1. American Chamber of Commerce Executives
August 2, 2007
Dr. Rita Cook,
Executive Director
Smoky Hill Education Service Center
605 E. Crawford, Salina, KS

3. Our Analysis of the Challenge

4. Global Employers Have Choice of World’s Workers
World supply of highly skilled, relatively low pay workers rapidly increasing
Professionals available on the world market in a wide range of fields for a fraction of what U.S. professionals charge
Because of the Internet, those employees available to the world’s employers without moving

5. The Economic and Educational Challenge
Our 1990 report said the problem was our low-skilled workers
Now, our high skills, medium skill and low skill workers are being underbid by workers in lower cost countries
Entire American standard of living will slide if we do not do something

6. Who Is Most At Risk?
People at all skill and pay levels who do routine work
Because that is the easiest work to automate or send offshore
For every job that is going offshore, 10 are being automated

7. Who Will Pay High Wages?
Employers and industries that are on the technology and creative frontiers
Apple I-Pod the iconic example
They need the best-educated, most creative workers
Only those firms can afford such people

8. Profile of Successful U.S. Firms in the Future
Source Information Here

9. Why Should The World’s Highest Paying Employers Pick Our Workers?
They won’t — unless:
We can match their academic performance and
We can exceed them in creativity, innovative capacity and ability to learn quickly

10. Capacity of Our System to Meet These Requirements
Proportion of our population being educated, compared to other countries?
Quality of education, compared to other countries?
Cost of our system, compared to other countries?
What we get for our money, compared to other countries?

11. Source: Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development,
Education at a Glance, Table A1.2a. (Paris: Author, 2006).

12. Quality of Our Graduates Mediocre
High school students perform at or below the median on PISA and TIMSS
Our young adults in the labor market score at “mediocre” levels on the best international measure of their performance

13. U.S. Education System: Small Gains at Ever-Higher Cost
Sources: NCES NAEP Trends in Academic Progress Through 1999; NCES Digest of Education Statistics 2003.

14. Portrait of a Failing System
Source: James Hunt, Jr. and Thomas Tierney, American Higher Education: How Does It Measure Up for the 21st Century? (San Jose, CA.: National Center for Public Policy and Higher Education, May 2006).

15. Our system is broken because…
We recruit a larger share of teacher candidates from less able HS students.
We waste $ by focusing on remediation rather than students in their early years.
System inefficiencies are progressively worse.
Inequalities of family incomes is contributing heavily to disparities in student performance.
Students are not motivated to take tough courses and work hard.

16. Our system is broken because…
Teacher compensation rewards time served, not performance.
Our current testing system rewards routine work, not innovation or creativity.
Our schools are bureaucracies in which the people who have the responsibilities do not have power, and those who have power do not have the responsibilities
People currently in our workforce need higher level literacy skills
We have poor funding opportunities for adults to continue education/training that they need.

17. The problem is not with our educators….
It is with the system in which they work.

18. The Current System Isn’t Up to the Job
Tried and failed:
more money
more programs
more initiatives
THE PROBLEM IS THE SYSTEM

19. Commission’s Proposal
Building A
New System
for the 21st Century

20. First Principles Recruit teachers from the top third
Let students go on when ready
Reprogram funds for higher payoff
Create lean, performance-oriented management systems
Create incentives for schools to perform
Give schools room to innovate

21. First Principles
Create a fair financing system so all kids have a good shot at success
Reform our nineteenth century governance system for 21st century results
Fewer, much higher quality tests
Create the same opportunities for working adults

22. Step 1: Assume We Do Job Right the 1st Time
Most students pass exam set to skills to do college level work at age 16
95% by the end of high school
The rest can continue to challenge it
Students automatically admitted to state community or technical colleges when they pass
Those who pass at higher level stay in high school to take IB, AP or similar program

23. The New Progression Through the System

24. Step 2: More Efficient Use of Resources
Enormous savings: $60 B
fewer years in high school for most students
no remediation of students in college
Less: $10 B
Additional high school students
Additional Funds: $8 B
Total Investment Funds Available: $58 B

25. Step 3: Invest in Early Childhood Education
$19+ B for high quality early childhood education for all:
All 4-year-olds
Low-income 3-year-olds

26. Step 4: Recruit Teachers From the Top Third of College Grads
$19+ B to provide:
New starting pay = current median pay
Top would be $95,000, $110,000 for full year teachers
Abolish pay based on seniority; instead base it on student performance, career ladder, incentives for shortage occupations, etc.

