Part I - The Nature of the Challenge Now
Part I of the report is largely laying the foundation on which to make the case that our current educational system doesn't need more reform, it needs a complete redesign. Economics and the well being of the middle class are at the heart of this needed reform. "So countries like ours that pay their workers very well have to be constantly coming up with new technologies and new ways to exploit those technologies." (8) This will require creativity, innovation and high levels of education on the part of American workers. Economic success depends on, "a bountiful supply of highly talented, highly educated, and highly creative people at every level of the workforce, from the lab to the factory floor, who can do the research, create the ideas, and take them to scale." (23) If the status quo is maintained in the field of education, the large majority of citizens will fall behind, unable to maintain a standard of living they have grown accustomed to. Our education system is in need of a major overhaul if we are to remain competitive in this global workforce. Education has focused largely on skill -- and we are behind our competitors. (32)
The ten "What needs to be done?" points in the executive summary embody such radical ideas for a system that has traditionally resisted change very well. I'd like to explore this idea in more detail: How realistic and practical is the radical change proposed in the report? Will a large number of significant changes be possible, even if given a large amount of time (which we probably don't have)? Based on the reports recommendations, are there other options that might be as effective but more palatable to all the varied players in our present system? Who will lead these changes? Who should lead these changes? And lastly, the economics angle: What other sources are taking this approach to changing our educational system? The argument seems logical, but are there any holes in it? Are there other areas that we could use to drive the argument for an education system overhaul?
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Other Options?
It is likely that the other option to adopting wholesale the commission's recommendations is to adopt pieces of their recommendations, incrementally. People and policy makers seem to find incremental change more palatable. Gradual changes are less life altering, and if they don't work, they can be more easily undone. Incrementalism is a less effective way to foster change, dramatic change, but it does move ideas forward, and it can make a difference. Change begets change begets change.
I'm interested in what the book club members think is the MOST important recommendation. If there was one recommendation to fight for, which would it be? I think universal pre-K is probably the most important recommendation for improving academic skills. The evidence supporting the importance of developing cognitive skills in the very young is overwhelming. And, it's one of those recommendations that is very hard to be against for any reason other than the costs associated with it. Thoughts?
MOST important recommendation
the city schools as reform incubators?
While I share your skepticism about the political and economic viability of these reforms, (especially in communities where public perception is largely that "it ain't broke") I'd suggest that school systems in many urban centers are actually in a place where the changes would not be so unreasonable to expect in 10 or 15 years' time.
The combined push of NCLB and mayoral control in big city school systems to create accountability systems that are backed up with real incentives (both positive and negative) and systemic changes that (folks like NYC Schools' Chancellor Klein believe) actually have the potential to bring about some of the "what needs to be done" points mentioned in the report.
To my knowledge, the NYC principal's union has already traded job security for performance pay. (The teachers' union is another story. ) New schools in NYC are being started by non-profit CBOs and EMOs in partnership with the city, and their new principals are being asked to sign performance contracts and submit to a data-driven annual review process.
The NYC empowerment schools initiative effectively begins much of what is contained in the report: outsourcing various aspects of school management and support previously done by large district bureaucracies, creating 3rd party accountability offices and systems that build in a diversity of assessment measures with centralized student information management systems to monitor performance and target best practices, lobbying to increase the number of charter schools, etc. No surprise Klein and his policy people are major contributors to the commission's report. If NYCs experiment proves successful (and significant test score improvements are already being cited as evidence of success) other major cities will no doubt follow suit...then the halcyon suburbs may eventually see lessons learned as well.
While I'm actually quite sympathetic to creating a system that promotes healthy biodiversity (i.e. real opportunities for innovation coupled with the real selective pressures of dollars attached to students and families who have real choices, and failing schools do, in fact, close down) I am also quite fearful of the intellectually stifling Orwellian possibilities inherent to centralized, accountability systems. The nature and reach of these new measurement systems is really something to watch closely. I think the report's emphasis on a diversity of assessment types for a diversity of student orientations and outcomes is on the right track.
Overall, I'm excited by the emphasis Part I gives to the need for new systems that educate highly creative (as opposed to merely "highly skilled" people) at all levels of the workforce. I think this recentering of the accountability conversation bodes well for opponents of one-size-fits-all, high stakes assessment, and renews the importance of teaching that puts students into authentic, social learning contexts that target the core conceptual and skills foundations of the disciplines.