Innovation In Education: Why Results Should Lead The Way

In today’s educational landscape, I'd say the word "innovation" has become a little overused.  Like any popular “buzzword”, it began with good intentions and great potential. Words like rigor, growth mindset, grit, and student agency have experienced a similar trajectory and fate. All went from new idea with great momentum to buzzword to diluted understanding and implementation, leading them to fall short of their original potential. This is the current trajectory of “innovation”.

The problem is, we can't hide from it and honestly, we shouldn't. In fact, we need to be good at it. It isn't an unfamiliar concept, after all. Innovation simply means adopting novel practices that have a positive effect.  Sometimes these new practices are more efficient, but they should always produce better results.  The last part of that sentence - “should always produce better results” - is where the trouble lies.

Why? Without a focus on results, we can easily lose our way. Innovation requires creativity, and creativity can produce allure.  Innovative experiences can be intoxicating for us as educators. They may look fun for students, seem engaging and exciting, and just “feel right”. They make us feel good about what we are doing and students may enjoy them, as well.

The results, however, tell the true story. If the innovation isn't producing better results, we have lost our way. Truthfully, it can be a dangerous path. Innovating without results is just experimenting, and our students will pay the price by being less prepared for a successful future. 

What Are The Results?

This begs the question: “What are the results we should be looking for?” Well, I'd say our ultimate goal is to prepare students with both the content knowledge and skills (professional and personal) they need in order to be highly successful in their lives after they leave us. That's why we all come to work each day.

Content knowledge is the information that successful adults need to have at their disposal for future tasks and problem-solving. The content knowledge students need is clearly defined in our standards for each subject. Skills, on the other hand, come from two different places. Along with content knowledge, some skills are defined in the standards. Things like multiplication, reading comprehension, and citizenship are skills that come right out of the standards. To achieve the results we are looking for, students should be able to show mastery of the content knowledge and skills defined in their grade-level standards before they graduate.

The second set of skills are those that don't come from standards, but are evident among successful adults. Skills such as the ability to collaborate, think critically, persevere, and take initiative come to mind.  Many districts have created "Portrait of a Learner" or "Profile of a Graduate" graphics that outline these skills, as well as dispositions that successful adults possess. Important dispositions such as "mathematical practices" and "interdisciplinary reading practices" also show up in the standards. In addition to content knowledge and skills from the standards, these skills and dispositions are crucial and must also be part of the “results” that we desire for our students.  

What Should Districts Do?

With this in mind, districts should first determine how they are teaching and monitoring mastery of standards and skills before exploring new, innovative practices.  If there isn’t a way to monitor the skills and content mastery level of every student, one needs to be put in place immediately. It is ineffective to identify the desired results, but not have a valid way to ensure that they are taught and to monitor the mastery level of students. 

After monitoring is in place, the district should look at the current results to determine how well the students are mastering the content and skills.  "What do the results say (in terms of student learning) about what we are doing right now?" When the district can answer this question, it is ready to responsibly innovate.

Borrow With Caution

Where do our innovative ideas come from? There’s a saying that goes something like “there are no new ideas.”  While I don’t think that is universally accurate, it is true that lots of ideas already exist and have been tried. Many times, we borrow innovative ideas from others.  In education, we look at other schools or districts that are doing innovative things and copy them. This is fine. There’s no reason to “reinvent the wheel” if there’s something we can do to help our students.  But be careful.

When considering the innovative idea of another school or district, pay attention what level of success the school and district is experiencing across the board. Districts who do things well, in general, tend to be the best at implementing innovative ideas.  If you are about to steal an innovative idea from a school that performs at a low or mediocre rate in some areas, take caution. You need to be careful before you copy their innovation.

Instead, try to emulate innovative practices from schools or districts that have good results in many areas. They don’t have to be perfect, but those organizations who do many things well tend to also do innovation well.  

Also (doubling back to previous points), be certain that the innovative idea is producing results in the school or district. Then, try to predict how likely it is that it will produce better results in our school or district if you implement it. Don’t get caught up in the way it looks or makes you feel - focus on the results that the innovation is actually producing.

Handle (And Innovate) With Care

In education, we are responsible for every community member’s most precious possession - their child. Whether it's a new instructional practice, a deeper learning experience, innovation through technology or AI, or some other idea, we affect each student’s learning experience whenever we innovate. Quite simply, innovation changes what it looks and feels like to be a student - and this can be a wonderful thing. It’s challenging, creative, and it literally changes the world. But in education, it's important to remember that our attempts at innovation can have a long-lasting impact on children’s lives.  It’s up to us to innovate responsibly.