Best reformers create optimism, energy as they push strong change

Alan Borsuk:

I probably shouldn't do this, but I keep thinking about Heidi Ramirez when I should be focusing on Darienne Driver.

Ramirez is gone now after two years as chief academic officer of Milwaukee Public Schools. Driver is freshly arrived as MPS' chief innovation officer (a new position). The two jobs aren't exactly the same, but there is reason to juxtapose Ramirez and Driver.

Specifically, when school opened in 2010, Ramirez was a youngish, very smart, change-minded, powerful MPS leader, fresh in from Philadelphia with degrees from Harvard and Stanford. And when school opened in 2012, Driver was a youngish, very smart, change-minded, powerful MPS leader, fresh in from Philadelphia with a lot of work done on a Harvard PhD.

More important, there are lessons from Ramirez's time in Milwaukee that help frame the challenges Driver faces.

Posted by Jim Zellmer at September 10, 2012 2:43 AM
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