Shifting Decades

At the shift of the decade from the 00 series to the twenty 10 series, it is an interesting time to look at where we have come from (2000-2010) and project (guess) where we might be going to (2010-2020). Thinking back to 2000, we must realize that probably MOST, if not all, of our students can’t really remember the time before 2000. For those of us “of age,” I can remember 2000, but barely. Wasn't that when we were supposed to store up food and worry about our computers due to “Y2K” – remember? At the start of the 2000 decade we had:

• A total lack of what we now call NCLB, Standards, AYP, PI, and the associated alphabet soup.
• A cell phone that looked and sounded a lot more like a phone than a computer.
• After a “naming” controversy King HS was established and had a total student population of only 850 freshman and sophomores.
• We visited Twin Towers in NYC and there was no such thing as nine eleven.
• The music industry was concerned about a new Internet option available – Napster ...AND iPod and iTunes did not exist.
• There was no such thing as Promethean Boards in the classrooms of RUSD.
• Bill Clinton was the President and Grey Davis was the Governor of California.
• Budgeting was something that we did annually as a school district, but it was “no big deal.”
• There was a Presidential election and we had trouble determining who actually won – guess each chad (vote) counts.
• We did not have a Beatty, Lake Matthews, Kennedy, Rivera, and Twain Elementary Schools.
• What do you remember about the “last century?”

So what might the next decade (2010-2020) look like; specifically with education in mind? Well here are some of my “guesses”:

• “Computers” will be obsolete as they are entirely mobile. Similar to the existing “smart phones” and possibly the forth coming Apple “iTablet,” the Intelligent Papers device currently in use at Arlington High School or similar technology.
• In the classroom demonstration of competence would be the indication of completion not time present in the classroom (like semesters, years, etc.).
• I should be reviewing the last 10 years of our collective accomplishments and the outstanding performance of our students and School District, and considering what a potential retirement (career change) might look like.
• Textbooks of the paper variety and arguably print-based books of any type will be essentially gone or in serious retrograde. They will all be digitized but probably in ways and with tones that we haven’t thought of yet.
• I would see a modularization of secondary education where there are fewer and fewer students that are solely educated a single site but gain a collection of courses and instruction from multiple sources (some digital).
• Transparency of student data in secure sites/processes to parents. Parents will have and expect full access to their student's performance at all times and all circumstances.

So now you know MY guesses. What are your guesses?