 |
“Someone's gotta do something.”
Bill Frist
|
Bill Frist told advocates the hardest part of education reform is effective implementation, which won’t happen without changing minds.
Former U.S. Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist chairs the State Collaborative on Reforming Education (SCORE), which hosted the PIE Network's Fourth Annual Policy Summit in Nashville on Oct. 21st and 22nd. Frist led off his keynote address by saying the number one problem in the U.S. is debt, which is driven by entitlement spending. “We are raising a generation of children who won’t live as long as we will and won’t be as healthy,” Frist said.
Frist said the answer is to make the pie bigger and the “only way to do that is through education.” He told summit attendees the easy part is changing the law, while the hard part is implementation. Frist said SCORE is meeting the challenges of bringing Race to the Top reforms to Tennessee by building a guiding coalition and changing people’s mindsets to create effective implementation. SCORE has sponsored statewide debates, provided briefings for lawmakers, and partnered with the Department of Education to hire consultants to support the implementation of Race to the Top changes.
“State government is not built to be nimble, responsive to change, or fast moving. So SCORE is focusing on making government work,” Frist said.
"Expect More, Achieve More" Coalition
Frist also discussed SCORE’s nonpartisan campaign to inform the public about tough new testing. The “Expect More, Achieve More” campaign is a coalition of 30 statewide groups that held news conferences, ran PSA’s, and distributed hundreds of thousands of brochures describing the why and what of standards change in all 95 counties in Tennessee. “Under the old tests, 90% of students were doing fine, but now 50% are not proficient,” said Frist. “If you’re a parent or a teacher, how do you react?” Frist said the campaign was so successful that only a few parents called with questions or complaints about the new tests.
Frist told the summit attendees their work is highly important because they can provide continuity despite leadership changes in their states while driving effective implementation. “It’s critical that new laws and programs really drive change – otherwise it’s a failure of not achieving your goal and a tremendous waste of money,” he said.
 |
Fordham Institute President
Chester Finn introduced
former senator Frist.
|
Frist said there is no cookie-cutter approach to education reform, but it’s all about making sure people understand the goals and building trust. “SCORE brought together smart people and facilitated the process, showed how it’s done, and supported it, so that a year later we have an operational group with a clear-cut vision and strategy,” he said.
Thomas B. Fordham Institute President Chester E. Finn, Jr. introduced Frist, who is a practicing heart surgeon. When Finn asked if Frist sometimes felt like he was doing a heart and lung transplant when it comes to education reform, Frist replied, “A brain transplant!” The former senate leader said education reform won’t be done by lawmakers but by advocacy groups and the people they represent. He quoted singer Jerry Garcia, “Someone's gotta do something and it’s incredibly pathetic, but it’s gotta be us.”
