Education Reform
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Today the United States constitutes only 14 percent of the total world population of college students, as compared to 30 percent 30 years ago. The future of American competitiveness is highly dependent on producing a skilled workforce with significant abilities in math and science. American colleges and universities today are not graduating enough scientists and engineers to meet the expected needs of our future economic growth.
Our K-12 education system faces the challenge of closing the gap between the achievements of domestic and international students. Many American high school and college graduates lack the skill sets necessary to compete in the twenty-first century global marketplace. School curriculums haven’t been adequately updated to reflect the needs of the twenty-first century either, and the number of students pursuing careers in math and science is small relative to the growth in related industries, which leaves a gap in the workforce. This shortage in engineering, science and math graduates, combined with competition from China and India makes retaining our predominant position difficult absent education system reform.
Alongside the educational crisis lies an administrative one: there is increasing pressure on states and school districts to reduce education costs. Limited state budgets, school enrollments that are oscillating between high and low in different districts, executive mandates and court rulings are all adding to the pressure. Lacking economies of scale — and often sufficient managerial expertise — many districts find it extraordinarily expensive to provide a full array of support and administrative services in-house. While district consolidation is one option for achieving economies of scale to reduce costs, it can have serious downsides including a negative impact on educational outcomes.
