Elliot Washor's TGIF 08.22.2025

Are you with me now? A. J. Ryder

As statistician, Nate Silver observed: “Numbers have no way of speaking for themselves

We speak for them. We imbue them with meaning through the stories we tell”.

We are in the midst of finalizing the second year of our longitudinal study on Harbor Freight Fellows (HFF) and also our final Narrative for Year 9 of the HFF Initiative. Yes, we have great numerical data but what gives meaning to those numbers is our Fellows’ and mentors’ stories; Without giving too much away, the longitudinal study is showing us just how valuable together situated learning and relationships with mentors focused on a student’s interest is to keep them engaged in their chosen pathways as well as engaging them in school. This is the development of social capital in the context of interests and learning through relationships. Texts and classes don’t come close to real-world experiences that provide both meaningful relationships and a belief that you can get to where you want to go with supports from the world beyond school. Here’s a few snippets from the report.

“These are more than career starts — they are life pivots.” HFFI isn’t just shaping futures in the skilled trades, it’s changing lives.”

“This kind and depth of learning and know-how couldn’t happen in a classroom. What is required is the presence of skilled mentors, the safe space to make mistakes, and the “permission to be a beginner.”

Yes, HFF is truly a transformative initiative. For us, it is a new form of how to do this work as a B-Unbound program at the local and national levels. It is truly Big Picture Learning without a Big Picture School.

Our work in South Carolina led by Crishell and the work in LA led by Charlie and team is simply carving out new ways, forms and measures. Our 311 New Jersey work has now been picked up in Philadelphia and we are in the midst of generating work for the entire state of New Jersey in the skilled trades where we play a major role in providing the real-world learning component a la HFF-type programming.

Aside from the Longitudinal Study, Scott Boldt did a top-notch case study on the IBPLC that our entire BPL staff should read to get more acquainted with the enormity and potential of this important work.

“The IBPLC has quickly become a proven, universally applicable assessment tool that provides for fair, culturally unbiased, and meaningful school-based evaluations that lead to a stand-alone, digitized credential. A key factor in the IBPLC is the valuing of teacher professionalism and judgment in the assessment process because of the deep knowledge that they have of each student, whom they have seen grow over time. With Melbourne Metrics’ support, BPLA was able to provide a credible alternative to the standardized forms of assessment to cover a broader range of a student’s knowledge, skills, and qualities than is conventional.”

This is the most important work BPL has ever done on assessment and it is a long time coming. There are loads of challenges ahead and we are ready. Hang on!

Later in the week, Debbie Meier talked to me about the power of teachers and how the education system has made them powerless. Perhaps we can get the mainstream system to understand how the IBPLC can give teachers back powers that have been taken away through top-down techno/business management. I believe the IBPLC can do just that.

More on AI…

After a talk with Frank Wilson about ethical issues around shortcutting and cheating using AI, he suggested I watch Pianomania, a documentary about a piano tuner, world class pianists and their pianos. After watching it, I understood why he recommended this flick. The lengths these masters go to get a sound they want out of a piano is extreme and eye-opening. Through many humorous scenes, the conclusion is: “The road toward the pianist’s longed for ‘bravo’ is long.” And this is what chat gpt can’t ever give us. It can’t give us our own personal road to get better at what we want to try and master through relationships and the human touch. This is privileged information to the max. It was Pablo Casals who was asked why he keeps practicing for hours a day at 90 years old? His response was “Because I think I'm making progress.” This summer I met up with a Master Calligrapher from Persia at David Gersten’s Arts Letters and Numbers Center. During a brief talk on our work I mentioned my thoughts on mastery. Afterwards, he came over to me with a smile and said, “Do you know how long it takes to become a master calligrapher? I told him I had no idea. He said, “Forty years.” We laughed. We understood one another. For me, these old ways of knowing will show us the real ways we find meaning and develop new ways that fit our times as we do what matters to us.

One more thing…

Last week, Jeff Palladino’s TGIF was about the work he developed for Fannie Lou students during the summer. It was a great story. Later in the week, I called him up to say he needs to write an article to get the word out to other schools about how to do what he did. Jeff is a busy guy so I said I would start the article for him which I did and now he’s taking it to the next place.

Two things from this One More Thing

Following up on actual work in and across schools and BPL initiatives from reading TGIF’s is important.

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As the jazz song states: “The Things We Did Last Summer Will Last The Whole Winter Long” Amen to that!

Plenty, plenty, bye, bye.

Be Well