When NewSchools Venture Fund CEO Ted Mitchell spoke about what he would do if he had a magic wand to transform public education, he said he would change the way students are assessed and the way teachers teach.
“My wand would wave over the current structuring of the progress that kids make through school, and I would make it all based on the mastery of concepts and courses, not on seat time or quarters or semesters,” Mitchell said at a 2010 Google forum titled “Innovation in Education: The Next Generation of Education Entrepreneurship.”
He also spoke about the need to “reconceptualize what we think of as the role of the teacher” and create a pipeline of “the most talented people” into education, find ways to assess them and help them “grow as professionals” but “exit them” if it “isn’t working out.”
These are the views of a venture capitalist who is set to become the next undersecretary at the U.S. Department of Education, pending confirmation in the U.S. Senate.
Observers say Mitchell’s appointment signifies how the Obama Administration plans to continue its support for nontraditional forms of education and reform of the way the nation’s teachers are prepared.
“If some in the traditional education sector hoped for a moderation of the moves toward nontraditional providers and educational technologies, they’ll be disappointed,” said Jeffrey Henig, an education and political science professor who chairs the Department of Education Policy & Social Analysis at Teachers College, Columbia University.
“I expect more of the same, perhaps delivered with a more openly articulated sense of vision and rationale,” he said.
