WASHINGTON – Taking the uncommon step as a public flagship university to help stimulate the national conversation on education reform, Arizona State University convened a panel of education experts for a forum titled “Getting Back in the Race: Fixing American Education” at the National Press Club Friday in downtown Washington.
Arizona State University president Michael Crow, who moderated the panel, began the discussion by pointing out the importance of constantly seeking ways to enhance the educational performance of both teachers and students. It is an issue, he said, that grows increasingly important as the nation’s demographics also continue to change and grow, creating numerous social and economic challenges.
“We have to look at innovation and finding new ways to do things, because it’s clear from the numbers that our performance has peaked,” Crow said. “We need to gain additional ways to enhance the teaching and learning process.”
When asked where that process should begin, Heather Harding, vice president for research and public policy at Teach for America, said that teacher training must continue even after educators begin their careers and that higher performance standards must be required. Harding also said that teachers should be held accountable for how effectively students are learning.
“The job of preparing and supporting teachers and working on teacher development doesn’t end once they graduate [from college],” she said.
Using innovative, new media tools can have a significant impact on how effectively children learn, noted Public Broadcasting Service president Paula Kerger. PBS gears most of its educational investments toward very young children.
“All of the statistics show that, if you reach a child at the earliest ages, the chances of that child achieving in school increase tremendously,” Kerger said.
The PBS network reaches out to children at home, with curriculum-based programming and online games and tools, and creates innovative technology-based content for teachers to use in the classroom. Though teachers are the biggest users of PBS-created content, there are still many teachers who fear the technology. PBS also offers continuing education credit courses for teachers that can be taken online, according to Kerger.
