Former Presidential candidate Gary Johnson works for the school district now?

Heh. Not the same Gary Johnson.

It is so refreshing to have Gary Johnson lead our SPED at MVWSD! He has a can-do, positive attitude and he asks the right questions when he attends IEPs. The addition of a second teacher to assist our special needs students in the middle school classrooms is a great idea, one of many good ideas he seems to have. Lucky MVWSD to have him!

I applaud the 2-teacher model, but I'd ask that we thinking even more expansively. The fundamental problem is the "One Teacher + 30 Students + 1 grade" model; it was designed for efficient transmission of knowledge in a manufacturing model of education.

How about considering "4 teachers with 100 students in a multi-faceted facility"? At any given time, 20 students could be teaching each other. Fifteen could be self-teaching with a computer (ala Kahn Academy) or in-class exercises. Fifteen could be receiving an hour-long tutorial in math. Some are working individually on their own writing or working on problem sets. A dozen are getting more personalized attention, possibly in small groups. And a dozen more are outside exploring concepts through whole body physical exercises.

If we gave our professional teachers more options I'm confident they would find creative and powerful ways to encourage not just learning, but the love of learning. And when knowledge changes so fast, the latter is more important for then former. And it's also important to understand learning as a social activity, not just an individual pursuit.