Education Law

All about innovation

Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates gave the keynote speech at the general session of the National Conference of State Legislatures at the Pennsylvania Convention Center on Tuesday. His message was one that BoardBuzz can largely get behind: now is the time for innovation.

Gates said that “difficult times can spark great reforms” and “a crisis can act as a pivot” to innovation. The country is definitely still in the midst of an economic crisis, and as Gates notes, the $100 billion in stimulus funds earmarked for education should be used to improve education. However, such funds are far more likely to be used simply to keep struggling districts afloat.

BoardBuzz certainly supports efforts to improve teacher effectiveness and student achievement. We think assessment is a key component of each. Gates stresses the need to invest in such assessment. ”The stimulus package contains funding for longitudinal data systems,” said Gates. “I hope you will use it to track students right into the workplace.”

What does this mean? Basically, better data mean better schools. BoardBuzz agrees that we need to embrace new technologies to both assist classroom instruction and improve how we measure student and teacher performance. ”The world of education is the sector of the economy so far the least changed by technology,” Gates said. “Ten years from now, that won’t be the case.”

And now it seems like President Barack Obama and Bill Gates are in agreement. President Obama and U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan today announced that states will be eligible to compete for $4.35 billion in Race to the Top competitive grants to support education reform and innovation in classrooms.

This fund takes on added importance because?as we mentioned earlier?in many states, the stimulus funds are being used to fill increasingly larger budget holes, and not for the innovations Obama wants.

BoardBuzz has more to say on that so stay tuned!

Full post as published by BoardBuzz: NSBA's Daily Weblog on July 24, 2009 (boomark / email).