We will continue to chase rainbows unless we recognize that they are rainbows and there is no pot of gold at the end of them

Congress and state legislatures should not tell teachers how to teach, any more than they should tell surgeons how to perform operations.

Accountability makes no sense when it undermines the larger goals of education.

One of the persistent ironies of reform is the impossibility of predicting the full consequences of change.

What should we think of someone who never admits error, never entertains doubt but adheres unflinchingly to the same ideas all his life, regardless of new evidence? Doubt and skepticism are signs of rationality. When we are too certain of our opinions, we run the risk of ignoring any evidence that conflicts with our views. It is doubt that shows we are still thinking, still willing to reexamine hardened beliefs when confronted with new facts and new evidence.

The greatest obstacle to those who hope to reform American education is complacency.

In DC, policymakers think that if we can only have high enough standards, tough enough tests, and hold people accountable, we can close the achievement gap. And it hasn't happened. Yet the new law, the Every Student Succeeds Act, is based on the same test-based and market-driven framework and ideology, except it lets the states do it.