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 1964.

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 19th 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.