Education Choices
“Bureaucracy defends the status quo long past the time when the quo has lost its status.” – Laurence J. Peter, Canadian educator and originator of “The Peter Principle.”
Many of us remember a popular magazine called Consumer Reports. Sold only by subscription, Consumer Reports accepted no advertising and existed solely to provide independent, unbiased reviews of products. First published in 1936, Consumer Reports was a trusted resource for generations of Americans looking for the straight truth about appliances, automobiles, consumer electronics and many other products.
I was a subscriber to Consumer Reports for years and appreciated that the information contained within the publication’s pages was not supplied by the manufacturers of the products being presented. When the magazine reviewed a product, its editors purchased the merchandise independently. They tested everything against the manufacturer’s claims and against the competition.
As consumers, we want and need independent reviews of the things we purchase – assessments that go beyond the views of those with a vested interest in selling the service or product. Is it any wonder that nearly every website offering products for sale includes reviews from consumers? Buyers demand to know how a product or service measures up, and they value the opinions of other consumers who have actually tried it.
Does is seem odd that, when it comes to education, the makers of “the product” are so resistant to independent assessment? Whenever a new idea or an alternative approach to education is presented, we soon hear a chorus of opposition. The “educational professionals” say, “Trust us. We know what we’re doing. Don’t listen to the consumers.”
This year as public hearings have been held on bills offering parents expanded choices in education, parents and students (the customers) have lined up to testify with their assessments of the status quo and in support of the changes. At the same hearings, school superintendents, as well as teachers’ and school board associations (the manufacturers) have lined up to defend the status quo and condemn the choices. Most education professionals don’t want us to listen to parents and students with actual experience with the products that schools are selling.
Some facts compelling change include the following:
- In 2007, only 35 percent of Missouri 8th graders scored proficient on NAEP tests; in 2017 that number was still just 38 percent.
- In 2016, just 22 percent of all Missouri high school students met the ACT benchmarks for college readiness.
- DESE – the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education – reports that nearly 90 percent of high school students graduated on time in 2016. However, fewer than 43 percent of the “graduates” were considered college or career ready by DESE’s own standards.
More than half of Missouri children have reading skills below their grade level. You don’t need to be an education professional to recognize that as a problem. When students can’t read, they will struggle with other subjects, as well. Recently, we heard testimony from a number of children who came to support Senate Bill 349, which expands reading success programs in Missouri. One of the children said she enjoys math, but struggles because so many lessons are based on word problems. Her lack of reading skills prevents her from understanding the math challenge being presented.
Every year, the Missouri General Assembly puts forth legislation to reform education and give parents more choices. Every year, “the usual suspects” show up to tell us why we shouldn’t bring more competition into the education marketplace.
Parents turn to educational alternatives when they’re dissatisfied with their neighborhood school. One mother testified that she had four children in public school. Three were doing well, but one struggled. When her local school proved either unable or unwilling to provide the extra help her daughter needed, the mother placed her child in a private school and the child’s performance improved. Parents tell us they want options. They want to be able to send their children to schools that align with their needs. They want their children to be successful as adults.
Most Missourian have few if any options to change schools, and in many rural areas, the only choices are state schools or home schooling. A bill introduced in the Missouri Senate, Senate Bill 292, would expand charter schools outside the state’s metropolitan areas. Another bill, Senate Bill 160, would create the Missouri Empowerment Scholarship Accounts Program and allow parents to receive a tax credit scholarship to allow their choice of school.
It’s a constant struggle in the Legislature to stand up for the needs of parents and students in the face of powerful forces that are heavily invested in protecting the status quo. Like the manufacturers who would just as soon that Consumer Reports not reveal flaws in their products, the providers of education would prefer we not look too closely at their product, either. The problem is that we’ve seen the reviews and are not impressed.
Thank you for reading this legislative report. You can contact my office at (573) 751-2108 if you have any questions. Thank you and we welcome your prayers for the proper application of state government.