Breaking the monopoly of mediocrity in our schools
Thirty years ago this month, “A Nation At Risk,” the landmark publication on America’s education system from the Reagan administration, made the case that education reform in the United States was an absolute necessity. The report famously argued that a rising tide of mediocrity threatened our nation’s future: “If an unfriendly foreign power had attempted to impose on America the mediocre educational performance that exists today, we might well have viewed it as an act of war.”
A generation later, there is a monopoly of mediocrity in our schools.
In California, according to the Nation’s Report Card, less than half of fourth-graders are proficient for their grade level in reading, and the achievement gap is enormous. While 40 percent of white fourth-graders are proficient in reading, the number drops to only 19 percent for African-American students and just 12 percent for Hispanic students. In eighth-grade mathematics, just 41 percent of white students are proficient, compared with just 12 percent and 13 percent of African-American and Hispanic students, respectively.
Ensuring that all students get the kind of education that gives them a shot at the American dream is the most important moral and civil rights issue of our times. It is also an increasingly risky economic misstep.
The jobs of the 21st century are becoming more specialized and more technical, demanding more advanced skills. Educating students in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) subjects will be critical to San Diego’s large technology, biotech, and growing “green” technology sectors. By the end of this decade, it is estimated that 67 percent of the jobs in California will require a career certificate or degree, according to Complete College America. But today only 36 percent of adults in the state hold such qualifications.
Despite the evidence, the status quo is defended in our public education systems. The monopoly of mediocrity argues that our schools shouldn’t be held accountable for helping all students learn; setting high standards and assessing student performance stifle teachers’ creativity; and student learning is irrelevant to evaluating how well teachers do their jobs. The monopoly of mediocrity resists innovation, entrepreneurship, choice, transparency, flexibility and experimentation.
Basically, the forces of the status quo argue that schools are just fine — it’s the kids and their parents that are the problem.
California has made some promising strides by adopting the Common Core State Standards and providing parents with school options for their children. There are approximately 100 charter schools in San Diego County, and California is also the first in the nation to enact “parent trigger” legislation, which gives parents the power to transform their child’s school if it is continuously failing.
It is a good start. However, more needs to be done.
California must hold all schools accountable for the results of all students. The state must also be transparent about school performance, putting clear and meaningful information into the hands of parents, families, taxpayers and business and community leaders. School systems must recognize and reward effective teachers. Evaluating teachers regularly and assessing their effectiveness in the classroom, as well as the progress of their students, ought to be a factor in important training, support and employment decisions.
In short, our schools must become more performance-driven. School systems must serve their customers — students and their families — rather than the adults inside the system. For their part, business leaders, community stakeholders, parents and families must get involved and stay involved, together adopting an unwavering insistence on raising the bar for student learning and closing achievement gaps.
For too long, good schools have settled for being good enough and failing schools have been caught in the stranglehold of the status quo. But it isn’t a sustainable strategy for ensuring economic prosperity for our children, competing in a global economy or ensuring that the next generation is prepared for college, careers and citizenship.
If we are going to break the monopoly of mediocrity in education, we must recommit ourselves to the American dream — that with a good education, every child, everywhere, can realize success. The future of California, and of our country, depends upon it.
Spellings, former U.S. Secretary of Education, is president of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation. The foundation’s Institute for a Competitive Workforce brought its Breaking the Monopoly of Mediocrity tour to San Diego this week.