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Cities such as Chicago, Houston, and New York have led the way in tackling many of education’s toughest challenges—from reforming teacher compensation to weighting funding to support the neediest students. Yet despite their innovative leadership, cities can only do so much. A more comprehensive and coordinated strategy is essential and overdue if we are going to accelerate the progress of American students in the global brain race. After all, our new graduates aren’t just competing with students from Baltimore. They’re now competing with students from Bangalore, Berlin, and Beijing.
It’s time to recognize that states, too, have a critical role to play in solving America’s educational challenges. Overlooking that role is like rowing with only one oar—it takes a lot more effort, and you may not end up where you want to go. Here’s why:
- It leaves out too many of our students. The 20 largest school districts, where much of education philanthropy is now directed, account for only 11 percent of total enrollment.
- It ignores key political constituencies. Suburban and rural voters want efforts that benefit their kids, too—and we need their support if reform policies are to be sustainable.
- Both legally and practically, states—not cities—have the real power. They set the standards and administer the tests. They license and certify teachers and principals, and they control tenure. They raise and allocate a large share of funds directly while also dictating how local governments can raise their own money for schools.
- Local efforts get local results. Great things are happening in many cities, but with 15,000 districts nationally, how much is scalable or transferable? We can’t wait for dozens of cities to invent their own solutions and then see how well they work elsewhere—that is, if they can even persuade neighboring suburbs or rural areas to try them.
Of course not all states make sense as laboratories of reform. Some are just too large to test approaches affordably. Others, though, are much more promising—offering the manageability, affordability, and focus of a large school district, plus their own constitutional powers and resources to develop systems and tools that can be replicated broadly.
Take Delaware, for instance. With 200 schools, 120,000 students, and a renewed commitment to innovation, it is proving to be an ideal laboratory for testing ideas and practices that can be scaled up and spread across the state’s entire geographic, political, and demographic spectrum. Embraced by a coalition of public and private leaders, Delaware’s approach will not only further the work of our most progressive cities, it will attract more bright minds to the field and accelerate innovation. (You can find more information at our website.)
But just as cities shouldn’t have all the fun by themselves, neither should Delaware. Imagine the power of a small group of states working together. That’s what Achieve, Inc., is doing right now, coordinating efforts across multiple states with a narrow focus on the single issue of standards.
Let’s put that same level of partnership to work on the wider issues of systemic reform. Let’s harness the power of the entities best-positioned to achieve real, lasting change for the largest possible number of American kids. Let’s take the work of the cities to the next level—the states.
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