{"id":107000,"date":"2018-03-05T12:00:54","date_gmt":"2018-03-05T12:00:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/?p=107000"},"modified":"2018-03-01T14:05:01","modified_gmt":"2018-03-01T14:05:01","slug":"a-call-for-educational-freedom-in-america","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/2018\/03\/a-call-for-educational-freedom-in-america\/","title":{"rendered":"A Call for Educational Freedom in America"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Betsy DeVos U.S. Secretary of Education – \u00a0January 17, 2018<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s about educational freedom! Freedom from Washington mandates. Freedom from centralized control. Freedom from a one-size-fits-all mentality. Freedom from ‘the system.’\u201d[i]<\/strong><\/a> <\/em>
\n– Honorable Betsy DeVos<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\u201cThank you, Rick, for that kind introduction. Who would\u2019ve thought that after we were last together on a panel in Grand Rapids a couple of years ago, I\u2019d be here in this capacity today?<\/p>\n

It\u2019s an honor to be with all of you at an organization I have long appreciated. AEI is now in its 80th year and in that near century, the Institute’s scholars have influenced and shaped the way Americans think about so many issues in the public square. AEI has been \u2013 and will continue to be \u2013 a treasured constant in this town of transition. And it should be noted that\u2019s due in no small part to the leadership of Arthur Brooks, who brings a unique and compelling perspective. I\u2019m grateful to call him a friend. I\u2019d like to especially thank Rick and Michael for putting this volume together and for hosting today\u2019s important discussions. Both of you have contributed significantly to the policy debates in American education, and, importantly, you\u2019ve put your distinct perspectives and experience to work with the goal of improving education for all. You both left the classroom out of frustration, and there are still far too many teachers who share that experience today.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Betsy DeVos<\/p><\/div>\n

My work over thirty years has revolved around time spent on the outside, looking in. Outside Washington. Outside the LBJ building. Outside \u201cthe system.\u201d Some have questioned the presence of an outsider in the Department of Education, but, as it\u2019s been said before, maybe what students need is someone who doesn\u2019t yet know all the things you \u201ccan\u2019t do.\u201d<\/p>\n

To a casual observer, a classroom today looks scarcely different than what one looked like when I entered the public policy debate thirty years ago. Worse, most classrooms today look remarkably similar to those of 1938 when AEI was founded. Take a look at this! These two operating rooms look starkly different, as does this general store and this website. But these two classrooms look almost identical.<\/p>\n

The vast majority of learning environments have remained the same since the industrial revolution, because they were made in its image. Think of your own experience: sit down; don\u2019t talk; eyes front. Wait for the bell. Walk to the next class. Repeat. Students were trained for the assembly line then, and they still are today. Our societies and economies have moved beyond the industrial era. But the data tell us education hasn\u2019t.<\/p>\n

The most recent Program for International Student Assessment, or PISA, report, with which you are all familiar, has the U.S. ranked 23rd in reading, 25th in science and 40th in math. And, you know this too: it\u2019s not for a lack of funding. The fact is the United States spends more per pupil than most other developed countries, many of which perform better than us in the same surveys.<\/p>\n

I know that hard truth touches a nerve for everyone in this room. It does so for educators who try to help their students realize their potential. For employers who seek prepared employees. And, most importantly, for parents who only want the best for their children. Of course there have been many attempts to change the status quo. We\u2019ve seen valiant efforts to improve education from Republicans and Democrats, liberals, conservatives and everyone in between. That\u2019s because everyone is aiming for the same result. Everyone wants students to be prepared and to lead successful lives. We can\u2019t say that sort of public harmony exists in other policy arenas. Not everyone agrees about the outcome or goal of tax policy or energy policy or immigration policy. Our unity of purpose here presents an opportunity.\u00a0 But while we\u2019ve changed some aspects of education, the results we all work for and desire haven\u2019t been achieved.<\/p>\n

The bottom line is simple: federal education reform efforts have not worked as hoped. That\u2019s not a point I make lightly or joyfully. Yes, there have been some minor improvements in a few areas. But we\u2019re far from where we need to be. We need to be honest with ourselves. The purpose of today\u2019s conversation is to look at the past with 20\/20 hindsight, examine what we have done and where it has \u2013 or hasn\u2019t \u2013 led us.<\/p>\n

