School Choice Ohio’s Board Chair John Mullaney authored a timely guest column titled “Now let’s talk about real education innovations” that was published in The Plain Dealer this weekend. In the column, John makes a powerful argument that we should be having regular conversations about reinventing schools. He also says, “We will soon come to the realization that having the money follow the child is the only way to provide quality education for all children.” Read his reasoning below.

Now let’s talk about real education innovations: John Mullaney

The Plain Dealer’s coverage of blended learning provides a glimmer of hope that, now that elections are over, we will soon come to the realization that having the money follow the child is the only way to provide quality education for all children. Unfortunately, we have not provided a forum for that conversation to take place honestly and without fear of reprisal. Cleveland, with its universities, museums, technological infrastructure and leading businesses, has far too many resources to ignore the challenge.

Our country has seen how the auto industry’s failure to innovate resulted in the United States falling behind in an industry it once commanded. Similarly, resistance at the state and district levels to accelerate innovation in education undermines our educational prominence in the world. Why do we not see the urgency to change?

A Harvard Business Review 2008 article, “Teaming Up to Crack Innovation Enterprise Integration,” stated, “. . . business innovation and integration have two things in common — both are still unnatural acts. . . . Businesses are better at stifling innovation than at capitalizing on it, better at optimizing local operations than at integrating them for the good of the enterprise and its customers. The larger and more complex the organizations, the stronger the status quo can be in repelling both innovation and integration.”

Nothing else that I’ve read better describes the state of the educational system in Ohio. Public schools in too many urban districts are a failing industry. Too many administrators and public officials ignored the competition from successful charter schools and even faith-based schools. These entities were seen not as competition, but as the enemy. The same is now true of real innovations in teaching and learning. In an effort to preserve the status quo and guarantee job security, those in the bunker just hunker down.

Too many teachers who risk innovative approaches do so in spite of their administrators, not because of their support.

Too many are afraid of adapting to new technologies that are likely to guarantee smarter, leaner administrative budgets and improve student-learning outcomes. Good administrators will report up to the “management” that revises standards and tests in order to manipulate data to have the public believe their inferior product is actually working.

There are too many individual school districts. In Lorain County, with a population of 280,000, there are 14 school districts each with high-paid administrators, including superintendents, principals and curriculum directors. The cost to the public every year exceeds $4 million. Much of that work can be done online through more effective use of management technologies.

Too many public dollars are wasted paying for textbooks. Innovations in online texts are occurring every day, yet too many school administrators are slow to adapt them.

Too many school administrators, fearful of change, block innovation preferring to get results from “evidence-based practice” before they do anything. Evidence of what is working, especially in charter, faith-based, independent and online schools, is too often ignored unless it has imprimatur from “the academy” and even the press.

Finally, the state’s solution for training its teachers is in need of radical transformation. Current professional development is simply not up to the task. A complete review of the way the state funds professional development is long overdue. Millions of dollars are wasted each year in a system that has no focus and is organized by whimsy.

The time is ripe for foundations, universities and business leaders in Northeast Ohio to bring together leaders from the fields of educational technology, business, K-12 school systems and higher education to re-imagine schools. These meetings should be public — coordinated and led by local newspapers and news media. Public television, coordinating with the media infrastructure that currently exists within state educational services centers, can and should foster regularly scheduled conversations about reinventing schools and invite public policy officials to be part of the conversation. Most important, let’s invite teachers to participate. Too often, they are left out and simply told what to do once decisions are made.

Together, we can reinvent public education and the way the public funds it, just as the auto industries reinvented themselves.

John Mullaney is executive director of the Nord Family Foundation in Amherst, chairman of the board of School Choice Ohio and serves on the Education Committee of the Ohio Grantmakers Forum.