Donald P. Nielsen

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Upset female students in classroom
Image Credit: Robert Kneschke - Adobe Stock

Public Schools Are Set Up to Fail

The recent National Assessment of Educational Progress exam results showing dismal reading scores for America’s 4th and 8th grade students should not be surprising. Organizational design expert Arthur W. Jones noted that “all organizations are perfectly structured to obtain the results they get.” Applied to our public schools, rather than being surprised by the mediocre results we’re seeing throughout the country, it’s what we should expect. If we want to improve the performance of our schools, which is crucial to our nation’s economic health and security, we need to change the structure of the educational system. All successful systems have several key elements: Leadership Successful organizations are led by effective leaders. If we want better schools, we need better leadership, namely Read More ›

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student's hand taking English test in class
Photo licensed via Adobe stock

K-12 Redesign: Retooling Testing

Our K-12 schools are organized more like a swim meet focused on recording student placement results rather than a swim lesson devoted to student learning. What value are student assessment results if all students move on to the next lesson, concept, or skill regardless of whether mastery was achieved or not? Read More ›
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Back to school concept
Back to school concept

K-12 Redesign: School Calendar

The United States continues to place subpar among developed nations for K-12 student performance. Not surprisingly, U.S. students receive fewer education hours over the course of a year than those they lag behind. A revamping of the K-12 school calendar is in order. Read More ›