And the state has traditionally held education in low esteem. The barriers are about politics and organization, about bureaucracy and reporting lines and money. What they are not about, Hinson notes, is children or teachers or learning. It doesn t say that teachers aren t doing the right thing, or that kids are misbehaving, or that principals don t know what they re doing. It says that we ve got to address our community as an environment for a school just as much as we ve got to address the school.
Trouble is, no one knew quite where to start.
Traditional school improvement programs have been cookie-cutter approaches targeted toward administrators and leadership training, and few have worked. Enter the Louisiana Alliance for Education Reform, established in 1992-93 at Tulane and initially funded by Shell with the goal of devising a means of reforming Louisiana public education in a way that works. All Rights Reserved.