David Langford, Superintendent, Ingenium Charter Schools

In our January 2019 interview podcast, his 8th session with Tripp, Superintendent David Langford reflects on the state of education, the system, and how its set up, including various ways in how schools are working to move from “theory to practice” in their understanding and application of the Deming philosophy.

Highlights include:

• The short term thinking which Dr. Deming warned us of, whether looking at profit or test scores
• Longer term strategies are sacrificed for short term results
• People get creative when driven to “show the numbers”
• Myths about charter schools being able to select their students
• Lack of a level playing field
• The strength and will power required to absorb the impact of a special cause being treated as a  common cause
• Rare to find Profound Knowledge
• Fear manifests itself in many ways
• Dr. Deming encouraged David to consult for education systems
• The right to joy in work and joy in learning
• Blaming the individuals vs. the system in which they operate
• How to change the system to all for joy in learning
• The role of rewards in narrowing one’s focus
• The fears and motivations of a school board
• Possible agendas of school board members
• An onboarding process for board members
• There are pockets of excellence in education systems

For more information about David's current work with Ingenium Schools, please visit ingeniumfoundation.org