Bringing Education Into The 21st Century

Technology and innovation have disrupted scores of industries over the last 50 years.

Newspapers. Network television. Landline telephones. Film and music distribution. Photography. Taxis. Retail shopping. The list is endless.

In some cases, the disruptors have gone on to be disrupted themselves.

Blockbuster changed the way many people watched movies. Blockbuster was driven out of business by Netflix. Netflix had to reinvent so as to not be rendered irrelevant itself by streaming.

Cable television disrupted network television. Cable is now being disrupted by streaming as well.

There is one glaring exception when it comes to a major industry that has not been disrupted.

EDUCATION.

Primary and secondary education has not advanced much over the last century.

A teacher lecturing in front of a class of 15-25 students. 

Asking ANYONE? if they know the answer to their questions.

From "Ferris Bueller's Day Off"
Source: Paramount Pictures

The blackboard in front of the class might have been replaced by a whiteboard.

Computers are in use in the classroom but have they had any effect on improving academic performance?

What is different in 2023 compared to 100 years ago in the classroom?

The classroom might not differ much but what students learned has changed.

For example, consider this examination for 8th graders that was given in Bullitt County schools in Kentucky in 1912.

 

Here is some background on the exam as provided by the Bullitt County Geneaological Society

Bullitt County Schools were mostly one-room schools in those days, scattered around the rural county. Students came together at the county courthouse once or twice a year to take this "Common Exam." It was apparently a big deal. The local newspaper urged students to do well, even urging seventh graders that it was not too early to start preparing. Some scholarships were provided to those who passed to go on to high school, which was also a big deal back then. In those days, high school was sometimes another county away and a rare thing for many farm children to be able to otherwise attend.

How many 8th graders today could answer half of those questions let alone college graduates?

Education experts today argue that tests like this merely quiz facts and do not provide any insight into a student's knowledge or understanding.

They then go on to say that testing for knowledge and understanding is very difficult, Therefore, it is not done very often.

This also seems to apply to the SAT and ACT exams which more and more colleges are no longer requiring.

Is it any wonder that the state of education is what it is today?

How much knowledge and understanding do we see on almost any subject at all?

Of course, educators always seem to argue that they could do a better job if they had more money.

Schools in the United States spent an average of $16,993 per pupil in the 2022-23 school year.

Spending has increased over 50% per pupil in constant dollars since 1990.

Total expenditure per pupil in public elementary and secondary schools in the U.S from 1990 to 2019
(in constant 2020-21 U.S. dollars)

Credit: https://www.statista.com/statistics/203118/expenditures-per-pupil-in-public-schools-in-the-us-since-1990/

It is worse in some of the nation's largest school districts.

Chicago public schools spent nearly $30,000 per student this year.

Credit: https://wirepoints.org/trapped-in-a-death-spiral-chicago-public-school-spending-hits-record-29k-per-student-as-enrollment-shrinks-outcomes-plummet/

Spending per student has increased 40% in the last four years.

Credit: https://wirepoints.org/trapped-in-a-death-spiral-chicago-public-school-spending-hits-record-29k-per-student-as-enrollment-shrinks-outcomes-plummet/

What are the taxpayers getting for that money?

83% of the students in Chicago public schools are Black or Hispanic.

Less than 20% of these students can read at grade level.

In Detroit public schools, only 5% of students are rated "proficient" in the latest National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) tests.

However, the Detroit Public Schools Community District rated 99% of its 3,285 teachers as 'highly effective" (53%) or "effective" (36%).

Only eight teachers in the entire district were rated "inefficient".

You have to wonder how much influence the teacher's union is having in all of this?

A prominent school choice advocate looks at the trends in staffing vs. enrollment in the Los Angeles school district and questions whether public schools have become more of a jobs program for adults than an education initiative for kids?

The latest test scores in Los Angeles indicates that only 29% of its students are proficient in math.

That is half of what it was in 2014.

Source: https://www.publicschoolreview.com/california/los-angeles-unified-school-district/622710-school-district

However, you would not know that by looking at the grades that teachers give their students in L.A.

75% of students are awarded with A's, B's and C's on their report cards by their teachers while less than 30% are judged to be proficient in state level testing.

Source: https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2022-12-22/la-student-reports-card-grades-are-high-test-scores-are-low-why-the-big-disconnect

Do you see a disconnect?

It seems parents are increasingly seeing it as well.

The number of students who are being homeschooled has increased dramatically in recent years.

This was particularly true during the Covid pandemic. However, even with school restrictions behind us, the number of students being homeschooled is over three times what it was 25 years ago.

Source: https://www.nheri.org/how-many-homeschool-students-are-there-in-the-united-states-during-the-2021-2022-school-year/

Private school enrollments increased by 6% between 2019-2021 while public school enrollments were dropping.

More and more parents are advocating that they be given more choice in determining how their children are educated.

At the same time, many politicians are saying that there needs to be more accountability from public schools in the academic results that public schools are providing for students.

This is resulting in the passage of "school choice" legislation in a number of states that provide parents and students more educational alternatives to traditional public schools.

