U.S. Chamber Adds Business Viewpoint on Schools’ Quality
- on 03.20.07
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U.S. Chamber Adds Business Viewpoint on Schools’ Quality
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With a new and highly critical report card offering a business perspective on the effectiveness of state education systems, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce is pushing what it sees as a prescription for more innovative, efficient, and better-performing schools. “Leaders and Laggards,†released last week, gives letter grades to states on indicators related to student achievement, teacher quality, and school management. A “return on investment†grade rates states on students’ performance for dollars spent to educate them, controlled for poverty. “When it comes to education, the states aren’t making the grade,†Thomas J. Donohue, the president and chief executive officer of the chamber, said at the report’s release in Washington. Many of the grades are given on a curve. Massachusetts, Utah, and Virginia got A’s for their returns on investment, while F’s went to Rhode Island, West Virginia, and New Mexico. California rated well on teacher-quality policies, and Arizona for flexibility in school management. Based on existing data from multiple sources, the grades favor states where principals say they have greater control over hiring and finances, where systems exist to track the achievement of individual students over time, and where nontraditional schools, such as charters, are thriving. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the Center for American Progress last week jointly released a policy platform on improving K-12 state education systems. Among their recommendations: Teacher Quality Innovative Practices Data Use School Management “Years of well-intentioned, but ultimately insufficient, reforms have been unable to improve overall academic performance in our nation’s schools,†Mr. Podesta said at the press event to release the report. He added: “It’s clear that we need fundamental, structural reforms if we are to change this pattern.†“What’s unique about our study is its recognition that what has long made the American private sector an engine of global prosperity—its dynamism, its creativity, and its relentless focus on efficiency and results—is essential to tapping the potential of our educators and our schools,†he said. For its return-on-investment grades, the chamber divided each state’s education expenditures into the results of its 4th and 8th graders on the 2003 National Assessment of Educational Progress in reading and mathematics. It also controlled for poverty, numbers of students with special needs, and cost of living. Some states with higher performance overall were shown as netting less for their education dollars. For example, New Jersey got an A for academic achievement, but a D for its return on investment. Conversely, Florida received an A for return on investment, but a D for student performance. The report calculated this grade by comparing students’ scores on the National Assessment of Educational Progress with a state’s education spending, controlling for student poverty, the percentage of students with special needs, and cost of living. |
Click the map below to see the full grade report map.
It seems that everyone but the schools themselves believe they are doing a good job at teaching our children. It is time for the legislators to take bold action and stop funding the bureaucracies of the public government school districts and start funding each and every child.
Let’s truly make schools local again by allowing parents to choose the school their child attends and those schools then receive the money. Let’s make schools earn the trust of the parents and in so doing we will improve the education of all students, rich and poor regardless of their race.
Let’s demand we FUND THE CHILD.
