Bradley Finds Big Answers to a Big Problem

Public education in America today is in a state of crisis. Not only is the education system outmoded and unable to keep up with the demands of the 21^st century, its students are now unable to keep pace with their peers from other industrialized countries. Students in the U.S. are no longer competing only with themselves for opportunity and success; in today’s global era they are competing with students from around the globe.  

In Bill Bradley’s recent book, The New American Story, he makes several critical points about the nation’s education system by telling the “old” story of education in American and providing the vision for a “new” one.  

First, he presents the educational crisis as a national security issue and argues that recent and current reform efforts are “small answers to a very big problem.” Second, Bradley argues that mediocrity is and will impact the economic stability and competitiveness of the country. He points out that the failing nature of public education is not confined to urban schools, but to schools across a broad swath of America. Finally, a weakened education system places the strength of our democracy at risk. Bradley makes the point that without strong national leadership, the quality of our education system will continue to corrode. 

Bradley offers eleven policy proposals to create a new story about education, several of which align with the Center’s policy recommendations first introduced in Getting Smarter, Becoming Fairer, in August 2005. The foundation for the Center’s education agenda, Getting Smarter, Becoming Fairer focused on four buckets of recommendations: more and better use of learning time; high expectations, national standards, and accountability for all students; highly qualified teachers and strong, effective leaders; and connecting schools with families and communities. Six specific Bradley proposals track the work of the Center: 

• National Standards: The No Child Left Behind Act enabled the states to develop their own curriculum and student performance standards. But with 50 different sets of standards, there is no national measure of academic achievement at the different grade levels. Rigorous voluntary national standards in core subjects will hold all students to the same high expectations and will help to ensure student success in every academic setting, at home and globally.
• Teacher quality and alternative compensation systems: Professionalizing the teaching field and compensating teachers for their ability to impact learning, willingness to take on additional responsibilities, and work in shortage areas is key. And ensuring the equitable distribution of teachers so that high poverty schools can also benefit from experienced, high quality teachers can help turn around low-performing schools.
• Principal leadership and accountability: Focusing on teacher quality and holding them accountable for student learning is important. However, every successful school needs strong leadership. Principals too should be held accountable for the success of their schools and in return should be given greater flexibility and authority to impact what happens inside their school.
• Expanded learning time: Students in the U.S. spend, on average, 180 days a year in school compared to the international average of 193 days. Across 12 years of study, this deficit translates to 156 days—nearly one full school year. Couple this with the fact that American students are no longer making the grade, we see the need to make more and better use of learning time. Expanding the school day, week, and/or year to focus on both academics and enrichment can help boost student learning and close achievement gaps.
• Preschool: Eighty percent of the nation’s 3- and 4-year olds are not enrolled in state or federal preschool, yet preschool is essential to school readiness and future academic success. In America, too many children—particularly low-income and minority children—begin kindergarten without some of the necessary skills and abilities (without the ability to count to 20 or higher, write their names, or read or pretend to read). Access to universal, high quality preschool for all of the nation’s 3- and 4-year-olds is critical.
• Focus on high-poverty, low-performing schools and equity: Improving education for all students demands attention to low-performing schools and the students who attend them. Unfortunately, it is all to common that these students are low-income and/or minority children. Focusing on educational and fiscal equity is critical if the U.S. is to maintain its position as an economic, political and intellectual world power.