27. Step 5: Create High Performance Schools, Districts Everywhere
Districts write performance contracts with 3rd party organizations to run schools
All contract schools to be public schools

28. Step 5: Create High Performance Schools, Districts Everywhere
All schools to be directly funded by the state
Uniform base funding for all students plus increments for:
children from low-income families
students in which English is not spoken at home
the mildly disabled, the severely disabled, etc.

29. Step 5: Create High Performance Schools, Districts Everywhere
• Portfolio of contract schools managed to produce steady improvements in student performance
• Teachers employed by state, but no job until hired by a school

30. Step 6: Provide Strong Support to Disadvantaged Students
$18+ B ‘tops up’ school funding
Makes possible:
extended day schools
extensive screening and diagnostic support
supports for physical and learning disabilities
tutoring, counselors and mentors

31. Step 7: Rebuild Standards, Assessment and Curriculum
Improve quality, reduce number of tests
Federal government to create limited number of national literacy and math tests at lower grades

32. Step 7: Rebuild Standards, Assessment and Curriculum
States to adopt and create world class syllabus-driven high school exams
Curriculum based on mastery of key ideas and concepts, core facts and procedures and capacity for creativity and innovation

33. Step 8: Provide Free Education For All to New Standard
Federal guarantee: All members of the workforce 16 years old and older have access to a free education up to the new high school standard (ready for college level work)
Many venues for adults to get that education in appropriate form

34. Step 9: Create New GI Bill— Lifelong Learning Support
Federal government creates tax-protected account for every child when born, deposits $500 in it, $100 each year thereafter up to age 16
Individual, parents, state, employers can contribute to this account
Individual can withdraw funds only for educational purposes

35. Step 10: Create Regional Economic Development Authorities
Federal government to authorize states and localities to create regional authorities to combine economic development, adult education and job training
Authorities to be appointed by local and state officials and headed by key business leaders
Strategic allocation of job training resources to be guided by local and regional economic development goals

36. Profile of Successful Workers
Top academic performance
Creative and innovative
Able to learn very quickly

37. On Target The world is changing while American schools are not.
The world is changing while American schools are not.
The change presented is systemic, not piece meal – not reform.
Responsibility for student performance is clearly defined.
A. Teachers
B. Students
The need to train the adult workforce continuously is addressed.
This model focuses on spending more $ on early childhood where it is needed.
There are incentives for teaching the poor, handicapped, and underserved.
It moves assessment away from minimum competencies to higher order learning.
There is more consistency in what we teach (curriculum).

38. The model is performance based – student’s performance impacts future choices in learning/training.
There is more local/regional control in daily operations.
It removes the change of model from education decision makers.
Higher salaries will recruit the best and brightest to become teachers.
Fewer years of high school for students.
Less remediation at IHEs.
More business opportunities for third party contractors.
16. Uniform base funding for all schools.

39. Hurdles Most people want schools to change…but not theirs.
Most people want schools to change…but not theirs.
The general public is very resistant to ANY change in schools.
3. The mission of public schools is very complicated. Is it to:
Teach students?
Provide daycare for the community?
Train athletes?
Feed youth?
Provide a sense of community?
Support local businesses?
Provide time for students to sing, act, play instruments, debate, create publications, prevent substance abuse, provide friends through clubs, receive counseling, date, etc.?
Host public games and events for community sport?
Provide healthcare?
Provide workforce training?
Teach students how to drive?
Provide daycare for teenage mothers?
Provide services for all handicapped students – from minor
to major conditions?
Train students to stop, drop & roll if they are on fire, just say no to drugs, and practice safe sex. Etc., etc, etc.

40. For schools to change, change must be embraced and supported by all members of the
community….and all communities together.
5. Getting everyone to agree on anything can be very difficult.

41. Who opposes the No Child Left Behind Act?
The Scripps Survey Research Center at Ohio University polled 1,010 adults about the No Child Left Behind Act. Sixty-three percent answered they want Congress to make changes or cancel the law. Here is how opposition to the current law breaks down among different groups.
Entire nation
Men
Women
Strong Democrat
Lean to Democrats
Independent
Lean to Republicans
Strong Republican
Very Conservative
Somewhat Conservative
Middle of the Road
Somewhat Liberal
Very Liberal
65 or older
White
African-American/Other
Northeast
South
Midwest
West
Approves of Bush
Disapproves of Bush

