Top Priorities for an Education Makeover

[another saigon]

Thursday, 09/9/2010 - 3:07 pm by Lynn Parramore | Post a Comment

As the school year kicks off, parents, students, employers, workers — just about everyone with a stake in education — can see that our system isn’t working as it should. Yet we all know that education is the key to the future. What, then, is the single most important priority for improvement? I looked for answers in the realms of policy-making, public education and universities. Here are a few ideas:


http://www.newdeal20.org/2010/09/09/top-priorities-for-an-education-makeover-19601/

Resource Equity

The single most important factor in a quality education is access to equitable material, human, and financial resources. It is no secret that the U.S. public school system perpetuates a form of educational apartheid that forces low-income students (who are also disproportionately students of color) to attend schools in districts that have been systematically under-resourced. This is largely due to our reliance on using local property taxes to provide the bulk of funding for local schools. When you combine this funding formula with segregated residential patterns in many communities and requirements that force students to attend public schools in the areas in which they reside, you will get what our nation has: a public school system that systematically under-educates its students by design.

The fact that the public school system in some communities is fundamentally broken is driving our nation’s current focus on fixing the problem. Unfortunately, while most understand that closing the achievement gap is essential for our nation’s prosperity, many still do not understand that not all kids in the U.S. receive an equal opportunity to learn. It is common sense that students can’t learn effectively if the schools they attend do not have the materials (books, facilities, and equipment), quality teachers and leaders, wrap-around services/community involvement, and the financial resources they need to support an expansive, enriched, and engaging curriculum. Nevertheless, in the debate over the direction of education policy it has become de rigueur among some education policy experts and leaders to claim that financial resources don’t matter (ironically, some of these same experts say money doesn’t matter for public schools while arguing for equal funding for charter schools). But this line of argumentation is not only wrong, it is reckless.

The only way our nation will reach the goal of providing a quality public education for all children regardless of their socioeconomic background is to dismantle the inequitable funding system on which public schools currently rely. This means that our nation’s local, state, and federal leaders have to get beyond discussions about Title I funding formulas and Race to the Top funding to systematically address the root structural issues driving the inequities. If we do not summon the political will to address this issue, we will continue to see a decline in U.S. educational performance and a decline in our nation’s standing in the world.

~Maya Rockeymoore, President and CEO of Global Policy Solutions.


Qualitative Measuring

To say that current education reform efforts are facing resistance would be an understatement. I think we all support the goals; we want all students to have equity and opportunity, to be college and career ready, and to attend schools with great teachers and leaders. Certainly raising the bar and rewarding excellence is not a bad thing.

Quite frankly, I believe the problem lies in how we define the achievement of these goals — how we measure success. It is our definition of success that drives how we achieve such goals. Current policy appears to dictate: if you can’t quantify the learning, then no learning has occurred. Crucial components of learning like innovation, creativity, and critical thinking are stifled in an educational environment that is driven by a definition of success that hinges on quantitative data.

We need to redefine success. It’s time to stop equating improved statistics with learning, and see education for what it really is: individuals uniquely growing as students, as people, and as citizens. When we recognize that measuring sticks are not the best way to gauge student performance and opt for a holistic, qualitative approach to measuring success, I believe we will start seeing real improvements in the nation’s quality of education.

~Kirsten Hill, Summer Advantage USA Graduate Fellow and National Director for Educational Policy Implementation, Roosevelt Institute Campus Network

[LWolf]

1. k&r for the snips.

I'm headed off to work; will read the link tonight.