Several groups have reached out over the past few months, asking whether or not I do PD/workshops related to assessing school quality "beyond test scores."

Here's my answer, which I'm thinking other scholars might be interested in.

1/

I could charge you several thousand dollars for my time to prepare a custom workshop, cover travel, etc.

Or, we could do something way easier.

2/

Like most scholars, most of my ideas have ended up in articles and books. And those don't require anything new from me. You can literally buy 100 copies of my book for what my university pegs as my "daily rate."

3/

...and I've moved all of my other scholarship outside of paywalls. So you get that stuff FOR FREE.

4/

Furthermore, I actually believe in most of the causes related to supporting public education. So I don't actually want to charge you anything.

And I think I am most definitely not alone. In fact, I'm sure other people already do what I am about to propose.

5/

So let's do a virtual book club.

Total cost: $0.

Isn't this better?

6/

And just think about all the cool books you could buy with all the money you save!

The real snake-oil sellers charge ten times what scholars charge.

Take all that money and buy books -- like honest-to-goodness scholarship -- for everyone in your group. Dump the TED talks.

7/

Tell scholars that you're doing this as an experiment in community empowerment. Ask them if they can provide you with their publisher discounts (they can).

Ask them if they would do a one-hour Zoom call and donate their time to public education.

8/

Who's gonna say no? (Well, if folks start getting a zillion requests, they'll say no. But then you can just combine your groups, right?)

Anyway, just my two cents. Which no one asked for. So...carry on.

9/