Fixing Our Education System Using Common Sense and the Market

Fixing Education in the United States: A Five Step Approach.

   

Step one: Evaluate all children using an unbiased third party and assign them a combined score based upon teach-ability, behavior, and intelligence.  This score will enable parents with more difficult students due to disability to receive a larger voucher, and if a student shows promise in a given area such as mathematics or science, the parent can receive a larger voucher for this as well.  Of course, some kind of due process will have to be included in this assessment so parents can either ask for retesting or appeal their child's score based upon other equally accurate criteria. 

            Step two: Give every child a waiver that approximates as closely as possible the total expenditures of the state per pupil.  The amount paid will reflect the total amount that the taxpayers shell out for their yearly education currently.   

            Step three: We independently license teachers to be service providers similar to engineers, lawyers, and doctors.  States set up the education requirements for a teaching license so that anyone who can pass the licensing exam and has a degree in the appropriate area can teach.  That way, chemists can teach chemistry part time, engineers can teach math, etc. and many professionals can give back to the community. 

            Step four: Establish a tier based quota on the total number of students a teacher can accept based on the criteria reached in # 1 and require teaching assistants if that number is exceeded.  That way an excellent teacher who works with very difficult students with autism will earn as much as a teacher of 25 students who have typical learning capacity.  If students are behaviorally challenging due to disability, then their vouchers conceivably can be large enough to pay for an aide for the teacher so long as the student's teach-ability sub-score is equally high.  Teachers who specialize in difficult subject areas will get more money as well because the students doing well in more challenging fields will receive a larger voucher.  

           Step five: Award an annual grade to each teacher based upon objective test criteria or measurable metrics met, as well as parent satisfaction and publish this number.  This will be analogous to scores given to restaurants for following health regulations.  Teachers will have the opportunity to use a due process step at their own expense to either appeal their score or introduce independent objective criteria justifying a higher grade.

            Teachers will be true independent professionals.  In this scenario, teachers can rent church basements, use old storefronts or anything else for space.  They can buy all their own equipment or share it as doctor's associations do.  If Teachers directly received the $9,000.00 plus dollars, the average state expends educating a student then they will easily be able to earn $100-200K per year.  The only real restraint on this will be their individual performance.  The market will rule.       

                 Parents can also contain costs or earn money.  If parents wanted their kids in extracurricular activities, they can ether join leagues similar to Pop Warner or other clubs and pay for it out of their own pocket.  If a parent becomes licensed, and teaches their own kids, then they can get the reimbursement /waiver directly.  Parents can still home school, but they will have to be licensed educators to receive reimbursement.

          This is a win-win plan.  Imagine a world without capital expenditures for huge schools, teacher's unions, and administration heavy budgets.  Teachers will earn wages similar to other professionals and if they are good, they will earn both parent and student respect.  (Many have that now, but it will inherently increase due to the close relationship the teachers will form with their students.)  The best part is that Students will be the real winners, because teachers will share equal interest in their success.  Students will have the status of clients and teachers will treat them as such.  Teachers will have the status of real professionals.  Parents and students will fight to get the best ones.