42. 15. School becomes a business rather than a life experience.
There are no guarantees that cutting out two years of high school will generate the $ the report states.
This model requires that students make decisions/choices early that may impact them throughout their lives when they may not be ready to make those choices.
8. While higher salaries can & will attract more teachers, they cannot guarantee better teaching.
There will be great pressures put on students, especially the Hard to Teach, to perform.
While students might be ready academically for higher ed, many will not be ready socially.
IHE will not want to give up remediation services because they are businesses as well and they will be decreasing their revenue stream.
We have an A/B society and parents will always want their students to have better schools, resources, etc. This may lead to more and more private schools.
The federal government doesn’t have a very good track record right now in program oversight….do we really want them in charge?
Third party contractors may not have students’ best interests as the highest priority.
15. School becomes a business rather than a life experience.

43. So What Can We Do? My Dirty Dozen List:
1. Assessment is all over the place in consistency. We cannot measure and compare student scores (even within the U. S.) with such widely varying tests.

44. U.S. Chamber of Commerce Report Card
Return on investment varies greatly across states.
Certain states with a large percentage of low-income and minority students score far better than others on achievement tests.
States could do much more to ensure a 21st century teaching workforce.
Truth in advertising is inconsistent.
State standards are too often inadequate.
Forward-looking states are fostering innovation.
High school graduation rates and college preparation levels are much higher in some states than others.
States have begun to improve data collection efforts.

45. Any effort to grade states on school reform and performance quickly confronts the challenge that even today—after a massive amount of attention to educational information and research in recent years—the state of education data remains abysmal. No business could be run with such inadequate information.
That will require nothing less than restructuring the bureaucratic apparatus of American education. It will mean ensuring that states are honest about how well their students are performing and about the return that they are getting on their education expenditures. It will mean raising standards for all students and changing how teachers are hired and compensated.
And it will mean creating opportunities for dynamic problem solving and the reinvention of outmoded routines, whether in the form of more flexible charter school laws, greater openness to online delivery of educational content, or other approaches that are still being developed.

46. 2. We need to have a national curriculum and a scope and sequence of coursework that ALL schools must follow.
3. Student work MUST become performance based, not time based. Only a change in funding to schools will make this happen.

47. 4. There must be quicker consequences (both good and bad) for school-wide student performance.
Schools should be rewarded for innovative models and allowed to try new ideas without fear of failure and sanctions.

48. 6. Learning should be year round and so should schools.
7. Teachers/administrators should be given time each year to take additional training necessary for them to update/improve skills.

49. 8. Politicians need another platform than schools to promote their campaigns.
9. It is time for IHE to be scrutinized as well. There needs to be more accountability for teacher preparation programs. Also, remediation work is required when it is not needed to promote more student hours and tuition.

50. National Council on Teacher Quality Executive Summary: Key Findings
State Policies are remarkably inflexible and outdates.
14 states require annual teacher evaluation.
12 states fund performance pay programs.
States are not paying enough attention to who goes into teaching.
47 states do not confer licenses that identify superior new teachers.
12 states set sufficient academic standards for alternate route teachers.
States do not appropriately oversee teacher preparation programs.
17 states require basic skills testing for program admission.
8 states collect any data on the effectiveness of program graduates.
States use false proxies as measures of teacher quality.
17 states rely on transcript review to determine reciprocal licensure.
28 states’ standards place too much emphasis on untestable dispositions.
States do not appreciate the dual nature of licensing test.
4 states have an adequate test in reading instruction.
20 states give teachers up to three years-or more-to pass licensure tests.

51. States continue to neglect content preparation for teachers.
3 states require elementary teachers to study American Literature.
42 states do not require American History study for elementary teachers.
States do not ensure that special education teachers are well-prepared to teach students with disabilities.
4 states have clear and explicit standards for special education teachers.
14 states require programs graduate “highly qualified” secondary special education teachers.
State policies are not geared toward increasing the quality and quantify of math and science teachers.
28 states support differential pay initiatives.
23 states attach too many strings to math and science teacher reciprocity.
States alternate routes to teachers certification lack “truth in advertising.”
48 states claim to offer an alternate route to teacher certification.
6 states offer a genuine alternate routes to teacher certification.
The interests of adults frequently come before the needs of the children.
3 states require teachers to pass licensure tests before entering the classroom.
4 states require classroom effectiveness to be the preponderant criterion for evaluating teacher performance.

52. 10. State departments of education should either be re-organized or dismantled.
11. Schools should be organized and operated based on student needs, not adult needs.
12. There must be equal access to materials, technology, teachers, and quality curriculum for all students.

53. Questions?