A new study conducted by the Chamber of Commerce in collaboration with conservative and liberal education experts found disappointing results for innovation in education across the nation. "The report detects only a faint pulse of innovation," said Chamber CEO and President Tom Donohue. "We need to turn that pulse into a strong heartbeat."
No state received more than two As in the seven categories graded in "Leaders and Laggards," a state-by-state report on educational innovation released Monday. The nation's pre-eminent business association hosted a daylong event to share the results with panels featuring some of the biggest names in business and education.
Speaking at the event, Education Secretary Arne Duncan called on the business community to take a more active role in education reform. Among the ways Duncan said businesses could help were teaching education officials how to administer more effectively, offering internships to students and investing financially in local education.
By focusing on states' actual policies rather than just their educational outcomes, which can be inflated by advantages such as high concentrations of affluent and educated parents, the report provides an accurate assessment of how innovative education reform is for each state, said Rick Hess, director of education policy at the American Enterprise Institute and principal author of the report. The report's emphasis on innovation contrasted with the first iteration of the study, released in 2007, which measured student performance.
In addition to showcasing the results of "Leaders and Laggards" and discussing the role of business in education, the event was also used to promote the $4.35 billion Race to the Top grant competition. Race to the Top is the centerpiece of the Obama administration's education reform agenda and, Duncan said, will serve as a blueprint for reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary School Act. Final applications for the competition will be released this week, said Duncan. Throughout the day, business leaders, including Donohue, encouraged states to apply.
The encouragement may be needed: The Louisiana School Board Association is recommending that the state not to apply for the multibillion-dollar grant competition out of fear it will create programs that won't have funding down the road. And if Nevada doesn't remove its firewall between student performance and teacher evaluation, that state is unlikely to be eligible to compete.
The categories examined in the new report include school management, finance, staffing -- divided by hiring/evaluation and removing ineffective teachers -- data, technology, the pipeline to post-secondary education, and state reform environment. The last category, which includes data on the presence of reform groups and participation in international assessments, did not receive a grade.
The report characterizes its major findings as deeply troubling: Ninety percent of teachers say that "routine duties and paperwork interfere with their teaching"; only half of states make basic finance data easily available online; and 72 percent of principals say "tenure policies are a barrier to firing ineffective teachers."
American schools prepare students for an industrial society that no longer exists, said John Podesta, president of the liberal Center for American Progress, one of the groups behind the study. He added that the inflexible school system smothers change -- indeed, the defining recommendation of the report is that schools approach reform with greater flexibility.
Not everything illuminated by the report was disheartening: Each graded category included an innovation highlight, such as Hawaii's student-based funding model, where dollars follow student need; Minnesota's pay-for-performance program, known as Q Comp; and Massachusetts' Expanded Learning Time initiative.
But a panel discussion of state-level educators highlighted the size of the challenge, even on something as fundamental as good data reporting and collection. Todd Huston, chief of staff for Indiana's Department of Education, voiced frustration over the challenges he faces. "It's terribly difficult for too many folks in the education system to understand the value of data," said Huston. Indiana received a B for data from the report, and Huston called that a generous assessment. Phyllis Hudecki, executive director of the Oklahoma Business and Education Coalition, compared her state's data system to a loose light bulb flickering on and off. Oklahoma also received a B in that category.
National education figures Michelle Rhee, chancellor of D.C. public schools, and Joel Klein, chancellor of New York City's Department of Education (the largest school system in the country), sat on an afternoon panel about business and education partnerships. Both Rhee and Klein offered words of praise to the private sector for supporting reform efforts in their respective cities.
ekrigman@nationaljournal.com
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