Reading this extended essay on the significance of checklists in medicine, and I’m struck by how education policy makers seem to have completely misunderstood Gawande’s message.

The real lesson is that under conditions of true complexity–where the knowledge required exceeds that of any individual and unpredictability reigns–efforts to dictate every step from the center will fail. People need room to act and adapt. (p.79)

Most educational reform these days is about stripping away the power from teachers and individuals, as if the situations they face in their classrooms can be simplified to a checklist. But…Gawande continues:

Yet they cannot succeed as isolated individuals either–that is anarchy. Instead, they require a seemingly contradictory mix of freedom and expectation–expectation to coordinate, for example, and also to measure progress toward common goals.

This is where empowering teachers (or at least acknowledging that they’re not interchangeable) becomes so important. Teachers cannot do it alone, but that does not mean that each move ought to be scripted…