Free Teachers to Certify Learning.

For all of the commotion over public school reform since publication of A Nation At Risk in 1983, the untold volumes written, the millions of dollars expended, and the thousands of hours invested, we have tragically little to show. Meaningful reform continues to elude us while critics of public education continue their feeding frenzy, picking away at what remains.

First as a high school principal, then as an assistant superintendent, and now as superintendent, I have watched with increasing fascination as one group, then another gains ascendancy, only to be vanquished by yet another cadre of educational reformers. Against this backdrop I offer my prescription for school improvement, emboldened by the notion that what I propose will be no less enduring than what has preceded.

Since the dawn of remembrance, local boards of education have been overwhelmed by their responsibility for direct instruction--constructing buildings, hiring teachers, securing supplies, purchasing equipment, and determining programs. This preoccupation with direct instruction has hampered many governing boards from considering a more fundamental mission--certifying learning.

Under current arrangements, a student comes to be considered educated only by completing prescribed courses while using prescribed textbooks, operating prescribed equipment, attending at prescribed times, and being under the supervision of prescribed teachers, all within the confines of prescribed buildings. While this works for most students, it is not working for many others. The number of dropouts is staggering. Equally frustrating are those who confuse endurance with achievement. Rarely mentioned are the thousands who opt out of public schooling for other alternatives such as home schooling.

Shift Resources

What is needed is a gentle repositioning of local boards of education. The delivery of direct instruction, characterized by the building of schools, the hiring of staff, and the providing of supplies and equipment, must become only one component of a much broader responsibility--that of certifying learning for all youngsters in the community. Local boards must become educational advocates to ensure that all 18-year-olds are educated, regardless of when, where, or how that education occurs.

Other important factors compel such a shift as well. Costs are rising rapidly, and on all but the growing fringes of suburbia, with its high density of young families, school boards are finding it difficult to maintain sufficient voter support to secure the required operating dollars. Compounding this is the more than $100 billion in capital improvements we are told is needed to bring our facilities up to date. By allowing youngsters to acquire the desired knowledge and skills from other sources, funds can be transferred to students whose learning is best provided within the direct instruction model.

The knowledge and skills that comprise the conventional curriculum are becoming much more readily available from other sources. Technology, providing global access to information, only accelerates this movement. In addition, more youngsters are traveling, attending specialized camps, and taking private lessons that provide them with the knowledge and skills educators want them to have. Why not acknowledge and honor that form of learning instead of blindly insisting, "If we didn't provide it, you must not have learned it; therefore, it doesn't count for credit."

Local boards need to acknowledge that learning and schooling are not one and the same. Following the advice of Mark Twain, we ought not let schooling interfere with the education of our young.

By certifying learning that takes place in venues other than school, we not only encourage our students to seek knowledge when and where they can find it, but we give richer definition to the role of the local board of education--a board whose concern must be for all the youth of the community, not just those who choose to attend its schools or sit through classes provided by its staff.

Freeing Teachers

In addition to freeing the student to seek knowledge and acquire skills when and where they can, we must grant licensed educators the freedom to practice when and where they prefer. Unlike doctors, lawyers, accountants, and other professionals who are licensed to practice their craft independently, teachers may only teach when professionally engaged by a school district or other accredited agency. No licensed educator can independently contract with a family to deliver educational services with any expectation that the instruction will be recognized or the learning credited by either the state or local school district.

As long as this inequity continues, we will forever be locked into a bureaucratic system that limits choices for families, lacks professional options for teachers, and prevents school boards from offering anything but direct instruction. Certifying learning will remain an illusion.

We need to recognize the same right to work for teachers--the right to practice their profession in the open marketplace--enjoyed by other professionals licensed by the state and to have the results of their work recognized.

No one questions a physician's right to issue a prescription regardless of where it is generated--whether a patient's home, a hospital room, or the doctor's office. Lawyers once licensed can serve clients independently or through corporate partnerships. Shouldn't a professional educator be authorized to "hang out a shingle" and have his or her work honored?

When a teacher has control of his or her career, by affiliating with a school district or going it alone, it gives an enormous boost to the notion of what it means to be a professional. It also provides meaningful choices for families looking for options that just might make that critical learning difference.

If families are given genuine choices, the political rhetoric and divisive debate over vouchers and privatization of instructional services will become moot. With all the reforms bidding for time and attention, perhaps one built around certifying learning, that gives parents, teachers, and school boards real choices, will be the one that finally works.