Memo to next secretary: Stand strong for accountability, do not give up on our kids

If you’ve been paying any attention to what’s being said on the campaign trail, you know that continued progress in education reform is anything but inevitable. When it comes to education policy, the devil is in the details. We have an obligation to demand straight answers instead of hedging and obfuscation. Most importantly, we have an obligation to continue holding our schools, and ourselves, accountable for every child’s achievement.

The movement to use standards and accountability to encourage academic improvement began at the state and local levels. A rare, bipartisan alliance of parents, policymakers, CEOs and civil rights leaders recognized our democratic and economic imperative to close longstanding achievement gaps between poor and minority students and their peers. They demanded proof that schools were challenging all students to achieve their potential. In 2002, the signing of the bipartisan No Child Left Behind Act elevated that movement to the national level.

Since then, the law has shifted our national conversation to focus on results, rather than only access and investments.   As a result, we now have data that show us what’s working in our schools — and what is not.

The strong reactions that No Child Left Behind provokes speak to the often-harsh truths it has revealed. For instance, the average minority student in an urban middle school lacks even basic math literacy. Only half of African American and Hispanic students graduate from high school on time. Our 15-year-olds rank 24th out of 30 developed nations in math literacy and problem solving.  

As a parent, if somebody told me I had to wait years for my daughter to perform at grade level, I would be angry and frustrated, and I’d demand more. Yet we continue to witness efforts to water down and weaken the law. To provide every child with a quality education, we must insist on more accountability, not less.

Meanwhile, as other fields like business and medicine rocket ahead, our schools are in many ways trapped in the industrial age. As a U.S. Chamber of Commerce report put it, “most schools preserve the routines, cultures, and operations of an obsolete 1930s manufacturing plant.” That’s unacceptable in today’s global economy.  We already have customization in almost every aspect of our lives — from buying books on Amazon to ordering our morning coffee. Why not make better use of data to personalize instruction in the classroom?

Resistance to change, in the face of overwhelming evidence that change is needed, is worse than misguided. It is educational malpractice. We must question the fossilized traditions, mythologies and habits that obstruct progress for students and teachers and put the needs of adults before the best interests of children.

Because we believe that effort without achievement is not enough, we must question our means of measuring progress, our methods for delivering instruction, even our definitions of what it takes to prepare a successful student.

A major barrier to improvement is our failure to reward hard-working teachers who take on the most challenging assignments and who achieve outstanding results. Up to 50 percent of new teachers exit the profession within five years, two-thirds because they’re dissatisfied or want a better job. Among those who stay, many languish unrecognized and unrewarded.  Promotion based on seniority is a far cry from strategic cultivation of promising leadership.

As we step forward in education reform, we must make sure that the spotlight still shines brightly on our schools so that parents are empowered with information and options for their children. We must stay strong for real, meaningful accountability and transparency of information. And we must not allow critics to consign another generation of our neediest students to low-performing schools.  

The rhetoric of change in this election year offers a great opportunity. Let’s make sure we all live up to our words and make real change — for our students and our nation.

Spellings is the secretary of education.