Where we once led the world in education, this is no longer true. Our lead has slowly eroded over the years and recently test scores for 4th 8th and 12th grade students were released that ranked the US 19th out of 38 countries in Math, and 18th out of 38 countries in Science.
The State of Tennessee was also recently ranked as 42nd nationally. This was based on national test score results for Math, Science and Reading.
Nationally we spend $500 Billion dollars a year on education, which amounts to approximately $10,000 per student. The national graduation rate is 70% and the student to teacher ratio is 16 -1.
The State of Tennessee's budget for education is approximately $7.2 Billion dollars and averages $7300 dollars per student, has a graduation rate of 72% and a student to teacher ratio of 15.7 - 1.
These statistics are similar with those across the nation and show no direct correlation between dollars spent, the number of teachers and their impact on graduation rates. It is true that other factors impact graduation rates, however combined with the declining test scores we can conclude that the problem isn't the amount of money spent on education or the number of teachers, but is in fact the quality and quantity of our education.
One of the most needed changes to our current system is to extend our school year. The current school year is based upon a schedule developed in the 1930s when many of the students needed to help out on family farms in the summer months.
Increasing the school year to a year round schedule would allow for better continuity between grade levels and keep our children focused on learning.
One of the challenges that teachers face is the re-education of their students after the summer break. Several weeks are wasted bringing them back up to speed with what they learned the previous grade level.
Another important improvement is the need for Good Management of Schools and School districts. Failing schools and districts need to have their management replaced with strong principals and administrators. Many of the best performing schools and districts have excellent leadership, which is required to create an environment where teachers can be at their best.
We need to set high standards for our students and teachers, lowering our standards decreases the quality of our education.
Our curriculum needs to be Challenging and standardized by the State.
We need to test every student, every year and track their progress over time, longitudinally. These tests would be different than the current standardized testing mandated by the "No Child Left Behind" laws. These would be shorter tests, customized to the school systems curriculum and only take a few hours to administer.
Using this data we can track not only the students progress but also the progress of their peers and their teachers. This would allow administrators to determine the effectiveness of the curriculum as well as which teachers are more effective.
We need to free up all avenues of parental choice, including vouchers for poor parents and deregulated home schooling.
We need to establish clear guidelines for behavior, with firm and reasonable consequences.
Lastly I believe we need to give the schools freedom to hire who they think will do the best job teaching our children. This would include retirees from industry and business, former college professors and eager and enthusiastic new college graduates.
So we must ask ourselves, what does the future hold for America if we don't provide the best education for our children? Can we continue to be competitive in a global economy and maintain our technological advantage?
Eleanor Roosevelt once put it, " It is today, that we must create the world of the future."
** Note: many of these ideas can be found at www.reformK12.com
** Statistics from the US Department of Education and the Tennessee Department of Education
