Educating in Reality—Not in Denial

Case Study: SAlem City Schools (Salem, Va.)

How one district is changing its education model before outside forces change it for them.

Any and all innovations or improvements to instruction and learning will amount to wasted time and resources if they serve the moribund industrial model of education. Instead, leadership at Salem City Schools chooses to live, act, and educate in the real world—the one demanding that all K-12 school districts, whether they know it or not, build a new educational delivery model for this century—or wait for someone else to build it for them.

Thanks to a positive restlessness and a history of continual improvement, Salem City Schools has been able to motivate an entire district to embrace the challenging work of building a new education model. They’ve been able to do this while keeping everyone focused on why they are committing to such an undertaking and without overwhelming them with too many initiatives and un-focused innovations.