There are a couple of well-worn stories we like to tell ourselves in education. One of the most popular? The pendulum theory.
You know it: education is just a giant grandfather clock. We swing from one extreme to the other, phonics to whole language, direct instruction to inquiry, rigor to relevance, and back again. We try one thing, push it too far, then “correct” ourselves and go flying in the opposite direction.
Closely related is the “what goes around comes around” theory. This one says we’re not on a pendulum…we’re just on a merry-go-round. Same ideas, same buzzwords, just dressed up in slightly trendier clothes every ten years or so. (Looking at you, “Science of Reading.”)
These narratives make sense because, well, they’re kind of true! But I’d like to offer another one—something I’ve come to think of as the Spiral Theory.
From Simple to Suffocating
At the beginning, education had a simple enough mission: teach kids.
That’s it. Nothing fancy. Help kids learn to read, write, think, and participate in civic life. A little bit Jeffersonian, a little bit common-sense.
But if there’s one thing we’re good at in public education, it’s layering complexity on top of simplicity. And over time, society and policymakers started stacking new expectations on top of the old ones:
- Keep kids safe.
- Provide meals.
- Address trauma.
- Fix the economy.
- Solve inequality.
- Close achievement gaps.
- Make sure they’re “career ready.”
Each of these expectations, often well-intentioned, became a new layer. And unlike pendulums or circles, these layers don’t swing or rotate away. They stay.
They build on top of each other like geological strata. If you were an archaeologist of public education, you could dig through the decades and find where each policy, reform, or societal panic left its mark. But none of them got cleared away. They just stacked.
And here’s the scary part: somewhere deep in that spiral buried beneath mandates, initiatives, rubrics, metrics, and “accountability” is the actual act of learning. And it’s barely recognizable anymore.
We’ve built a system that sometimes feels like it’s suffocating the very thing it was designed to do.
So What Do We Do With That?
First, we stop pretending the pendulum is going to fix anything. We don’t need another swing. We don’t need another round on the merry-go-round either.
What we need is the courage to acknowledge the layers and then start excavating. Not with a wrecking ball, but with a careful hand and a clear sense of purpose.
Here are three ways school leaders can begin that work right now:
1. Do a “Layer Audit”
Pick one core practice…like lesson planning, discipline, or parent communication. Sit with your team and trace how many layers of policy, expectation, and “best practice” have been stacked onto that one area over the years. Ask: Which of these actually serve student learning? Which ones don’t?
Try this: Start a faculty meeting with a “What was the original purpose of _____?” prompt. Watch the conversation get real, fast.
2. Name the Core Purpose—Constantly
If everything is a priority, then nothing is. Choose three core ideas that define your school’s actual purpose…your north stars. Make sure your team knows them, can name them, and sees how your daily decisions are aligned.
Try this: Post your three “north stars” in every meeting room. End meetings by asking: “Which star did we move closer to today?”
3. Protect the Act of Learning
Create time, space, and conditions where learning…real, messy, student-driven learning can happen. Not as an add-on, not as an “innovation initiative,” but as the heart of the school day.
Try this: Schedule one hour per week where instructional staff can observe student learning…not teacher teaching. Debrief what you noticed. Ask: Where did learning feel alive? Where did it feel buried?
The Spiral Theory isn’t just a way to understand the system…it’s a challenge to unbury the good stuff. To rediscover the core of why we all got into this work in the first place.
Because somewhere down there, beneath all the layers, kids still want to learn. And deep down, we still want to help them do it.
Let’s not let the spiral win.