Can Too Many Reforms Harm a High School? (Patrick Welsh)*

Patrick Welsh retired in 2013 after teaching 43 years at T.C. Williams High School in Alexandria (VA). Few high school teachers write op-ed columns and of the few that do, Welsh is one I have read many times. He is a clear, crisp, and coherent writer whose work as a teacher and writer I have admired. This article appeared in the Washington Post “Outlook” section on September 27, 2013. Erika Dietz was overwhelmed when she started teaching English at T.C. Williams High School two years ago. Not because the 24-year-old struggled to connect with students or to handle the workload. Relentless, yet also patient and charming, she quickly became one of the most popular teachers at the Alexandria school, and in June 2012 she received a state-funded Titan Transformer Award for “outstanding work toward the goal of transformation” of T.C. What bothered her was everything that went along with that goal: the consultants, the jargon, the endless stream of new reform initiatives. “It felt like every…

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