This editorial captures the essence of the state of education and the need to set CLEAR priorities and vision for the schools.
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Indiana taxpayers have invested billions of additional dollars in public schools in recent years. The state has raised academic standards, which are now among the best in the nation. Business, political and community leaders have freshly trumpeted the vital importance of a good education in the 21st-century workplace.
But still, despite the renewed emphasis on improving classroom performance, scores on the state's most widely used tool for measuring student achievement remain stagnant.
Passage rates on ISTEP, released last week, stayed flat or fell in every subject and grade, except for seventh-grade math.
A clearly frustrated Suellen Reed, departing after 16 years as state superintendent of public instruction, pointed out that some teachers lack the skills they need. In some instances, bad decisions by administrators have hurt student achievement. And some students and parents don't take classroom performance seriously enough. All of those concerns are valid.
But state leaders -- from Gov. Mitch Daniels, to legislators, to incoming Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Bennett -- also have a critical role to play in pushing student achievement past its current plateau.
It starts with a clear vision for just how effective Indiana's schools could become. For far too long, Hoosiers, and their leaders, have accepted mediocrity when it comes to academic achievement.
They've also adopted misplaced priorities, too often believing that expansive and costly buildings equate to good schools.
In addition, many parents, students, communities and educators have given an outsized importance to extracurricular activities, particularly sports.
Reed, in releasing ISTEP results last week, noted the documentary "Two Million Minutes,'' which tracked top students at Carmel High School as well as teens in India and China. The film is revealing in just how lightly many students in the U.S. take their schoolwork when compared with their peers in other nations.
To begin moving forward again, the state needs to continue refining curriculum, raising expectations and strengthening teachers' skills. But there's also a need to reshape Indiana's culture, to make achievement in the classroom a highly valued, well-rewarded endeavor.
That may require giving up some things Hoosiers value greatly, including teens working multiple hours during the school week and communities investing in world-class athletics. But the long-term payoff in economic prosperity and personal enrichment is well worth the sacrifice.
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Two Million Minutes was produced by the founders of Indian Math Online.
