It is Our Time to Shine

By Susan Gentz, Chief Strategy Officer

For now, the executive order to go as far as possible legally in dismantling and shrinking the federal government is here to stay- so let’s flip it and look at where we can step up as people who deeply know and understand education in this country.

Let’s look at what we know is possible when regulations are loosened and lessened: 

• Reduced Bureaucracy: With fewer regulations, companies can spend less time and resources on paperwork and administrative tasks. This allows them to focus more on creative processes and developing new products or services.

• Increased Flexibility: Less stringent regulations can provide businesses with more flexibility to experiment with new ideas and approaches without the fear of non-compliance. This can lead to more innovative solutions and faster adaptation to market changes.

• Lower Costs: Compliance can be costly, especially for small businesses and startups. By reducing these costs, companies can allocate more resources to research and development, which can drive innovation.

• Faster Time to Market: With fewer regulatory hurdles, companies can bring new products and services to market more quickly. This can be particularly beneficial in fast-paced industries where being first can provide a significant competitive advantage.

• Encouragement of Risk-Taking: Innovation often involves taking risks. When compliance regulations are lessened, companies might feel more encouraged to take calculated risks, which can lead to breakthroughs and advancements.

I know there are reasons for compliance, somebody ruined it for the rest of us somewhere along the way…but I can’t help but be the slightest bit excited about innovation that may now have the opportunity to not only exist, but thrive.

Now before you tell me that being excited about some of these changes is wrong, I want to take you back to 2014 when I, a young Senate staffer, thought that the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) was going to change EVERYTHING! I thought the flexibility we built into the law was going to allow the pockets of innovation to become full scale opportunities for every student.

Turns out, the law didn’t change everything..in fact, almost nothing changed full scale with the passage of ESSA. Compliance regulations are what maintain the status quo of summative assessments. Compliance regulations are what ties teacher success to one assessment, compliance regulations are what keep us in our same system for every student, even when it’s not working. Compliance regulations are what keep us using the same accountability metrics such as proficiency over student growth.

Within ESSA, is the Innovative Assessment Pilot program – this was advocated for in federal law, because New Hampshire, who was piloting a performance based assessment system was required to also run the traditional federal assessment system at the same time to prove it could be done. The innovative assessment pilot essentially frees states from the traditional compliance system to opt-in to an innovative assessment system at the state level. What if states now have the ability to truly measure student growth – and have the accountability metrics that align with these new systems of assessments.

This is a rare moment, one that seems scary and is full of change, but for those who believe that students and families should have a right to all options for success in college and/or career, an opportunity that is likely to come once in a lifetime. This is an experiment, as was the Federal Department of Education once established. The data consistently points us to the fact that schools and districts with high parental involvement score the highest. Could this moment be a time for parental involvement to also increase?

I am fortunate enough to work with some of the most forward thinking folks in education across the country, and I can’t help but wonder what removing some of this red tape, bureaucracy, and loyalties to very tight knit networks can do for innovative education.

Over my last 10+ years in education policy, I have heard the words innovation, transform, boldness, modernize, revolution, and the like from almost every education association, district, school board, and state education agency I’ve worked with. It's actually quite common for educational organizations to emphasize innovation in their missions, as they aim to prepare students for a rapidly changing world and foster creative problem-solving skills. Many universities, colleges, and even K-12 schools highlight innovation as a core value to reflect their commitment to adopting new teaching methods, integrating technology, and encouraging research and development. In 2016, I worked on a report called “Promising State Policies to Advance Personalized Learning” The recommendations include things like innovation zones, competency-based task forces, pilot programs, and multiple pathways for learning. Essentially, we argued that for states to advance personalized learning, they needed flexibility from traditional reporting requirements. The square peg would not fit into the circle. The biggest challenges for districts that wanted to implement these learning models was not at the state level, but compliance at the federal level.

Now that we have the opportunity to grasp it, it seems most people in my education sphere are having a tough time focusing on this. Since the executive order, I have not seen one post with any of the words of innovation and transformation. 

Do I think there are things to be concerned about? Absolutely. Once the dust settles, it will be easier to tell what offices/programs are necessary and what aren’t. But for the time being, I’m taking this moment to look at the other side of the coin and imagining education in this country working for students and families where education systems can meet them where they are – a goal I have been focused on my entire career...and I can’t help but have the tiniest bit of excitement for how states can truly start innovating for every student.

 What do the innovators think?

Are you feeling some energy around the opportunity for transformation?