Has Business Been Bold Enough?

Frederick M. HessAmerican Enterprise Institute

www.aei.org/hess

2

What Business Has Done: The Clark Kent Approach

Encouragement and support Genteel philanthropy

Tutoring Student scholarships

Mild policy advocacy

3

Comparatively, We Spend a Lot

Source: OECD 2005

Expenditures for Elementary Education, 2005

02,0004,0006,0008,00010,000

Country

Expe

nditu

res

Per S

tude

nt

($)

4

Even More Than You May Think

(Source: Howell & West in Education Next, 2008)

5

More Teachers, Smaller Classes

(Source: Loeb & Reininger, 2004 and NCES)

6

Teachers Are Relatively Well-Paid

(Source: Podgursky in Education Next, 2003)

7

Great Teachers Are Hard to Predict

(Source: Goldhaber in Education Next, 2002)

8

Tests Can Be Misleading

(Source: Finn & Meier in Education Next, 2009)

9

The Problem with Adequate Yearly Progress

(Source: Peterson & West in Education Next, 2006 )

10

Limited NCLB Impact So Far

(Source: Ravitch & Chubb in Education Next, 2009)

11

What Business Should Do:Time to Hit the Phone

Booth Help schools manage smart Invest in the supply side Do what innovators can’t Get firm with education leaders Lead with experience and credibility

12

Help Schools Manage Smart

Promote data and MIS systems

Support performance evaluations

Invest in HR and IT Watch out for “The

New Stupid”

13

Invest in the Supply Side Human Capital• Teach For America• New Leaders for New

Schools• The New Teacher

Project

School Builders• KIPP Schools• Green Dot Public

Schools• Achievement First

Infrastructure• The Mind Trust• New Schools for New

Orleans• High Tech High Ed

School

Investors• NewSchools Venture

Fund• Charter School Growth

Fund• Knowledge Investment

Partners

Tool Builders• Wireless Generation• SchoolNet• SMARTHINKING

14

Do What Innovators Can’t

Remember why Google is no champion of free speech in China

Few reform venues Small scale of

successful ventures

15

Get Firm with Education Leaders

Cages of their own design?

Collective bargaining—less restrictive than advertised

Inattention to cost-effectiveness

Restrictiveness of Labor Agreements in 50 Biggest Districts

Restrictive

Ambiguous

Flexible

N = 50

The Leadership Limbo (Fordham Foundation 2008)

(Source: Hess & Loup, 2008)

16

Lead with Experience and Credibility

Talk sense about accountability and compensation NCLB Merit pay

Shoot down bad ideas 65% solution Class size reduction

Leaders in ActionJoel Klein, New York City Public Schools

• Teacher Performance Units, experienced attorneys who advise principals and litigate incompetence cases against ineffective, tenured teachers

John Deasy, formerly of Prince George’s County Public Schools

• Transferred hundreds of the district’s 10,800 teachers to new schools

• Initiated a voluntary pay-for-performance system Michelle Rhee, Chancellor of DC Public Schools

• Unused law providing for 90 day termination • Side-stepping contract on middle school pilot

Has Business Been Bold Enough?

Frederick M. HessAmerican Enterprise Institute

www.aei.org/hess