Fog of Reform

American public education has been on a merry-go-round of change for the past 40 years. We made something that is complex by its very nature into a strangled enterprise that is becoming even more knotty and complicated. A fog of reform is created obscuring issues and deflecting our focus from the real mission of schools. We need to emphasize ideals and principles in providing an education for our children in a caring and creative way. This book is about the fog of reform and getting back the ideal of a place called school. The sections describe a new metaphor and approach to change and examine the forces and ideals that can bring about the schools children need. Principles and values transform organizations, not mandates and fear. Recipes for making schools into caring places for children do not exist. Great schools must be created one-by-one. Numbers don't create change; people and passion do. Unless we focus on the moral imperative of educating children, we will fail them and possibly slide into an ethical quagmire.

In this timely and uplifting work, Goens challenges us to be leaders who are moved by great passions and deep commitments to doing what is right and just, not simply individuals who occupy leadership positions. I suspect that, like myself, educators came into this profession anchored and uplifted by an attitude of optimism and hope. Writers like Goens help us remember why we got into this work and why we persist even when it is not easy., George Goens’ highly readable book brings a sane, clear perspective to many dehumanizing outcomes of the school reform movement. Though often well-intentioned, decades of reform have left our children starved for schools with souls that cultivate “wise, caring, whole human beings, prepared to embrace changes and challenges of the future with creativity, soul, and humanity.” I hope every school principal, educator, parent, school board member, concerned citizen, and policy maker will read and share this book, then commit to the moral imperative: to change our national trajectory so that each American child attends a public school that is a primer of freedom, equality, liberty, justice, and ethics., In his book, The Fog of Reform, George Goens defines a moral imperative for school reform in America that moves beyond simplistic quantitative metrics. Children's learning is more complex than a test score or hours of seat time, and requires understanding, questioning and challenging the ‘fog’ created by efforts to reform our public schools., American Public Education in under attack.  It is being challenged like no other time in history.  Multiple reforms have been proposed.  The upshot for the public and citizenry is growing confusion about the role of public education and what schools ought to be for children. George Goens book, The Fog of Reform, examines reforms and defines concrete proposals on what schools should be and what leaders must do in meeting their moral imperative of educating children in the public setting., George Goens The Fog of Reform gets us to rethink the role of testing in education and makes us focus on the big picture of learning institutions preparing students for success in life.

George A. Goens, Ph.D. has served at all levels of public education: teacher, principal, director, and superintendent One of his most important responsibilities, and a primary motivation for this book, is as grandfather to Claire, Luke, Julia, Eddie, Caleb, Callan, and Jack.