You are what you measure

Does America really care about education? On the face of it, we seem to. We spend more money on it than anyone, it's in every candidate's platform, and parents for the most part seem to care as well.

But the results don't bear this out.  American students are nowhere near the top of the global rankings. So what's not working? 

There's this universal truth - you are what you measure.

And how does America measure education?  Standardized tests.

And here is where that's gotten us: 20% high school drop out rates, 1.3 million (yes, million) high school graduates in remedial classes to bring them up to the bare minimum readiness for university, 93% of American teachers with little or no science training, the list goes on. 

According to the NAEP (National Assessment of Educational Progress), Massachusetts ranks #1 in academic performance in the United States, and yet only 75% of her students graduate from high school.

If you're interested in how NAEP tests our children - give it a go - the tests are embarrassingly easy, seeming almost to be "rigged" to increase the passing rates, and yet we still suck.

So what have I/we learned?

1. Despite the appearance of being "designed" to maximize pass rates, we still fail 
2. These tests do nothing to improve two core measures - dropout rates and readiness for the next evolution (university or the workforce)
3. By measuring teachers on their students' ability to pass a test, we are making the teachers teach to the test and only to the test, and we can't even seem to do that well

What can we do?

1. Define more pragmatic and relevant measures of success (suggestions below)
2. Pay for performance
3. Recognize that resistance to #2 is likely to come from the institutions as well as the unions that represent interested parties
4. Get the next President to care and make one of his top 3 priorities
5. Participate - all of us must be pushy and demanding
   

Suggested measures of success:

1. Reduction in dropout rates: every (100%) student in this country must graduate high school by 2025
2. Replace SAT and other standardized tests with performance-based assessments: every tertiary (post high school) school (university, college, community college, etc.) should be required (starting with the Sept 2008 incoming class) to report on student performance in their school based on the high school where they graduated:
   • Ranking #1 - each high school is ranked based on the percentage of students that require remediation (ex. if 20 out of 100 students needed remediation, that school's ranking is 80%); the goal is to be at 100%
   • Ranking #2 - each high school is measured on their students' performance vs. the all-up average student performance in that year (if there are 500 students in the freshman class, 10 from your high school, and your first year grades (as a group of 10) were 5% better than average, then your high school's ranking is 105%; the goal is to get as big a number as possible
   • Ranking #3 - the last four years' rankings are published to demonstrate the school's sustained performance ~over the trailing Gr 9-12 period<-- this is for high school, we can do the same for elementary and middle school
     
3. We will invest to bring, and incent to keep every school up to a "university-ready" standard, and give bonuses to schools that improve beyond that based on the performance of their graduating students at the end of their freshman year
4. Rather than create a teacher-based performance/incentive model, I prefer an institution-based one, to foster a sense of team + reflect the fact that the student learns from the whole school
5. There can be teacher-based incentives at the local level, just not at the national level
   

This is just 30 minutes' work to jot this down.  I imagine there are many people much smarter and more knowledgeable that could come up with a SIMPLE and CLEAR way to measure school performance, and then a simple and effective way to incent the desired behavior.