First, let me be clear that I\u2019m not here to impugn anyone\u2019s motives. Every one of us wants better for students. We want better for our own children. We want better for our communities and our country. We won\u2019t solve any problems through finger-pointing. I also don\u2019t intend to criticize the goals of previous administrations\u2019 education initiatives. In the end, every administration has tried to improve education for students and grow the number who are learning valuable skills.\u00a0 We should hope \u2013 no, we should commit \u2013 that we as a country will not rest until every single child has equal access to the quality education they deserve. Secretary Spellings was right to ask \u201cwhose child do you want to leave behind?\u201d<\/p>\n

But the question remains: why, after all the good intentions, the worthwhile goals, the wealth of expertise mustered, and the billions and billions of dollars spent, are students still unprepared? With No Child Left Behind (NCLB), the general consensus among federal policymakers was that greater accountability would lead to better schools. Highlighting America\u2019s education woes had become an American pastime, and, they thought, surely if schools were forced to answer for their failures, students would ultimately be better off.<\/p>\n

President Bush, the \u201ccompassionate conservative,\u201d and Senator Kennedy, the \u201cliberal lion,\u201d both worked together on the law. It said that schools had to meet ambitious goals… or else. Lawmakers mandated that 100 percent of students attain proficiency by 2014. This approach would keep schools accountable and ultimately graduate more and better-educated students, they believed. Turns out, it didn\u2019t.<\/p>\n

Indeed, as has been detailed today, NCLB did little to spark higher scores. Universal proficiency, touted at the law\u2019s passage, was not achieved. As states and districts scrambled to avoid the law\u2019s sanctions and maintain their federal funding, some resorted to focusing specifically on math and reading at the expense of other subjects. Others simply inflated scores or lowered standards.\u00a0 The trend line remains troubling today. According to the most recent National Assessment of Educational Progress data, two-thirds of American fourth graders still can\u2019t read at the level they should. And since 2013, our 8th grade reading scores have declined.<\/p>\n

Where the Bush administration emphasized NCLB\u2019s stick, the Obama administration focused on carrots. They recognized that states would not be able to legitimately meet the NCLB\u2019s strict standards. Secretary Duncan testified that 82 percent of the nation\u2019s schools would likely fail to meet\u00a0 the law\u2019s requirements \u2014 thus subjecting them to crippling sanctions.<\/p>\n

The Obama administration dangled billions of dollars through the \u201cRace to the Top\u201d competition, and the grant- making process not so subtly encouraged states to adopt the Common Core State Standards. With a price tag of nearly four and a half billion dollars, it was billed as the \u201clargest-ever federal investment in school reform.\u201d Later, the Department would give states a waiver from NCLB\u2019s requirements so long as they adopted the Obama administration\u2019s preferred policies \u2014 essentially making law while Congress negotiated the reauthorization of the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA).<\/p>\n

Unsurprisingly, nearly every state accepted Common Core standards and applied for hundreds of millions of dollars in \u201cRace to the Top\u201d funds.\u00a0 But despite this change, the United States\u2019 PISA[ii]<\/a> performance did not improve in reading and science, and it dropped in math from 2012 to 2015. Then, rightly, came the public backlash to federally imposed tests and the Common Core. I agree \u2013 and have always agreed \u2013 with President Trump on this: \u201cCommon Core is a disaster.\u201d And at the U.S. Department of Education, Common Core is dead.<\/p>\n

On a parallel track, the Obama administration\u2019s School Improvement Grants sought to fix targeted schools by injecting them with cash. The total cost of that effort was seven billion dollars. One year ago this week, the Department\u2019s Institute of Education Sciences released a report on what came of all that spending. It said: \u201cOverall, across all grades, we found that implementing any SIG-funded model had no significant impacts on math or reading test scores, high school graduation, or college enrollment.\u201d\u00a0 There we have it: billions of dollars directed at low-performing schools had no significant impact on student achievement. These investments were meant to spark meaningful reforms. Schools were encouraged to significantly alter their teaching staffs, fire the principal or change the structure and model of the school. But most glossed over those recommendations. They simply took the federal money and ran the school the same old way.<\/p>\n

So where does that leave us? We saw two presidents from different political parties and philosophies take two different approaches. Federally mandated assessments. Federal money. Federal standards. All originated in Washington, and none solved the problem. Too many of America\u2019s students are still unprepared. Perhaps the lesson lies not in what made the approaches\u00a0 different, but in what made them the same: the federal government. Both approaches had the same Washington \u201cexperts\u201d telling educators how to behave. The lesson is in the false premise: that Washington knows what\u2019s best for educators, parents and students.<\/p>\n

