Systemic Reform Theodore Hershberg

What’s important?  Terrorism and Iraq are high on the list of the nation’s concerns.  The greatest danger facing America is the challenge of human capital development.

$500 billion a year  Schools are still failing a large portion of our children  We have known about this threat since 1983 A Nation at Risk  If the mediocrity of our schools had been imposed by an unfriendly foreign power, we might have viewed it as an act of war.

Public Education  America’s best colleges are full of graduates of public school systems  We know the public schools can work  Many are not making it  Who isn’t making it and why?

Globalization Is about far more than displacing our nation’s blue-collar workers. Every job in America is at risk.

The World is Flat  Thomas Friedman  30 years ago all the opportunities were in America.  Today, intellectual work can be digitized, disaggregated, delivered, distributed, produced and shipped from anywhere on the planet to anywhere else.

Flateners that have leveled the playing field  The fall of the wall.  Development of Microsoft Windows and Netscape browser  Dot.com collapse made it possible for the common person to be connected  Software that made networks compatible

 Out sourcing and off-shoring  Supply-chaining – when a product is made in America another is immediately made in China

 Goggle and Yahoo made it possible for anyone to mine a depth of knowledge  3 billion new people have entered the work force at the top end – China, India and countries of the Soviet Union – all have rich educational systems.

 China and India graduate 5.1 million students from college including 400,000 engineers  US graduates 2.2 million with 60,000 engineers  US produces only two bachelor’s degrees for every 10 students that start high school

 Dirty little secret – every company outsources in some way, not only to save money but because they can get better work.  Bill Gates has invested millions in upgrading high schools because he is terrified for the future of the work force.

 The last year the typical blue collar worker earned enough for mom to stay at home was  We have maintained out standard of living because women went to work but that strategy has run its course.

Cultures that will succeed in the flat world  Values hard work  Values thrift  Values honesty  Values patience  Values tenacity  Open to change  Open to new technology  Equality for women

Parents  Gotta get better  They need to know about the world in which their kids are growing up.  Need tough love  Put away Game Boys, turn off the television  Get down to work

No Child Left Behind  Last four presidents have tried something in education  NCLB passed in 2001  Different because it requires states to set standards and move away from norm referenced testing to criterion referenced.

 Test annually, not just once  Focuses on academic progress of all students.  Introduces consequences.  We are the only developed nation without a national curriculum. So matters are still up to states.  The reason for NCLB is to force state governments to meet the challenge of human capital development.

America’s Schools: Past and Future  System largely unchanged wince 19 th century. Provide universal literacy Socialize a diverse population Using tests and the Bell Curve sort out the top 20%  Show up on time  Respect authority  Develop a work ethic  Repeat monotonous tasks

 The old system, concerned with quantity and cohorts rather than quality and individuals  Designed to let the cream rise to the top. For the remaining 80% there was little consequence for they could go to work in the industrial complex.  Schools very successful at this.

 The problem is that people continue to behave as if the current school system – designed for a different century and a different economy – is right to meet the challenges ahead, despite the record of the last three decades.  2006 graduates being prepared to work in 1956.

Since 1970  Increase in real spending of over 100% per pupil  A decrease of 22% in the pupil to teacher ratio  Doubling of the number of teachers with masters  Student achievement has remained flat and schools have remained unchanged.

What to change  You are not born smart, you can get smart  Bell shaped curve is out  Teachers must be proficient in problem solving pedagogy  Memorization takes a back seat to other forms of acquisition of knowledge

 Differentiation of instruction One size does not fit all Many ways of learning  Data driven decision making  Student-centered, not teacher-centered classrooms We learn best by doing.

What about teachers….  1 in 3 leave the profession in the first three years  46% leave in the first 5 years  Of the 3.4 million teachers today, 2 million will leave in the next decade.  Schools have got to become more inviting places to work.