What's Needed to Make Sure Innovation Is Working?

Originally posted at the National Journal's Education Experts blog, responding to the questions: What are the essential components of an effective innovation, research, development, and dissemination infrastructure in education? How can we tap into the collective expertise of practitioners when designing and refining new school programs?

This is such a big topic. I'll offer a few thoughts related to what I think the Federal Government should do in relation to this issue.

Who is responsible for what?
Jim Shelton and John Eston ask: "What are the capabilities that need to exist at the local, state, and national levels and how should organizations that provide them fit together into a coherent whole?"

I think there is danger that the current flurry of activity at the Federal level could lead people to (mistakenly) believe that the Federal government and states are responsible for education success in America, not parents, teachers, principals, superintendents, and (gasp!) local school boards.

I suggest that the Federal government clarify its intended relationship to K-12 education. People need to hear: "Hey everyone, we know it is you folks out there who make education successful. Our goal is to support you. You know better than us exactly what will work for your child/classroom/school/community. We’re here to help but you're not off the hook!"

In this way, we can counter a trend that I see cropping up in the trenches: a sense of resignation that all of us out here beyond the beltway are just pawns in a grand scheme being run from Washington. I don't think that's what the folks in Washington have in mind; we need to nip this in the bud.

Education system design
Second, I think the Federal government needs to use its leverage to remove local system barriers that prevent innovation from taking hold.

I give it an 'A' for this so far this year!

Upping the ante in research & development
The "Kress-Ravitch Principle" makes sense to me. More good research conducted by people with direct experience of the problems. Three fertile areas:

• Defining effective teaching: I spent a fascinating day at the New Schools Venture Fund Community of Practice last week learning about recent R&D in this area conducted by the New Teacher Project, DC Public Schools, Teach for America and PUC Schools, among others. There is growing R&D activity in this area. The Federal government could lead.
• English language learners: Educators need lots of help here.
• Assessments: If "what gets measured gets done," then let’s get better at measuring what’s most important. (Great to see positive movement on this front at the Federal level.)

And there are many other areas.

The purposes of education in 21st century America
Finally, I’d suggest that there is a Big Topic that the Secretary and President need to weigh in on.

Chad Wick at KnowledgeWorks makes an interesting point. There is no 'shared vision' for education in America "...until we answer the deeper question about the core purpose of public education and establish a vision that aligns our efforts, innovation will never be 'organized, prioritized, or leveraged for maximum impact.'"

Well, I think that this is a good thing to a certain extent. If we’re going to invest "locals" with a lot of control, then we can expect them to make different choices about what they want. That’s good.

But I think we have a bit of a crisis of confidence at the national level that is being brought on by economic tough times and global shifts in the balance of power. Thomas Friedman is crying out that the World is Flat. China is standing up. Even college-educated kids are having a tough time getting jobs these days.

Given that the world is changing, exactly what kind of education do we need our children to get? To what level do they need to demonstrate competence on a multiple choice test? At what point should parents/ teachers/ principals/ school boards stop worrying primarily about driving those scores higher and start worrying about how to develop children’s minds and character in ways that will manifest results in other ways?

In other words, given that our kids are headed into a different world, how do we prepare them for it? And how do we know if we’re succeeding?

In my experience, the discussions on this topic beyond the beltway often get reduced to "more testing in English and math" vs "a more expansive view of education." I think that is a false choice and we need leaders in all sectors, including the Federal government, who can help parents answer this question in more sophisticated and compelling ways.

Measuring the Achievement Gap

Among Americans, education is a fundamental, top of mind concern. While many Education stakeholders talk about the achievement gap between certain groups of students and others, few have dissected the achievement gap issue as clearly as McKinsey & Co. did earlier this week with its release of The Economic Impact of the Achievement Gap in America’s Schools.

What makes this study remarkable is how it quantifies the real impact — in dollars — of our falling behind on education.

So what is the cost? In a word: Trillions.

Here are a few data points that caught my eye:

• If we had closed the international achievement gap between 1983 and 1998 by raising performance to the level of such nations as Finland and South Korea, United States G.D.P. in 2008 would have been between $1.3 trillion and $2.3 trillion higher. [The Atlantic compares this to the cost of health care — both about 16% of GDP.]
• If we'd erased the racial achievement gap between black and Latino students and white students, G.D.P. in 2008 would have been between $310 billion and $525 billion higher. 
• If the gap between low-income students and the rest had been narrowed, G.D.P. in 2008 would have been $400 billion to $670 billion higher.

McKinsey's report helps us measure the real impact of low education attainment in this country.

At GreatSchools, we believe that the solution to this problem has to involve parents. Improving schools is critical, but it's not enough. Parents need to be challenged and guided to raise children who are ready to take on high-skill jobs. Stay tuned for some major new initiatives we have brewing that will help unlock the power of parents to drive and support their children's education success.

Dear Mr. President...

Dear Mr. President,

Let's be honest: When it comes to improving our nation's 98,000 public schools, the next few years will be very challenging. School budgets will be cut. Class sizes will grow. Dropout rates are likely to remain unacceptably high. Today more than one-third of all high school students don’t graduate on time.

There's a critically important resource, however, that can be employed immediately to help the nearly 50 million public school students do better: our nation’s parents.

Children are deeply influenced by their parents' expectations, attitudes, behavior and support. Many studies show that parents have at least as much impact on their children's educational success as their teachers.

I hope you use the power of your office to unleash the transforming power of this latent resource, and launch a national campaign to draw parents into deeper and more effective involvement in their children's education.

Here are three ideas that can help accomplish this:

1. Work with states to develop national education standards based on a deep understanding of what it takes for young adults to be successful; communicate the importance of these standards to parents and citizens everywhere.
2. Leverage new technologies and partnerships to engage America's parents in ongoing learning about how to support their children's success and what it means for their children to be academically “on track."
3. Help states and districts develop and disseminate easily understood reports that allow parents to not only monitor how their kids are doing in class, but also how they are mastering the skills necessary to be successful after graduation day.

Now is the time to inspire and guide parents to reinforce the lessons of the classroom and engage their children in learning throughout the day. A trip to the supermarket, for instance, provides a quick opportunity to reinforce math skills: "We're buying these four items. Quick — before we get to the cash register — can you guess how much our bill will be? If we give the clerk $20, how much will we get back?"

Parents are our children's first teachers. We must go beyond bake sales and fund-raisers to draw them into a leading role in a national movement for improved education.