The majority of U.S. schools are not adequately preparing students to meet the new demands of the 21st century, according a new report. Leaders and Laggards, dubbed a report card of states' educational innovation, was released last week.
Leaders and Laggards was authored by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s Institute for a Competitive Workforce, the progressive think tank Center for American Progress, and Frederick M. Hess, director of Education Policy Studies at the American Enterprise Institute, a conservative think tank.
The report, which evaluates what it calls the innovation gap, concluded that schools in all 50 states are in need of rigorous reforms, though not all in the same areas. Researchers found some schools that currently perform well academically did not get good grades by the innovation criteria. Some schools with lower-ranking academic performance scored higher in innovation.
Innovation is characterized as deep, systematic change, allowing “smart, entrepreneurial problem-solvers to help children learn.” This requires schools to discard policies and practices seen as no longer serving students.
“Much of what ails schooling today is a lack of management savvy, information, and organizational discipline," said Leaders and Laggards. "These are skills that business leaders practice every day.”
Reforms recommended as necessary include restructuring the current bureaucratic systems to improve data management and analysis on teacher performance and program effectiveness. Schools also need to be transparent about student performance and raise student performance standards. The report says schools need more flexibility in hiring and paying teachers, and principles should be offered “sensible incentives” for well-run schools and given more power for improvement.
The issues examined by the report beside school management and hiring and evaluating staff were finance systems, removal of ineffective teachers, numbers of dropout students and students who continue to higher (postsecondary) education, data tracking, availability and monitoring of education technology, and the state reform environment (possibilities for innovation).
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