According to a report published this month by the National Commission on Teaching and America’s Future, as many as a third of the nation’s 3.2 million teachers could retire in the next four years.  Today’s New York Times notes that “the teaching career is collapsing at both ends”, as one of every three new teachers leaves the profession within five years.  While the current economic downtown may attract new college graduates and individuals from other fields, an important education metric going forward is teacher retention and average age. -Aneesa Arshad  

"We're going to reward those states and those districts that are willing to challenge the status quo and get dramatically better," Education Secratary Arne Duncan said, March 16 at the White House. "Those who keep doing the same old thing, however, won't be eligible for the money," he added. The conversation around improvement has become central to access to stimulus money for schools. The challenge remains: how will we measure this success? How will we measure the impact of this money on Education in the U.S.? Duncan has specifically pointed States to these areas of improvement:

 An article published yesterday in Education Week notes that the recession is taking a toll on education philanthropy.  According to Dini Partners, two-thirds of big donors say they will scale back their contributions this year.  Besides the Gates Foundation (which plans to increase its grantmaking by 10 percent) most education grantmakers expect decreased budgets this year.  The organizations that may be affected the most are the “next generation of entrepreneuri

A recent article on EdWeek.org points out that "The recession tearing into the U.S. economy is not only straining the public coffers that support K-12 schooling, it’s also taking a toll on education philanthropy."  On balance, this is clearly not good news.  However, there may be a silver lining in these storming clouds.

Six states - Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Utah Arizona, Delaware, and New Mexico – have committed to the “Tough Choices or Tough Times” education reform agenda created by the New Commission on the Skills of the American Workforce.  The Commission argues that today’s education system in the US fails to prepare workers for global competition; US graduates are ‘mediocre’ against international competition in the labor market.

There is an enormous opportunity ahead for ED, states, districts, schools, principals, teachers and, of course, students, to rewrite the rules of education in the US. Beyond the programs and innovations, the most meaningful advancement that can materially change the landscape of education in the US is longitudinal data systems that can follow individual students throughout their formal education. We are flying blind in the education reform world and without data (read truth and transparency) we will only have limited impact for few students rather than radical improvement for all students.

'On track' measures academic performance in the first year of high school and guages whether a student is making sufficient progress to be on track to graduate within four years.  This measure, defined by the Consortium on Chicago School Research, is a better predictor of high school graduation than eighth grade test scores or student background characteristics.  It has been implemented by the Chicago Public Schools, and may prove useful to other school districts and systems.

For many students, the tears shed on graduation day consist of equal parts sense of accomplishment and relief from escaping the onerous financial liability that accompanies attending a 4-year private university.  But for several students, the tuition paid for "the best 4 years of their lives" (or "the best 6 years" for some) only represents the beginning of a lifelong financial commitment to their alma mater.  Nationally, 12.8% of alumni donate to their alma maters and at Harvard, the rate peaked at nearly 50% earlier this decade. 

Businesses and households aren’t the only ones paring back their budgets during this recession.  Widespread state budget deficits and diminishing alumni donations are forcing several universities to make significant cutbacks.  As this New York Times article points out, early victims at several universities have been the Humanities departments.  Many people feel that especially in a tough economy, it is more important for students to develop work-ready skills in math and science than the skills derived from a philosophy or religion course.  Might this belie a greater trend during the financial downturn that consists of education funders supporting programs that focus on developing

Last year, my Mission Measurement compatriots blogged about the development of metrics for use on all foods to indicate the carbon footprint for individual products. Environmentalists (and other invested parties) would like to place a “Carbon Label” on all products, similar to the nutritional labels currently required. My colleagues have made unique observations about how and why industries are finally beginning to measure the nutritional value, social impact, and business value of what seems intangible and too complicated to measure. They aptly point out that it’s important to use credible and practical scales to measure.