Agreed - Jessica's post implies a motivation toward innovative development in education.  Schools providing enough space and time for teachers to consider what the are doing and how they are doing it.

Today I ran across an acquaintance who I have not seen for years.  We both worked at the same school for severely emotionally disturbed students.  Education takes a back seat to dealing with the needs of the students, so there is a lot of experimentation at the school.  How do you best teach math to those that are behind grade level, don't have a great deal of motivation, and are extremely needy?  It forces teachers to be creative.  A think out of the box laboratory approach is almost a prerequisite.

I looked into the "Business model innovation factory" book you recommended (thanks!)  It got me thinking about schools being in the same competitive marketplace as industry.  Our school has been slowly losing enrollment for the past few years.  One of the reasons for this is parents are now actively shopping for schools; there are alternatives.  So... how do we differentiate?  How do we constantly reinvent ourselves in order to stay relevant?  What mechanisms do we need to build into our structure to allow invention?

Think you nailed it. I am a secondary teacher, but lucky enough to teach special education. This has given me allowance to cross boundaries into other disciplines - I get to talk to all teachers in order to assist my students, so I have less boundaries than most. However, the physical and administrative walls exist - and they are reinforced concrete!