Message from the President

February 12, 2007

Quality Education is Important to Illinois’ Future

In recent months, we’ve seen renewed and growing interest in education funding among the state’s elected officials. This may be well and good due to its popular appeal, but from the business perspective the approach is short-sighted and insufficient.

What Illinois really needs is a new compact among taxpayers, employers and the education community. Money is important, but successful outcomes for our youth are even more important.

Anyone, particularly politicians and educators, who talks about more money for education without acknowledging or addressing the need to improve the quality of education is either blind to the realities of the new global marketplace or is choosing to ignore the dire consequences of maintaining the status quo in Illinois public education.

Thanks to Tom Friedman’s essays in the New York Times and his best-selling books, millions of Americans have gained much needed insight into the accelerating rate of change the world is experiencing. During the last half of the twentieth century, the world appeared to be America’s oyster, but during that time other countries watched, learned and emulated the successful education and economic model that the United States presented to them.

The twenty-first century will be defined by global competitiveness and integrated world markets. Change in China, Russia, Eastern Europe and South Asia has opened 40% more of the world to trade and economic expansion. Advances in information technology and logistics have brought fundamental change to the way business is conducted. American business’ global reach is changing rapidly.

Capitalism has emerged as the most productive economic model. Other nations are graduating more engineers and scientists than the US. The best and brightest foreign students are no longer compelled to seek admission to American universities. Far more of the US educated foreign students are now returning to their native countries to apply their knowledge and skills because they now have opportunities for economic success that were not prevalent a generation ago. While good for the foreign nation, America’s talent pool is diminished in the process.

A high quality and educated workforce is an economic differentiator. A state that can distinguish itself for the quality of its educational outputs, the capacity of its workforce to guarantee high productivity and the nurturing of its intellectual capital will emerge as a leader in the global economy. Americans are competitive and have created successful economic engines, but in a rapidly changing world there are no guarantees or entitlements for America’s continued economic success.

The single most important element to America’s continued economic success in an ever increasing competitive world is human intellect. It is our capacity to dream, innovate, inspire, create, adapt, nurture entrepreneurship and offer opportunity to achieve success that will keep America as a world leader.

America does not have a monopoly on talent. The raw material is present with every birth, but it must be nurtured and educated. Unfortunately, we are not devoting enough attention to the development of productive human capital to assure America’s continued viability as the most successful nation in the world.

Our educational institutions must adapt a more futuristic and global perspective in order to ensure the human resources and skills training required to sustain the standard of living that is the envy of the world. Unfortunately, multi-national comparisons of basic education attainment do not show the United States as a top performer. These are the kind of macro trends we need to be concerned about in the new century.

Illinois needs to set educational goals that will distinguish our state from others. Mediocrity is not acceptable. Illinois must establish education targets that are nothing less than the best in some categories and then achieve measurable and distinguishable results within a generation of students.

To accomplish these goals it is imperative that employers engage in a dialogue with educators at both the state and community levels to help determine the necessary skills that will truly set Illinois apart from the crowd.

In addition to the obvious need to improve math, science and foreign language skills, there are societal needs that can not be ignored if Illinois is to distinguish itself as an economic force in a global economy.

Education is the great leveler. It is the single most important component in a pluralistic society that values opportunity and achievement. Education is the path to self-improvement and wealth. It is also fundamental to maintaining a functional and successful democracy that places responsibility on the individual to make wise and informed decisions.

As a society we cannot afford an under-educated and under-employed population. We can no longer afford an education system that tolerates double digit drop-out rates, chooses to lower testing standards, and fails to assure that every student can read to grade level. If Illinois is to be one of the most desirable locations in the world for an employer, we must assure that every adult is an educated and productive worker.

Governor Blagojevich’s decision to make funding of early childhood education a priority is a positive step towards improving educational outcomes, because research has shown the education gap is already prevalent among kindergarten students. It is a particularly important start towards improving education outcomes for the children of poor families.

Community leaders and school officials in Decatur acknowledged the high school drop out phenomena as a severe problem for their community and launched a public-private partnership to confront and reverse the situation. Other communities must do the same thing.

Teachers’ unions must be challenged to change. We cannot achieve quality education outcomes without quality teachers in the classrooms. When confronted with a shortage of qualified math and science teachers, it seems obvious that the solutions should include instituting pay differentials for subject matter expertise or the more difficult school assignments and introducing new approaches to recruitment and training. For example, perhaps scholarships, tuition waivers and other financial incentives should be directed towards needed teacher talent. Perhaps one or more universities should be financed to establish special programs for math and science teacher training. It must be made easier to accommodate the rapid entrance of non-traditional subject matter experts into the classroom by embracing alternative teacher certifications. We need to be willing to raise the pay for quality teachers and make it easier to remove poor performers. .

Despite criticisms of the federal “No Child Left Behind” program, President Bush was right about the need to measure and report results. Educators must be held accountable for better and improving outcomes. Our schools should not be performing in a vacuum. Parents, taxpayers and employers deserve to have confidence that our educational institutions are satisfying their function to prepare our young people to succeed in a highly competitive global economy. This can best be achieved by setting a high bar and then exceeding the norm.

School structure should not be overlooked. In urban settings it may be appropriate to establish smaller school settings such as occurs with subject matter focused academies or schools within a school. In rural settings it may be worthwhile to consider larger schools. Where there are failing schools, expanded access to charter schools introduce both choice and competition for better results.

It is time the people of Illinois challenge themselves to establish and maintain education systems that out-perform other states, for quality education is one of the cornerstones upon which the state’s economic future is based.