Rick, you\u2019ve rightly pointed out that the federal government is good at making states, districts, and schools do something, but it\u2019s not good at making them do it well. Getting real results for students hinges on how that \u201csomething\u201d is done. That\u2019s because when it comes to education \u2013 and any other issue in public life \u2013 those closest to the problem are always better able to solve it. Washington bureaucrats and self-styled education \u201cexperts\u201d are about as far removed from students as you can get. Yet under both Republican and Democratic administrations, Washington overextended itself time and time again.<\/p>\n

Educators don\u2019t need engineering from Washington. Parents don\u2019t need prescriptions from Washington. Students don\u2019t need standards from Washington. Throughout both initiatives, the result was a further damaged classroom dynamic between teacher and student, as the focus shifted from comprehension to test-passing. This sadly has taken root, with the American Federation of Teachers recently finding that 60 percent of its teachers reported having moderate to no influence over the content and skills taught in their own classrooms. Let that sink in. Most teachers feel they have little \u2013 if any \u2014 say in their own classrooms. That statistic should shock even the most ardent sycophant of \u201cthe system.\u201d<\/p>\n

It\u2019s yet another reason why we should shift power over classrooms from Washington back to teachers who know their students well. Federal mandates distort what education ought to be: a trusting relationship between teacher, parent and student. Ideally, parent and teacher work together to help a child discover his or her potential and pursue his or her passions. When we seek to empower teachers, we must empower parents as well. Parents are too often powerless in deciding what\u2019s best for their child. \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 The state mandates where to send their child. It mandates what their child learns and how he or she learns it. In the same way, educators are constrained by state mandates. District mandates. Building mandates… all kinds of other mandates! Educators don\u2019t need Washington mandating their teaching on top of everything else.\u00a0 But during the years covered in your volume, the focus was the opposite: more federal government intrusion into relationships between teachers, parents and children.<\/p>\n

The lessons of history should force us to admit that federal action has its limits. The federal-first approach did not start with No Child Left Behind. The push for higher national standards was present in the Clinton administration\u2019s \u201cGoals 2000\u201d initiative. Before that, we had President George H.W. Bush\u2019s \u201cAmerica 2000,\u201d also calling for higher national standards. These followed the Reagan administration\u2019s \u201cNation at Risk\u201d report, released in 1983.\u00a0 That report gave dire warnings about the country\u2019s track if education was not reformed. \u201cIf an unfriendly foreign power had attempted to impose on America the mediocre educational performance that exists today,\u201d the report warned, \u201cwe might well have viewed it as an act of war.\u201d That came after President Carter\u2019s giant nod to union bosses: the establishment of the Department of Education, with the ironic charge to \u201cprohibit federal control of education.\u201d<\/p>\n

The trend is evident. Politicians from both parties just can\u2019t help themselves. They have talked about painting education in new colors and even broader strokes. But each time, reform has not fundamentally changed \u201cthe system.\u201d Each attempt has really just been a new coat of paint on the same old wall. When we try the same thing over and over again, yet expect different results, that\u2019s not reform \u2013 that\u2019s insanity. We will not reach our goal of helping every child achieve his or her fullest potential until we truly change.<\/p>\n

Let me offer three ways we can move forward in that pursuit:<\/p>\n

(1) First, we need to recognize that the federal government\u2019s appropriate role is not to be the nation\u2019s school board. My role is not to be the national superintendent nor the country\u2019s \u201cchoice chief\u201d \u2013 regardless of what the union\u2019s \u201cChicken Littles\u201d may say! Federal investments in education, after all, are less than 10 percent of total K-12 expenditures, but the burdens created by federal regulations in education amount to a much, much larger percentage.\u00a0 The Every Student Succeeds Act charted a path in a new direction. ESSA takes important steps to return power where it belongs by recognizing states \u2013 not Washington \u2014 should shape education policy around their own people. But state lawmakers should also resist the urge to centrally plan education. \u201cLeave it to the states\u201d may be a compelling campaign-season slogan, but state capitols aren\u2019t exactly close to every family either. That\u2019s why states should empower teachers and parents and provide the same flexibility ESSA allows states. But let\u2019s recognize that many states are now struggling with what comes next. State ESSA plans aren\u2019t the finish line. Those words on paper mean very little if state and local leaders don\u2019t seize the opportunity to truly transform education. They must move past a mindset of compliance and embrace individual empowerment. Under ESSA, school leaders, educators and parents have the latitude and freedom to try new approaches to serve individual students.<\/p>\n

