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The Leaders and Laggards – A State-by-State Report Card on Educational Innovation report is the second report on the state of the schools in America and the current report is the result of a diverse group, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the Center for American Progress, and Frederick M. Hess of the American Enterprise Institute, working together to evaluate innovation gaps in America.
In assessing how well the schools are preparing for the future, they found many examples of the need for change in our schools: Only one third of eighth grade students are proficient in reading, only two-thirds of high school students graduate and of those who do graduate, one third of them need remediation in English or mathematics as first year college students. As the report states, “We think of educational innovation not as a fad but as the prerequisite for deep, systematic change, the kind of change that is necessary – and long overdue.”
The report states that our school systems are relics of a time when high school students could graduate and take jobs that would provide them with security and a decent living. Those kinds of factories are gone and were replaced by 21st century jobs that need employees who can constantly reinvent themselves. The schools need to become 21st century schools by becoming centers of innovation. The report defines innovation as “… the process of leveraging new tools, talent, and management strategies to craft solutions that were not possible or necessary in an earlier era.”
The report provided many examples of 21st century school districts, such as Long Beach Unified School District in California and Aldine Independent School District in Texas. There are also many entrepreneurs such as the KIPP (Knowledge Is Power Program) Academies, YES Prep, Aspire Public Schools, Green Dot Public Schools, and Achievement First. In addition there is the Citizen Schools, Edison Learning, The New Teacher Project, K12 Inc., Blackboard Inc., Wireless Generation, Teach for America, and New Leaders for New Schools. But these schools and entrepreneurs make up a small fraction of the schools in the country.
The data used in this report came from many different sources including the fifty states (plus the District of Columbia) and other independent surveys.
Eight areas were picked to direct the examination of schools’ ability to prepare for the future (A state by state analysis for each of the eight areas of is available from theReport: Leaders and Laggards A State-by-State Report Card on Educational Innovation):
1. School Management (including the strength of charter school laws and the percentage of teachers who like the way their schools are run)
2. Finance (including the accessibility of state financial data)
3. Staffing: Hiring & Evaluation (including alternative certification for teachers)
4. Staffing: Removing Ineffective Teachers (including the percentage of principals who report barriers to the removal of poor-performing teachers)
5. Data (including such measures as state-collected college student remediation data)
6. Technology (including students per Internet-connected computer)
7. Pipeline to Postsecondary (including the percentage of schools reporting dual-enrollment programs)
8. State Reform Environment (an ungraded category that includes data on the presence of reform groups and participation in international assessments)
Major Findings
· Rigid education bureaucracies impede quality schooling
· State finance systems are opaque, inefficient, and undermine innovation
· The teacher pipeline fails to provide a diverse pool of high-quality educators
· Teacher evaluations are not based on performance
· Major barriers exist to the removal of poor-performing teachers
· The outcome of state technology spending is unknown.
· State data systems provide limited information on school operations and outcomes.
· Schools provide too little access to college-level coursework.
· Only one state, Hawaii, has created a student-based funding system.
· States lack a culture of education advocacy.
Recommendations (16 recommendations in 5 categories)
· More Flexibility - States and districts must –
o Empower schools and principals.
o Develop student-based funding policies and other more flexible approaches to school funding.
o Reinvent education management.
o Rethink the school day and calendar.
· Better Accountability – Schools and districts must –
o Hold individuals and organizations responsible for performance
o Reform teacher pay and reward teachers whose performance improves student achievement.
o Develop statewide longitudinal data systems and provide better information to schools, teachers, and the public.
· More Capacity – States and districts must –
o Provide teachers with focused professional development on key topics such as use of data and technology.
o Research and develop promising instructional practices and school models.
o Support innovative schools and programs through capacity-building organizations.
· An End to Monopolies – States and districts must –
o Support charter schools and other forms of public choice.
o Bring down the barriers between high school and college by developing dual-enrollment and early college programs.
o Broaden the pool of potential teachers and support alternative certification programs.
· A Stronger Reform Environment – States and districts must –
o Support state efforts to create common academic standards linked to rigorous assessments.
o Support state reform organizations.
o Encourage entrepreneurial organizations such as Teach for America and Wireless Generation.
Source:By the Center for American Progress, U.S. Chamber of Commerce, and Frederick M. Hess of the American Enterprise Institute | November 9, 2009. Executive Summary: Leaders and Laggards A State-by-State Report Card on Educational Innovation Report: Leaders and Laggards A State-by-State Report Card on Educational Innovation
