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Katy Citizen Watchdog$ |
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We’re Taxpayers. It’s Our Money. |
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The Business Roundtable - Part II |
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In their brochure, The Essential Components of a Successful Education System: Putting Policy into Practice, the Business Roundtable proponents set out the strategic plan for implementing their systemic change of public education in America.
Their own words are the best source that I can provide, and I quote from this manual.
Please note as you read what the intent is, how it will be implemented, who will be the “leaders” of the change, and the subtle way that the implication is made that this effort is to be done without public input or knowledge. Notice too that they don’t have very much to say about what is supposedly “wrong” with our educational system, but they have quite a lot to say about how they are going to implement change. Nowhere do they indicate why the change is necessary or wise--just that they are going to do it! The main thrust of their decision to invoke change is to figure out, in each of the 50 states, who the players are and how they can be used, manipulated and controlled. They even admit that they “can’t improve education” but that they “can and should define business needs…” Such subterfuge is my main complaint.
THE OTHER NINE POINTS-- MOVING AN OUTSIDE CHANGE STRATEGY INSIDE THE SYSTEM
1. The Business Roundtable Nine Points are your product; in order to “sell” them, business must take the time to understand the marketplace.
*The marketplace is both competitive and messy.
*Expect political stakeholders to add finance and governance to the mix.
2. Business can’t improve education; however, it can and should define business needs, cast issues in new ways, and support educators and political figures who can make improvements.
*Seek out a local guru to help define your agenda and political insiders to champion it.
3. Remember who needs to be involved in the change effort.
*Governors can introduce reform, but legislatures enact/fund it and educators make it work.
4. Cultural and process barriers are as critical as substantive ones.
*Assume, particularly at the outset, that some key players will be suspicious--of you and of each other.
*Therefore, your initial priority should be to establish trust among your partners.
5. The Nine Points are aimed at moving targets (the states).
*Merge your agenda with what people care about and what’s working --somebody owns it.
*However, enable new stakeholders to add their imprint so they don’t derail long- term change efforts.
6. Be strategic about your role.
*Business is best at advocating and supporting change.
*Business need not develop the game plan; political stakeholders, once convinced of the need and their ability to act, can craft the winning strategies.
7. Business should try to speak with one voice on education issues.
*Your lobbyists can help forge unity by making the political environment user friendly--involve them.
8. Political --and business--time clocks run faster than education reform time clocks.
*Therefore, communicate to everyone what you’re doing--it buys needed time for implementation.
Use short-term success stories to bolster long-term improvement efforts.
9. People in irrational systems tend to act rationally for rational reasons but with irrational results.
*Together, adults can restore rationality to education by creating a system that serves kids.
*And we can help the education system remain rational by building internal capacity to make continuous improvements.
Source: Peggy M. Siegel, Vice President, Business-Education Projects, National Alliance of Business.
What follows are the implementation instructions:
DEVELOP INTERNAL AWARENESS AND KNOWLEDGE
An awareness and understanding of the education crisis, and knowledge about how to address it, are critical for companies becoming engaged in and contributing effectively to the change process. Individuals throughout the company, including not only the chief executive officer (CEO) and the CEO’s education initiative designee but other corporate executives and rank and file employees, must understand the issues. While the first two will have primary responsibility for carrying out the education initiative, the others must support and sustain it.
Focusing early awareness-building efforts on the relationship between education and workforce quality may be the best way to capture the interest of a company and its employees. While company executives will be concerned about the impact of education and workforce quality on productivity and competitiveness, all employees will be concerned about how these factors affect jobs. An awareness campaign aimed at making employees realize that today’s education system is not “making the grade” --not just in other school districts, but in their own--may be crucial to building necessary support for the initiative.
Companies and their employees must do more than just develop an awareness and understanding of these issues; they must develop a base of knowledge from which they can work for change. They need to understand how education systems currently operate, what problems exist with the current systems, what experts suggest to improve the systems, and how they might help to bring about needed changes. They not only must understand The Business Roundtable’s nine Essential Components of a Successful Education System, but also the six National Education Goals, national education reform proposals (including the President’s America 2000), and the education reform proposals in their own states.
Activities to build this deeper knowledge may include:
*Reading publications; *Attending conferences and seminars; *Vesting schools and talking with teachers, students, and parents; *Attending state and local school board meetings; and *Developing and implementing a corporate education awareness campaign.
Building awareness and knowledge is a continual process, not unlike the staff development initiatives described previously. It is not something that businesses do once, but a process that must extend throughout companies’ participation in the education reform enterprise.
JOIN OR FORM A COALITION
Companies must join in strategic coalitions to rally necessary support for change. This does not necessarily mean creating new coalitions. There may be existing coalitions with compatible memberships and agendas that they could join.
Initially, companies may want to join other businesses and/or business organizations in a business-only coalition. Such a coalition would provide them with the opportunity to “get up to speed” on education issues and develop their own vision of the changes required in the education system. Policy makers and educators--with whom they will eventually have to work--already will be steeped in knowledge of the education system. This initial period apart would give the business community the preparation time it needs to understand the education environment before it joins forces with the others. That way, it will be able to participate on an equal footing.
Eventually, companies will have to participate in a more broadly-based coalition that encompasses all education stakeholders. They include the governor, key state legislators, the chief state school officer, and representatives of the state school board, teachers, local school boards, local administrators, parents, students, and members of state stakeholder organizations.
Business people need to understand the politics of systemic change--who is involved, who makes decisions, and how those decisions are made--so that they include broad-based interests in the coalition from the outset. Education stakeholders have different viewpoints and take different positions on education issues. All these differences must be understood and taken into account.
“Coalition composition” is crucial. Stakeholders who are not involved will not feel ownership of any agenda the coalition develops, and may later lead the opposition. [!!! How revealing that they KNEW there would be opposition to what they were about to do and that they were going to be ready for it. MM] Conversely, a broad-based membership can serve as a defense against opposition, as all members will have a stake in and thus support the agenda, there will be little room for a “divide and conquer” attack. A coalition’s membership cannot be static. Maintaining leadership during periods of transition is critical. Companies should continually assess the coalitions’ composition, and advocate the addition of new members whenever warranted.
Participating in a broad-based coalition enables business to shed its “outsider” status. Business can demonstrate a commitment both to education and to the best interests of children. [And I thought education and the best interests of children were the same!] An agenda put forward by such a coalition has more legitimacy than one put forward solely by business. It is more likely to be perceived as based on sound educational theory, and less likely to be perceived as designed only to meet the needs of the business community. Even more important, unless many other stakeholders are brought in and buy in, policy changes have no chance of success.
There is a lot more, but I think one can get the gist of their effort. Suffice it to say that I believe this entire adventure was deliberately deceptive and underhanded. |
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Mary McGarr, Katy Citizen Watchdog$ |
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Date: 06/22/2006 |
