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I am on board with the desire to through out tests seeking specific answers.  I find alternative forms of assessment more informative, compelling, and transformative than traditional forms.  I can also recognize the logistical problems that could arise from portfolio and other types of assessment.  These assessments can feel subjective and they are certainly more intense for teachers.

I have to argue with your message about inclusion though.  If there was one take-home message that I got from Paul and Brain and Behavior, it was the value to interacting with people who have different experiences and different ways of understanding.  That is one powerful way for us to truly determine if our stories are becoming "less wrong", by comparing them to others' stories and seeing which stories better account for the data.  Certainly 38 kids with inclusion and inquiry based instruction sounds very challenging and overwhelming to manage.  I do think that class size is one of the most pressing problems in our education system.

I have struggled during these summer institutes to balance my ideal image of education and classroom learning with the knowledge that we are all working within a system.  I wonder how productive it is to get caught up in the ideal and then feel let down when it cannot be implemented.  I think I would find it helpful to have time to think about concrete ways that inquiry and emergence can be used within our current reality (and yes I know that reality is what my brain constructs...). I certainly agree with Paul when he encourages teachers to go out and advocate and push for the changes that we believe need to happen to make our education system better learning environments for children.  On the other hand I know that these changes cannot happen all at once, rather change often occurs incrementally.