know which innovations are worth the money? Even The Common Core, which has costs much time and money to implement, is an innovation, and although it has merits, it has garnered much criticism as well. In fact, many states don't want to go anywhere near this so-called innovation.

I believe that part of the problem with both teaching and policy is that you need to experiment to see what works. That's what innovation is. But you also need to be able to step away and say something didn't work. I think that's the part that so many policy makers are afraid of, but they can be models for students and learn from their mistakes. That is probably the most important lesson that students (and teachers) can learn.