America's Educational Safety-Net: Catch 82
Bill Gates and David Gergen made eye opening presentations at the National Governor's Association 2005 National Education Summit on High Schools. Gates possesses a unique and worldly vantage point with which he is able to discern that America is rapidly falling behind countries like China and India in the areas of Math and Science...
It is understandable given Gates' interests that he would recognize such concerns... but to me it was what David Gergen had to say that provided the clear context for the work that I have been so actively engaged in over the past seven years.
At the summit Gergen presented statistics showing that if a high school freshman class had 100 students... only 18 members of that class would graduate from college on time. Assuming that his numbers are close... I ask you how we let 82 slip through the gaps in our system. With almost certainty these 82 will be less than what they could and should have been... What a waste!
Time and again when asked why education is in such difficult shape our leaders default to the standard candidate answer... " We need more resources". That certainly is the case in many areas... but a great deal more can be done with what we have.
For every issue that would cause a student to become one of " The 82" there is at least one expert group... a public/government sponsored agency or a private entity that has already been researching and advocating the concern.
All of these headline grabbing issues... School Dropout Rates... Bullying... School Violence... Obesity... Depression/Suicide... Teen Smoking... Teen Drug/Alcohol Use... Eating Disorders... Immigrant Learning... Teen Pregnancy... Learning and other Disabilities... Paying for College... Applying for College... All have one thing in common: Somewhere within this country there is a group of highly qualified and inspired Americans that are developing initiatives to solve the problem.
Lets immediately deploy the resources we currently posses and keep our students safe and learning. " The Educational Safety Net" will organize the best and most qualified information, outreach and support programming and make it available at every middle school, every high school and every college free of charge.
We'll give local communities absolute control over what information and services their students are exposed to...
Then we will call on the involvement of the community that cares so much about the quality and results of their local education. Would Parents, local business leaders and seniors get involved if they knew that the hour they spent each week, or the financial contribution (whatever the amount) really made an impact on the lives of their local students? You bet they would.
Each school/community will operate their part of the Educational Safety-Net as an independent business unit... similar to a MacDonald's franchise. This will allow regional and local businesses the opportunity to financially support the education of their future employees while at the same time build their business relationship with the community. Sponsorship opportunities for banks, cable companies as well as local health care providers, sports outlets, pizza shops etc. will generate much needed education dollars to support new education initiatives.
To begin with the Safety-Net will provide a web based platform which will give experts a forum to communicate health and safety information to our students and their parents. Perhaps more importantly the platform will facilitate real life connections between students and parents in need...and those school or community based resources which can assist them.
In addition to what resources are or are not available at their school, We must find a W.A.Y. to cover all American Students with " The Student Assistance Program".
For a nominal annual fee between $39-59 an individual student assistance program should be provided offering professional face to face, personal counseling support to students and parents as well as student tutoring for Math, Science and English.
For low income students... the same services will be made available without cost through corporate sponsorships.
Remember This: No Safety-Net, mandatory testing policy or intervention can fix education when students don't see any hope. Without a Purpose to what they learn they are unable to justify the effort when so many other modern day distractions appeal to their pursuit of comfort and pleasure.