President Bill Clinton has been in the White House since January. What will he do to and for public education?
Clearly, we educators are optimistic that education will be at the top of Clinton's agenda during the first 100 days of his administration, and afterwards. We are encouraged by the fact that he ran on a platform of change—because schools, like other sectors of society, must change. As we are propelled into the 21st century, the challenge is no longer to maintain the status quo. We need to be building for the future, not trying to preserve the past.
Schools must change in response to the changes taking place throughout our society—changes that are complex, fast-paced, and turbulent. The information explosion, demographic changes, radical changes in technology, competition in the global marketplace with once-distant cultures—all these factors are changing the way Americans live and work. As the Information Society unfolds around us, all systems in the nation's infrastructure are being restructured in response to new opportunities and requirements.
Because new skills and knowledge are needed to excel in these times, schools must adopt new standards of performance and a new vision of the required knowledge. Our society must work collaboratively to provide the new skills and knowledge to its students and citizenry, and to instill learning as a central value. Is there any other way we can stay competitive in a post-industrial global economy?
As this new era emerges, we educators need to be able to respond vigorously and effectively to change. As Tom Peters has said, "Winners must learn to relish change with the same enthusiasm and energy that we have resisted it in the past."
We know that the old ways of working are no longer sufficient. In the business world, professionals are cutting across boundaries within organizations, looking for innovative ways to meet challenges in training, human resources, quality, and customer service. For those who manage the human side of business, the need to understand and shape the forces of change sweeping through the American workplace has never been greater. Most school administrators, too, have a new mandate to keep up with the latest ways to build continuous quality and improve productivity within their organizations.
Breaking Down Walls
"Change," President Clinton said again and again during his trek to the White House, "does not come easily." We cannot let that fact daunt us, however, because the need for change in our schools is critical.
Findings from the Children's Defense Fund and others affirm that the nation's poorest citizens are its youngest. The litany of problems commonly associated with schoolchildren from low-income families is all too familiar. Moreover, the problem of children's poverty and its ramifications for schools is exacerbated by the increasing diversity of the nation's population.
The growing incidence of poverty among children and their families will require schools and educational leaders to develop closer working relationships with other social and human service providers. We know that preschool interventions in the lives of poor children will greatly improve their prospects of becoming capable learners once their formal schooling starts. Educators are also aware of the need to focus more seriously on issues such as school-to-work transitions, equity, literacy, and serving at-risk students. To address this ambitious agenda will require a concerted effort among schools, parents, communities, businesses, and government.
Although many people across the nation criticize American schools for not meeting the needs of our children, increasing numbers of people in many locales—ranging from social service agencies to hospitals to boardrooms to foundations—are recognizing that the schools of America cannot solve the problems of America's children alone.
The traditional walls separating schools and general government will have to be broken down if we are to meet the social, health, and education needs of children. Fortunately, President Clinton does not need a cram course in public education to understand these issues. Obviously, he will need to balance his social vision with the realities of the nation's circumstances. But without his political support and leadership, public education would be crippled financially and politically.
The next session of Congress will offer an opportunity to shape the federal role in education for the remainder of the century. The Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) will be considered for reauthorization. This legislation includes an array of some 45 education improvement programs. The new administration's posture toward this legislation will be telling. President Clinton's vision, as articulated during the campaign, suggests that he will seek to shift the emphasis of proposed legislation influencing national education policy.
The reauthorization of the ESEA and the Hawkins/Stafford amendments of 1988 comes at a critical time in the development of the federal role in education. The reauthorization will be addressed by a Congress approximately one-quarter of whose members are newly elected, at a time when effective education is the key to our economic strength and international competitiveness. And, for the first time, the reauthorization will take place against the backdrop of national goals for education.
ASCD recently joined with 17 organizations (members of the Educational Leaders Consortium and the Forum of Educational Organization Leaders) in developing and approving 13 concepts for the 1993 Hawkins/Stafford reauthorization. The consortium attempted to shape a comprehensive redesign of Hawkins/Stafford related to the broad sweep of the national goals.
ASCD's participation in these proceedings represents a major step forward in our efforts to influence national education policy. We will continue to participate in the consortium deliberations to develop language for the bill and to devise a long-term strategy to achieve the national goals for education.