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Essential Educational Opportunities For All Students

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by Joe Higgins, Nebraska State Board of Education

The most important decision made by the State Board of Education in the past two years has been our effort to frame and advance the debate among policy makers on how best to achieve high quality educational opportunities for all Nebraska students. For too long the discussion among Nebraska's education policy makers has focused on the "costs" of educating our students rather than on the "benefits" of providing high quality educational opportunities for every student. Our conversations and actions should be about the decisions necessary to raise student achievement for every student every year. Clearly the cost to society of not educating all students in accordance with their ability is far greater than the cost of insuring that all students have high quality education opportunities regardless or where they live, their social economic status, the language barriers to their learning, or their special learning needs.

The first task of statewide policy makers is to make sure we focus the conversation on "the right thing". For us "the right thing" right now is the implementation of the Essential Educational Opportunities Policy adopted by the State Board of Education in December. The adoption of this policy was a necessary first step in the process of "directing the statewide debate". This policy statement adopted after more than two years of input from parents, educators, and taxpayers across the state sets "essential education" parameters for all school districts in providing equal curriculum opportunities for learning for all students. As we move from Board policy to State Regulation the discussion will need to continue prior to full implementation of these requirements for schools seeking State accreditation. These regulations will be designed to insure that all students are prepared for continued lifelong learning upon graduation from an accredited school in Nebraska.

Most Nebraska students currently attend schools that already meet these curriculum requirements. Some districts will need to make some changes in their curriculum offerings. Setting minimum standards for course offering throughout the curriculum will insure that all students have an equitable opportunity for a high quality learning program.

The next step in this process is insuring that our school districts have the resources necessary to meet these new accreditation regulations. LB 467 "Creating Essential Educational Opportunities for All Students" now before the Legislature is an effort to do just that. Now is the time for a full discussion and debate over the issues included in this Legislative Bill. The importance of providing increased learning foundation opportunities for all "at risk 4 year out children, all day every day kindergarten for all students, increased distance learning opportunities, efforts to attract and retain highly qualified teachers for every classroom, all need to be discussed, priorities set, and, resources directed to those priorities. Recent studies suggest that for every $1 we invest in early childhood education and improving K-12 student achievement we save up to $17 in later spending designed to provide services for students who fall behind or drop out prior to high school graduation.

Providing every student with a highly qualified teacher in every class may be the single most important step we can take to insure improved student achievement. This will require increased efforts to attract and retain our best and brightest young people to the education profession. Let's debate the priority of adding mentoring programs for new teachers, additional contract time for improved professional development activities for all teachers and administrators, additional instructional planning time, and tuition reimbursement opportunities for teachers seeking graduate courses to update their professional skills. Nebraska continues to prepare a significant number of high quality teachers in our colleges and universities only to see many of our graduates choosing higher paying employment outside of education, teaching in other states because of higher salaries, or leaving the education profession after two or three years. We can do a better job in keeping our outstanding educators in the classroom where they provide the best opportunity for improving student achievement.

Improved distance learning opportunities may well be our best opportunity to see that students in sparsely populated areas of our state have access to a full curriculum offering. This will require additional resources as we update the ability to deliver multiple curriculum offerings each period of the school day. The debate on the establishment of priorities within the limits of our resources is a debate that requires the participation of all who want to see Nebraska renew it's historic commitment to providing high quality educational opportunities.

Perhaps it is time for the political leadership of the state to call for an "Educational Summit" during which the wide range of issues facing Pre K-16 education can be debated, priorities determined, and an implementation timetable agreed upon. It is from such debate that the political will to do "the right thing" can emerge and start us on the road to education renewal that will be necessary for our continued commitment to student achievement. During this era of education reform many states are renewing their commitment to quality education and Nebraska will have to do so as well if we wish to maintain our position of educational excellence. Preparing our children with the critical thinking skills necessary for lifelong learning in the 21st Century is a complex and difficult task. Our success in this endeavor will require dedication, planning, and the commitment of significant state resources. To do otherwise will prove to be far costlier to our statewide economic development.