As we all know, there have been numerous efforts at reforming and improving public education in Illinois and most other U.S. states over the past two decades–most of them unsuccessful.
The two snippets of truth I have come to believe as a result of my involvement in Illinois’ efforts and by following the reform efforts of other cities and states are:
– Increasing school budgets and reducing class size has had minimal positive impacts on student performance over the past 20 years.
– The most positive reform efforts have all used competition in some form or another to motivate entrenched school bureaucracies to improve.
Gov. Rod Blagojevich is, no doubt, thoroughly justified in his criticism of the State Board of Education; after all, it is a big part of the entrenched bureaucracy (“Governor lambastes state’s school board; Blagojevich calls agency `barrier to progress,'” Page 1, Jan. 16).
But I am very doubtful his recommended changes will materially improve the learning of our state’s children or significantly reduce the cost of education.
