Building schools for the 21st century will take courage

I spent a good part of last weekend closed in a hotel conference room listening to smart people talk about kids, schools and technology.

And a strange thing happened: I started feeling better about the future of public education in California. Don't pop the champagne yet. None of the academics, educators or foundation folks had the one answer that was going to make everything better. But there are plenty of innovative ideas out there that could redefine education for the 21st century.