Achieving Excellence in Education
I live in a rapidly-growing Iowa community, vibrant with young families, and where a “Fun City USA” sign, posted near my house, is a frequent reminder of our city’s youthful spirit.
Drive anywhere in Ankeny, and you’ll see Moms jogging behind baby carriages. And, all summer long, a massive sports complex with soccer fields and baseball diamonds is flush with families. Sports activities reign supreme in Ankeny and, combined with our popular school system, draw more and more young families to settle here.
Our population has doubled in size, to over 50,000, since I moved here in 1999, necessitating the construction of new schools, including a brand new, second high school. And another elementary school (our 11th) is currently in the planning stage.
Ankeny’s growth is exciting but not so much so when I see it reflected in my property tax bill (ouch!) which escalates every year, right along with ongoing arguments about education funding in the state legislature. I cringe every time I read about the need to build another new school, knowing it will require coughing up more money to the state.
Lately, I’m beginning to wonder if the dollars invested in our schools provide a world-class education for our children. National test scores say otherwise, and that’s both alarming and disturbing.
I believe that education is the key to a child’s future success in life. But, too many high-school grads are not ready for college, and we’re not churning out enough college grads to fill jobs that require special skill sets in the areas of science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM). We must do better.
That shortage of workers in the STEM fields forces companies to search outside the U.S. to fill their high-level positions. That should not be happening. We are the United States of America and should be producing our own highly-skilled workers. But that will only happen if we raise the bar for higher standards.
Test scores are problematic and show that our students are not performing as well as those in foreign countries, even though they spend far less money per student than we do. The U.S. ranks 25th out of 34 countries in math, 17th in science, and 14th in reading. Considering the amount of money poured into education, that’s pathetic, and we’re failing our kids.
So, if more money invested in education is not the answer, what is?
Each state has their own set of unique challenges. Florida tackled their education shortcomings under the leadership of Gov. Jeb Bush, whose impressive results prompted President Obama to recognize Jeb as a “champion of education reform.”
Florida established a cornerstone in education reform that was comprised of parental choice, accountability, and a student-centric focus. In his own words, Gov. Bush stated that “Education should be about children, not the adults who serve them.” Amen!
When he was in Des Moines recently, I attempted to capture some of Gov. Bush’s solutions for reforming Florida’s education system. Here’s what he did:
1. Implemented academic performance testing that measured each student’s achievement with objective assessments, which then determined the school’s grade (A to F.).
2. Empowered parents to move their children from low-performing to better performing public schools.
3. Offered free pre-kindergarten literacy programs to four-year-olds.
4. Compensated teachers with performance pay for delivering student academic gains.
5. Offered teachers increased compensation for accepting positions in low-performing schools or for teaching science and math.
6. Emphasized reading and required third graders to read at grade level before advancing. This identified children who required additional help and significantly reduced the number of functionally illiterate students.
These are all good things and they’re not all about spending more money. It boils down to common sense, recognizing the problems, and applying practical business solutions by setting measurable goals for teachers, schools, and students.
Jeb recognizes Washington, D.C. as a partner with the states, but he proposes ending a top-down education approach. I don’t have to think for one minute about whether to boo or cheer about this one. It’s a big hell-yeah!
Jeb took risks in Florida by upsetting the status quo with reforms that rattled the teachers union. But he advanced his ideas, because they were good ideas and the right ideas, and Democrats embraced them. He worked well with members of both parties to get things done. And that’s exactly the demeanor we need to power through the protracted stagnation in D.C. on all fronts.
The United States can become #1 in global education excellence, but it takes the right leadership, plan, and the will to shake things up.
We can all be part of the solution to drive excellence in education by being involved at the local level, monitoring how our schools are performing, and demanding education excellence.
We can’t afford to fail our children, because they are our future.
