9486 in the collection
Education Secretary Arne Duncan counting on business leaders to help push through school reforms
Education Secretary Arne Duncan: 'We're pushing for dramatic reform. We have to educate our way to a better economy.'
by Greg Burns
Ask almost any business executive about the U.S. public school system, and the answer is typically the same -- unprintable. [What happens when you ask teachers their opinion of business executives?]
In general, business has a beef with the way schools are run. Name a common practice, and chances are business doesn't like it: the performance evaluations and teacher pay; the math and science curricula; the governance, bureaucracy and union job protections.
Groups like the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and Business Roundtable have lots of ideas for fixing what they view as a ball and chain on American competitiveness. [Read Why Is Corporate America Bashing Our Public Schools? for a full account of the Business Roundtable's efforts to deform public schools. They've been operating on this plan full force since 1989.]
Turns out, so does the secretary of education, and he's offering billions in new stimulus dollars to schools that are willing to change.
Arne Duncan was a favorite of the business elite during his seven-year tenure heading the Chicago Public Schools. With Mayor Richard Daley's backing, he pioneered the tactic of shutting down failing schools. He also worked for school choice and pay for performance, while maintaining surprisingly good relations with teachers.[Subscribe to Substance and read the ugly details of Duncan in action.]
To an extent, Duncan is promoting similar ideas on a national stage, as well as seeking more rigorous testing standards across all 50 states. "We're pushing for dramatic reform," Duncan said in an interview. "We have to educate our way to a better economy."
Duncan's official biography notes that in Chicago, he "united" education reformers, teachers and principals with "business stakeholders." It's clear he's counting on the same industry honchos to help push his agenda through the education establishment today.
Asked whether business is reluctant to put its money behind reform, Duncan replied with a flat, "No," saying, "There's been unbelievable generosity, not just in resources but in ideas."
Business expects a lot.
As president of the Americas for staffing firm Manpower Inc., Jonas Prising sees firsthand how a substandard education can hold back a worker. He likes what he hears from Duncan, but views the task as monumental. "He will need to radically change the public education system to make it more performance-based," Prising said. "On this current path, we are not going to be successful."
Schools should be teaching the skills that employers need -- vocational training as well as basic reading, math and technology, he said. "We need greater ties between future employers and the educational system. We need to do more," Prising said.
Duncan said he knows what needs to be done, but scaling up requires time and resources.
Is it even possible? Some heavy hitters think it is.
"You've got a window of opportunity," said ex-Illinois Gov. Jim Edgar, who has teamed with former Commerce Secretary Bill Daley in an effort to jump-start public education in Illinois -- akin to what Duncan is trying to achieve on the national level.
As front men for a recently formed independent advocacy group, Advance Illinois, Edgar and Daley say the potential exists for progress -- even "radical" progress. But they see the usual pitfalls too.
In Chicago, Duncan succeeded partly by sidestepping the predictable "bureaucratic reasons for not getting things done," as Edgar put it.
In Washington, Duncan is just getting started, Edgar said: "It's early."
Getting high marks from business leaders can only help, Daley noted.
"What Arne did in the [Chicago] schools is aligned with what business wants: reform," Daley said. "The business community wants him to keep that reform mantra going."
Chicago Tribune
2009-07-06
www.chicagotribune.com/business/columnists/chi-mon-burns-education-0706-jul06,0,5028138.column chicagotribune.com
INDEX OF OUTRAGES
Pages: 380
[1] 2 3 4 5 6 Next >> Last >>
