In education, our research and development ("R&D") systems are curriculum development and professional development. These are the primary systems we utilize to improve instruction, and these systems are traditionally hierarchical and organized around school or district boundaries. We rely on top down policies and approaches such as standards and state-level assessments to influence the improvement of these systems even though there is significant lag time, often several years, between the development of standards and the implementation of their related assessments.

From one of the comments: "Go Vermont!! I've always said there are 49 states...and then there's Vermont! They're such independent thinkers.  They care and watch out for everyone, including children...and teachers. And have 2 great senators to boot. My daughter's certified to teach there; maybe she should move for her sanity."

This work was developed over a two-year period by the Vermont Superintendents Association to define a quality education - see the attachment at the bottom of the page. The work is a synthesis of Vermont progressive education thinking mapped to a contemporary design blueprint.  It is intended to inform educational leaders and other interested parties in how to move forward in the post NCLBA era.

Presentation by Vermont superintendent Dan French (@danfrench on Twitter) for the Palmetto Open Source Conference (posscon.org). Dan describes an alternative vision for ed organizational change utilizing "lateral innovation networks" based on the concepts described by David Hargreaves (http://www.demos.co.uk/people/davidhargreaves) in "Education Epidemic."