My message to them is simple: do it!<\/p>\n

Embrace the imperative to do something truly bold… to challenge the status quo… to break the mold. One important way to start this process is to make sure that parents get the information they want and need about the performance of their children\u2019s schools and teachers. ESSA encourages states to be transparent about how money is spent, down to the school-building level. Some states have developed information that is truly useful for parents and teachers. Others have worked just as hard to obfuscate what is really going on at their schools. To empower parents, policymakers and teachers, we can\u2019t let \u201cthe system\u201d hide behind complexity to escape accountability. We must always push for better.<\/p>\n

ESSA is a good step in the right direction. But it\u2019s just that \u2013 a step. We still find ourselves boxed in a \u201csystem,\u201d one where we are in a constant battle to move the ball between the 40-yard lines of a football field. Nobody scores, and nobody wins. Students are left bored in the bleachers, and many leave, never to return.\u00a0 So why don\u2019t we consider whether we need a new playbook?<\/p>\n

(2) That brings me to point number two. And, to finish the analogy… let\u2019s call a new play: empowering parents. Parents have the greatest stake in the outcome of their child\u2019s education. Accordingly, they should also have the power to make sure their child is getting the right education. As Deven Carlson[iii]<\/a> points out, there is little constituency in America for the top-down reforms that have been tried time and again. In order for any reform to truly work, it must attract and maintain the support of the people. I have seen such support for parental empowerment. The more parents exercise it, the more they like it. This growing support is why states are responding to that demand one by one. It\u2019s also why sycophants entrenched in and defending the status quo are terrified. They recoil from relinquishing power and control to teachers, parents and students.<\/p>\n

Well, I\u2019m not one bit afraid of losing power. Because I trust parents and teachers, and I believe in students. Equal access to a quality education should be a right for every American and every parent should have the right to choose how their child is educated. Government exists to protect those rights, not usurp them. So let\u2019s face it: the opponents of parents could repeal every voucher law, close every charter school, and defund every choice program across the country.\u00a0 But school choice still wouldn\u2019t go away. There would still be school choices… for the affluent and the powerful.<\/p>\n

Let\u2019s empower the forgotten parents to decide where their children go to school. Let\u2019s show some humility and trust all parents to know their kids\u2019 needs better than we do. Let\u2019s trust teachers, too. Let\u2019s encourage them to innovate, to create new options for students. Not just with public charter schools or magnet schools or private schools, but within the traditional \u201csystem\u201d and with new approaches yet to be explored. What we\u2019ve been doing isn\u2019t serving all kids well. Let\u2019s unleash teachers to help solve the problem.<\/p>\n

You know, I\u2019ve never heard it claimed that giving parents more options is bad for mom and dad. Or for the child. What you hear is that it\u2019s bad for \u201cthe system\u201d \u2013 for the school building, the school system, the funding stream. That argument speaks volumes about where Chicken Little\u2019s[iv]<\/a> priorities lie.<\/p>\n

Our children deserve better than the 19th century assembly-line approach. They deserve learning environments that are agile, relevant, exciting. Every student deserves a customized, self-paced, and challenging life-long learning journey. Schools should be open to all students \u2013 no matter where they\u2019re growing up or how much their parents make. That means no more discrimination based upon zip code or socio-economic status. All means all. It\u2019s about educational freedom! Freedom from Washington mandates. Freedom from centralized control. Freedom from a one-size-fits-all mentality. Freedom from \u201cthe system.\u201d<\/p>\n

Choice in education is not when a student picks a different classroom in this building or that building, uses this voucher or that tax-credit scholarship. Choice in education is bigger than that. Those are just mechanisms. It\u2019s about freedom to learn. Freedom to learn differently. Freedom to explore. Freedom to fail, to learn from falling and to get back up and try again. It\u2019s freedom to find the best way to learn and grow… to find the exciting and engaging combination that unlocks individual potential.<\/p>\n

(3) Which leads to my final point: if America\u2019s students are to be prepared, we must rethink school.<\/p>\n

What I propose is not another top-down, federal government policy that promises to be a silver bullet. No. We need a paradigm shift, a fundamental reorientation… a rethink. \u201cRethink\u201d means we question everything to ensure nothing limits a student from pursuing his or her passion, and achieving his or her potential. So each student is prepared at every turn for what comes next.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s past time to ask some of the questions that often get labeled as \u201cnon-negotiable\u201d or just don\u2019t get asked at all:<\/p>\n

Why do we group students by age?<\/p>\n

Why do schools close for the summer?<\/p>\n

Why must the school day start with the rise of the sun?<\/p>\n

Why are schools assigned by your address?<\/p>\n

Why do students have to go to a school building in the first place?<\/p>\n

Why is choice only available to those who can buy their way out? Or buy their way in?<\/p>\n

