She also admires his devotion to students in the Fellows program in our interview, she noted that he would sometimes spend full days with them in contrast to most other experts who would speak and exit quickly after their presentation or other activity. “He has those really quick rejoinders that are funny and meaningful.Īndrea Venezia.“He really humanizes issues and conversations.”.What does Venezia emphasize, exactly? In an interview, she elaborated for me in rapid-fire:
Venezia is the creator and former director of the Education Policy Fellowship Program at California State University, Sacramento.Īndrea Venezia: “I just hammer it into the Fellows all the time: “Be like Mike!” (9 seconds) 4 We aim to highlight, as the episode title indicates, “Education Reforms That Stick–‘Kirstian’ Lessons.”Īndrea Venezia, one of Mike’s frequent collaborators in research, numerous publications, and Stanford initiatives (detailed in Installments 16, 17, and 19), can speak from experience about Mike’s feats and foibles.Īndrea Venezia summarized for me what she advises the Fellows in her program. In this final installment, we now attempt to distill the lessons from Mike’s life and his life’s work thus far.
Filling that void is the primary purpose of this biography project, the currently available nineteen episodes and this, the twentieth. They comprise the multimedia series of “Conversations With and About Mike,” which will soon become available in a more traditional book format entitled Michael Kirst: An Uncommon Academic. Nevertheless, while recognized in influential academic and policy circles, Mike is generally unknown to those most actively engaged in the trenches of American education: the nation’s teachers, principals, and school district leaders. We just heard Freedberg, at the outset of this forum, touch on some of EdSource’s reasons for naming Mike its Champion, concluding: “There almost certainly has never been anyone like him in California’s educational history,” then surmising, “maybe just in California period.”įreedberg elaborated by noting Mike’s service, leading California’s State Board of Education and teaching “generations” of students–including Louis, himself, more than two decades ago–as well as numerous others who “have been influenced” by Mike on panels and such. Louis Freedberg: “Mike’s accomplishments have been legion” (1 minute) 2Īt this event, EdSource’s Novemsymposium entitled “Education for All: Serving California’s Vulnerable Children,” the nonprofit cited Mike as its first Education Champion for “his decades of service advancing public education,” paralleling its own four decades covering the California public education system. Let’s listen, for example, to Louis Freedberg, the long-term executive director (2011-2021) of California’s most widely followed educational news organization, EdSource, describing Mike’s influence over forty years in California education. Mike is often recognized for his contributions to education policymaking and the academic field of the politics of education, with California and Stanford University as his home turf. He is, in his own words, a “systemic reformer.” 1 Maryland State Department of Education Partners with Baltimore and Howard County Public Schools in $5.Photo excerpted from the 2018 AERA Annual Meeting YouTube video. Washington County Technical High School Student Designs Winning Maryland CTE Logo Maryland State Board of Education Hosts Special Virtual Meeting on Friday, June 10 Maryland Expands Child Care Scholarship Program to Provide Affordable Child Care to More Families Maryland State Department of Education Launches Emergency Assistance to Nonpublic Schools II (EANS II) Program Maryland State Board of Education Hosts Special Meeting on Friday, June 17 Maryland State Board of Education Hosts Board Meeting on Tuesday, June 28 MSDE Launches New Website Dedicated to COVID Fiscal Transparency
MSDE Awards More Than $169 Million to Local Education Agencies as Part of Maryland Leads Grant Program Maryland State Board of Education Hosts Special Virtual Meeting on Thursday, July 14 Maryland State Board of Education Hosts Meeting Tuesday, July 26