Talking with old connections, I found the right person at Penn who could convert graduate courses to Act 48 hours. A few key strokes, twelve hours, and my teacher certification is ACTIVE.

It made me think about how so much of school reform ends up falling into the lap of administrative assistants. A group of legislators, probably on the advice of some education professors, possibly on the word of a lobbyist or two, comes up with new regulations for teachers. The goal is to make sure that teachers keep studying, learning, and growing; to do so, they must enroll in classes of various kinds, either workshops offered by the district or college courses. Fine.

But then the implementation of this falls to the administrative assistants who must figure out ways to make their computer system talk to other folks computer systems. Many of these individuals become the gate-keepers but more importantly, the only people who know how to make things work, how to keep people certified, how to ensure that the bureaucracy keeps up with the vision put forth by the “reformers.” What never ceases to amaze me is how vast the gap between the idea and the reality becomes.