Education

The American education system is a “C” student in an increasingly competitive world. How can we break from the pack and restore the American dream?

Here we explore six essential questions at the heart of education. Don’t just read this brief; engage with it, providing feedback along the way. Your voice will shape the conversation, define the issues, and help the community drive meaningful change across our nation.

Our relative performance in math, science and reading hasn’t moved much over the years, but the problem is that while we’ve been treading water many nations we compete with are pulling ahead. For example, Shanghai China is now #1 in math with Singapore, Hong Kong, Taiwan and South Korea right behind them. The fact is that holding our ground isn’t good enough – we need to benchmark ourselves against the best not the rest.

It’s not as if sincere efforts at reform aren’t underway in this country – it’s just that localized successes haven’t been enough to move the needle nationally. Reality check – if we don’t make significant process in the next decade, we’re going to fall further and further behind those nations committed to seizing the future.

It’s universally recognized that education is the very cornerstone of prosperity. The McKinsey Global Institute estimates we’ll forgo $1.3 trillion in growth (5% GDP) by 2030 unless substantial progress is made in K-12 education. However, it goes much deeper than money. The American Dream itself is at risk if we don’t get this right. Year after year we’re letting millions of children go out into the world without the skills they need to live productive and meaningful lives. At the same time, even our best students are falling behind in the capabilities that will characterize future economic leadership.

We talk a good game about children being our greatest priority and leaving none of them behind, but too often we’re just not walking the walk. Right now all the other stakeholders in the education debate have focused and financed voices in Washington – from teachers unions to educational software lobbyists. What’s missing is large scale citizen advocacy driven by a single and unwavering goal – increased student performance. Until everyone in government knows that mainstream citizens are keeping score on this issue our children’s welfare won’t get the attention and focus it deserves. Real progress here won’t involve silver bullet solutions and will take years to unfold. In the current political envirionment, issues that are hard, don’t lend themselves to sound bites, and are beyond quick fixes rarely get traction. The only way to change this dynamic is for enough citizens to come together, work together and stand shoulder to shoulder to drive progress.