School choice includes school vouchers, scholarship tax credit programs, education savings account programs, public charter schools, virtual charter schools, and other meaningful school choices. 

One trend in school choice that is becoming increasingly popular is allowing school funding to follow the student and receive state-funded scholarships to attend the school of their choice (public, charter, private etc).

With school choice, parents and students are no longer trapped in underperforming public schools or schools that are more interested in promoting a woke agenda than teaching the fundamentals of a sound education.

The most popular school choice program being considered in many red states right now is one that provides universal choice to all families regardless of circumstances.

Source: https://thefederalist.com/2023/05/12/school-choice-takes-state-houses-by-storm-in-2023-legislative-sessions/

Seven states have enacted universal or near-universal school choice funding into law---Arizona, Arkansas, Florida, Indiana, Iowa, Utah, and West Virginia.

North Carolina, Ohio are other states that may be close to enacting some form of universal school choice.

Redirecting the flow of money from school to student is an important step in beginning to reform and improve public schools.

In the past, if a parent was dissatisfied with the education their child was getting in public schools it actually worked to the benefit of the school. The money to the school stayed the same whether the child was in the school or not. The school also saved costs in not having to educate that child.

Universal school choice should hold schools more accountable to parents and the taxpayers.

No student. No money.

However, there is still much more that can be done to use technology and innovation to improve student education putting money aside.

There is a huge opportunity to improve instruction by improving curriculum.

There is no reason that the best teachers and instruction methods cannot be leveraged through technology and innovation.

Why can't the very best instructors be made available to thousands, if not millions of students, in online courses?

Why can't we use multimedia to enhance the educational experience and make it entertaining for students at the same time?

Why can't we use gamification concepts to capture and maintain the interest of students while they learn and test their knowledge?

There are a wide array of possibilities to take education from 19th century concepts to the reality of the 21st century we live in today.

Curriki is a non-profit organization that has a mission of doing just that.

Curriki is a nonprofit organization committed to using technology to improve the quality of online education and make it available as widely as possible.

We believe dynamic, interactive learning content has the power to transform students’ lives at a global scale.

We made it our mission to unlock learning potential by providing the technology that helps every student achieve improved, personalized learning outcomes anywhere, anytime.

Curriki  provides educators with a toolkit to publish and create interactive learning experiences for their students.  

Curriki is also dedicated to providing an open platform that allows education content creators to develop and put lessons, lectures and other educational content for use by all while also letting the creators receive a fair payment for their efforts.

Think of something similar to the Apple iTunes store or Spotify where artists get paid with each download of their music off these platforms.

Curriki provides a platform that schools, home school parents and other can go to get quality online education and education creators have a financial incentive to develop quality content.

The Covid pandemic showed many parents how poor the educational experience was for their children.

It also revealed just how poorly schools and the educational community had embraced innovation and technology to advance the state of education.

When you combine public schools and the increasing power of the teacher's unions over the last 40 years, public education has come to feel like a hidebound monopoly that has no interest in changing with the times. This is despite clear evidence that many children are being ill-served, particularly minority students in large, urban centers.

Make no mistake that changing our educational system will not be easy.

Teacher's unions maintain a immense power over education. 

There is also a symbiotic relationship between these public sector unions and the Democrat party.

99% of over $55 million of teacher's union political contributions in 2022 went to Democrats.

Teachers Union- Long Term Political Contribution Trends
Source: https://www.opensecrets.org/industries/totals.php?ind=L1300

There is little interest in the Democrats or the teacher's union in seeing the public school system and their monopoly power weakened.

Look no further than this tweet from Biden's Secretary of Education if you have any doubts about that.

Teachers know better than their parents as to what is best for their kids?

I have news for Secretary Cardona. A teacher may see a child for 6-7 hours, 180 days of the year.

A parent sees them 365 days a year. 

What planet is he living on?

We also have the fact that the Biden administration directed the FBI to investigate and intimidate parents who spoke at school board meetings to argue that schools be opened during the Covid pandemic.

Source: https://katv.com/news/nation-world/no-legitimate-basis-judiciary-committee-blasts-biden-admin-directive-telling-fbi-to-investigate-school-board-meetings

Or take a look at this email response New Hampshire Representative Tommy Hoyt (D) sent to a parent who was asking him to support a Parental Rights Bill.

He blames parents for the facs that student results tanked during Covid and suggests that for their children's sake they shut up and let teachers teach.

What?

Source: https://nhjournal.com/nhdem-rep-tells-voter-to-shut-up-over-parents-rights-bill/

 

These examples tell you all you need to know about how strong the desire is by the teacher's unions and the Democrats to keep parents far removed in decisions about the education of their children.

Education can change for the better.

We can bring education into the 21st Century.

However, it is not going to come about by relying on the teacher's unions, providing even more tax dollars or following a model that is over a century old.

It is going to require parents to stand up for their children.

It is going to take politicians and school board members who put children ahead of the unions.

It is going to take technology and innovation to remake education as has been done for so many other industries over the last 40 years.

There is a glimmer of hope that change is afoot in all three areas.

Let's hope that glimmer grows into something far larger that will benefit our children and their education.