Ideas Offered on Education Reform

I recently had the opportunity to listen to a presentation from Dr. Tony Bennett, the state school superintendent for the State of Indiana. As our state continues its effort to provide a better public education for Wisconsin’s schoolchildren, it is always interesting to get another state's perspective on how they are dealing with the same issues.

Dr. Bennett mentioned that the goal of Indiana’s education policymakers is to “inject the education system with a healthy dose of competition, freedom and accountability.” This philosophy reminded me of our approach in Wisconsin with our use of choice and charter schools to provide good alternatives and healthy competition to public schools in need of improvement.

Indiana also is seeking to place a focus on recognizing and rewarding their best teachers and principals. New laws there will create locally developed, annual evaluations based on multiple measures, including student performance. These evaluations will be used to provide educators with meaningful feedback, targeted professional development and recognition for excellent instruction.

Another element of Indiana’s education reform effort seeks to empower local school leaders to make decisions based on students’ needs. The idea is to give local school boards and citizens the autonomy to make the necessary improvements to bolster achievement – free of state mandates.

This is based upon the premise that principals do not need hundreds of pages
of regulations to run a school. They simply need the independence to pursue excellence on behalf of all children.

Like Wisconsin, Indiana is also seeking to provide families with quality educational options. All children deserve access to quality educational opportunities, no matter where they live or how much money is in the family bank account. To accomplish this goal, they recently expanded the list of entities that may sponsor public charter schools and provided families with means-tested opportunity scholarships (similar to the Milwaukee Parental Choice
Program).

Every student has the right to attend a great school that drives academic excellence. “Putting Students First” gives families a voice and gives students a choice.

Dr. Bennett makes the case that comprehensive education reform cannot be led by state bureaucrats. Rather, true innovation in education comes at the local level from principals, teachers, school boards and engaged parents. Indiana’s state policymakers have acknowledged that they cannot be experts in everything, and I believe they are right. No one knows more about delivering quality education in a community than the people living and working there.

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