Is the U.S. Education System in Need of a Heart Transplant or a Change of Heart?

I always read with great interest Marc Tucker's blogs from the National Center on Education and the Economy.  I have heard Marc speak numerous times, I have participated in the Superintendent Academy sponsored by the NCEE and agree with his and NCEE's advocacy for systemic change in the American education system.  Tucker's main point in his most recent entry addresses the false promise of charter schools as a "be-all, end-all" education reform effort.  Tucker and the NCEE are distinctive among education policy leaders with a strong emphasis on benchmarking the U.S. with the most successful education systems around the world.  Here Tucker's argument is right on the money.  Charter schools are a band-aid when a heart transplant is needed.  

His metaphoric language caused me to think of deeper issues that plague our policy environment in education and elsewhere.  Many of those that we elect and even appoint to address the challenges of our system do not fundamentally support or value the basic ideas of public education.  This is a non-issue in the most successful public education models worldwide.  Unfortunately that is a sticking point here in the U.S. and a heart transplant will not work without a change of heart. 

Two items from the news this week illustrate this point.  The first is the utterly heartless and ignorant display by members of the board of education in Cobb County, GA that refused to honor the dying request of one their own teachers, Patrick Key, a 53-year-old that died on Christmas Day of COVID-19.  His humble request was that they follow the mask mandate and begin wearing their masks at meetings and school events.  Several, including the Superintendent Chris Ragsdale refused. This blatant disrespect of a teacher sacrificing his life in the line of duty would not be tolerated in the systems the NCEE advance as the most worthy of emulation. A change of heart is needed in how we treat and honor the teaching profession. 

The second, is the appointment of Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) to the House Education Committee.  Rep. Greene, an outward QAnon conspiracy theorist, has denied the reality of the school shootings in Newtown, CT and Parkland, FL-- going so far as to publicly harass David Hogg, one of the Parkland victims.  The insertion of such toxic, ideological extremism into one of the most important education policy bodies calls into question almost every accepted truth about the most basic tenants of education.  It is beyond reproach. Rep. Greene would not be able to keep her job as a teacher for such behavior, why should she be able to serve on the committee with oversight of education.  A change of heart is needed around the important role education plays in pursing and respecting truth and preserving the basic institutions of our democracy. 

Perhaps the most critical change of heart needed is with the role of the equity and equal opportunity for ALL students rather the most affluent or advantaged.  Supporting public education is an investment made by all citizens for the benefit of everyone in society.  Instead, policy makers in Kentucky and elsewhere want to rip money away from the most disadvantaged students, allow teacher pay and benefits to continue to erode relative to other professions, and develop schemes to legally re-segregate our schools.  

The sentiments among many of those in power runs completely contrary to what is observed every day in our schools.  Chris Key is a teacher that did what policy makers asked him to do, risk his life for his students by teaching during a pandemic.  He was not making a political statement, he was speaking truth. Millions of other educators go to work everyday and make countless sacrifices for the sake of their students.  As a superintendent, I often marveled at the lengths the teachers and all school staff would go in my district to serve students even in the most challenging  circumstances.  

Marc Tucker is right, we need systemic change to improve our public education system. And he is right, the global models for systemic reform are a better approach than charter schools. Such reform is possible-- the state of Maryland is on the cusp of embracing several aspects of the most high performing systems globally.  But before we can embark on such an endeavor, we need to start with a basic commitment to the mission of public schools, we need policy makers to embrace the cause and the work of educators to support ALL students.  We might need a heart transplant, but we also need a change of heart.