Why can\u2019t a student learn at his or her own pace?<\/p>\n

Why isn\u2019t technology more widely embraced in schools?<\/p>\n

Why do we limit what a student can learn based upon the faculty and facilities available?<\/p>\n

Why?<\/p>\n

We must answer these questions. We must acknowledge what is and what is not working for students.<\/p>\n

Now, I don\u2019t have all the answers or policy prescriptions. No one person does. But people do know how to help their neighbors. People do know how they can help a dozen students here or 100 there. Because they know the students. They know their home lives. They know their communities. They know their parents. They know each other. That means learning can, should, and will look different for each unique child. And we should celebrate that, not fear it! I\u2019m well aware that change \u2014 the unknown \u2013 can be scary. That talk of fundamentally rethinking our approach to education seems impossible, insurmountable.\u00a0 But not changing is scarier. Stagnation creates risks of its own.\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 The reality is.we should be horrified of not changing.<\/p>\n

Our children don\u2019t fear their futures. Think of a newborn, born into hope \u2014 not fear. They begin life with a clean slate. With a fresh set of eyes to see things we don\u2019t currently see. That\u2019s how students begin their lifelong learning journeys… with unlimited potential… yet with limited time. Their dreams, their hopes, their aspirations, their futures can\u2019t wait, while another wave of lawmakers puts yet another coat of paint on the broken \u201csystem.\u201d One year may not seem like much to an adult, but it\u2019s much too long for the child who still can\u2019t read \u201cGoodnight Moon.\u201d We, the public, can\u2019t wait either. Education is good for the public. Everything else \u2013 our health, our economy, our continued security as a nation \u2014 depends on what we do today for the leaders of tomorrow. It follows, then, that any educator in any learning environment serves the public good. If the purpose of public education is to educate the public, then it should not matter what word comes before school.<\/p>\n

What matters are the students the school serves. What matters are their futures. We\u2019ve been entrusted with their futures not because we asked to be, but because it\u2019s a duty to destiny \u2013 theirs… and ours. It all depends on what we do now. When our grandchildren tell their children about this moment in history, let them say we were the ones who finally put students first.<\/p>\n

NOTES:<\/strong><\/p>\n

[i]<\/a>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Contributor\u2019s Note: These are the US Secretary of Education, Betsy DeVos\u2019 remarks at the American Enterprise Institute AEI, January 18, 2018. They call for dropping the present ideas of \u2018schooling\u2019, and herald a new way of thinking, about our children, their education, and what a real education means and can look like.\u00a0 In essence, the Secretary is calling for a complete Re-Think and Re-Do for American Education, and moving away from the Industrial model that has gripped the US, India, and much of the world.\u00a0 Its a call to Quit School as we know it. – P.K. Willey.<\/p>\n

[ii]<\/a>\u00a0\u00a0 PISA \u2013 the Program for International Student Assessment.\u00a0 A mechanism to compare the level 15 year old students in the US with similarly aged students in an international context.<\/p>\n

[iii]<\/a>\u00a0 Deven Carlson:\u00a0 An Assistant Professor of political science at Ohio University with interests in education and social policy.<\/p>\n

[iv]<\/a>\u00a0 Chicken Little:\u00a0 A children\u2019s story about a\u00a0 little chick who one morning\u00a0 gets hit on the head by an acorn, and convinced that \u2018the sky is falling\u2019.\u00a0 and throughout the day, runs around in a panic calling out to everyone, \u2018the sky is falling!\u00a0 The sky is falling!\u2019 when it was just an acorn that hit the little chick\u2019s head.<\/p>\n

___________________________________________<\/p>\n

P.K. Willey, Ph.D. (University of CT, USA),<\/em> is a member of the TRANSCEND Network for Peace Development Environment<\/a> , a scholar of Gandhi\u2019s ideals, a parent of two, and a writer.\u00a0 Willey seeks to foster discussion on Gandhi\u2019s Earth Ethics, to contribute to raising awareness about what is most essential to us all. Email: pkwilley@wiseearthpublishers.com<\/a> \u2013 www.earthethics.org.in<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201cIt\u2019s about educational freedom! Freedom from Washington mandates. Freedom from centralized control. Freedom from a one-size-fits-all mentality. Freedom from ‘the system.’\u201d –Betsy DeVos<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":107001,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[40],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-107000","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-transcend-members"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/107000","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=107000"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/107000\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/107001"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=107000"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=107000"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=107000"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}