Reinventing American schools.

African-Americans have long been locked in a frustrating battle to get America's schools to provide quality education for their children. Now, with increasing global competition and rapidly advancing technology siphoning away jobs, the entire country is facing this problem.

When the

United States in 1991 sank to nearly last among industrialized nations in is math and science education, the Bush Administration charged the New American Schools Development Corp. (NASDC) with reinventing the nation's school system under its "America 2000" education strategy. The Clinton Administration has changed the strategy to "Goals 2000: Educate America Act." NASDC chairman and president David T. Kearns, a Bush appointee, is responsible for driving national school reform.

Kearns, who served as deputy secretary of the Department of Education under President Bush and is a former chairman and CEO of Xerox Corp., is well suited to this challenge. One of the two books he has coauthored, Winning the Brain Race: A Bold Plan to Make Our Schools, Competitive (Kendal/Hunt Publishing Co.; Dubuque, IA., 1988 $9.95), reflects his experience solving problems with business leaders, educators and parents. By marshalling the combined forces of those three groups, Kearns intends to meet the following NASDC goals: achieve a national high school graduation rate of at least 90%; teach a world-class standard curriculum to all children; make American students first in math and science in the world; create a literate and skilled workforce; and make our schools free from drugs and violence.

NASDC's original mandate was simply to identify, through a national competition, teams of visionaries, educators, businesspeople and analysts who would create designs for highly distinctive schools that would serve as models for the nation's educators. The organization has already selected 11 such designs; funding has been granted for nine of them (see sidebar, "Models For Tomorrow's Schools"). Since them, NASDC's mission has evolved beyond creating designs to: 1) demonstrating that the designs can help all students achieve world-class standards; 2) identifying barriers to creating high-performance schools; and 3) encouraging the development of institutions and processes that can implement the designs on a wide scale.

But NASDC, a private, nonpartisan, nonprofit corporation, is in jeopardy. It's reluctance to support a Republican-initiated project during a Democratic administration has slowed the organization's attempts to raise $200 million to fund the design of new educational systems. To date, roughly $50 million has been raised--$20 million of which has been awarded to 11 design teams creating new school models. However, President Clinton, who as governor of Arkansas was among those who worked with Bush to establish the original goals of "America 2000," has formally endorsed those goals through his administration's "Goals 2000: Educate America Act." The act, which has yet to be passed, formalizes the nation's education goals. It creates institutions to foster the development and adoption of voluntary national standards, and provides modest annual funding for state efforts to adopt standards and create curriculum frameworks, professional development programs and assessment systems needed to support schools that meet high national standards. Kearns cites only one major philosophical difference on education reform between Clinton and his White House predecessor: private school choice. "Clinton is supportive of choice, but within the public system," Kearns explains. "The Bush Administration supported choice across both public and private schools. I don't think that difference is overwhelming."

In an exclusive BLACK ENTERPRISE one-on-one interview, Kearns discusses the merits of the "Goals 2000: Educate America" education stategy, the suggested models for reforming the nation's schools, and what African-Americans stand to gain from NASDC's success.

BLACK ENTERPRISE: What must happen to make NASDC a success?

DAVID T. KEARNS: We need to finish the work. Phase one has been completed, and we've picked nine of eleven teams which will move forward into phases two and three. Our success will be measured on two fronts: 1) when we see if NASDC was able to impact thousands of schools; and 2) we are beginning to meet those high international standards.

BE: What will typify a NASDC model school?

KEARNS: We'll look at having a longer school year, but you don't want a longer school year where you simply do more of the same. Teachers would have more time for planning and interaction with their students. Education and information will be available to kids outside the school building.

We'll start to think of a school in a broader sense--as a community resource. Schools should be open and available to the community all year long. Grade levels may not be important. We may allow youngsters to finish school when they meet the requirements. You can find pieces of almost all this being worked on in the design teams.

You may also see some controversial issues like merit pay. Since we don't have enough physics teachers in this country, maybe they ought to get paid more to attract more people to the profession. I think it's harder to teach in Bedford-Stuyvesant (Brooklyn) than in New Canaan (Conn.). So you're going to have to pay teachers more money to work in some areas if you want to attract the very best teachers.

BE: What are the long-range plans for funding and implementing the final NASDC educational models?

KEARNS: The Clinton Administration, through "Goals 2000: Educate America," has asked Congress for about $490 million to give communities that are interested in reform. Though NASDC operates on a private basis, we will make our funding goals so that the educational designs become available to any community that wants them.

BE: What are the main obstacles preventing "Goals 2000: Educate American" from becoming a success?

KEARNS: Change is fun to write about, read about and talk about, but not a lot of fun to do. Education is a big industry. There are also people in the political process who just want to make sure of how many teachers their systems has and how the money coming into their community is measured.

BE: How do you handle conflict with forces that might resist revoluntionary change in education?

KEARNS: You need the educators, businesspeople, community leaders and politicans to get together and say, "we want the best school system in America." Once the entire community is committed to this, then the political process will forced to respond. NASDC can provide some new ideas for communities that decide that they want change.

BE: What should corporate America to make "Goals 2000: Educate America" work?

KEARNS: It is important that businesses support those education leaders who are willing to take risks and try something new. Companies should give employees time off to work with school systems to mentor children, particularly in economically disadvantaged schools.

Businesses can be very effective in encouraging their people to be on school boards. And business leaders need to demand school curriculums that produce young men and women who can fill the jobs of the future.

BE: What can the African-American business community do to support the effort?

KEARNS: There are a lot of black entrepreneurs whose businesses are located in minority communities. It's imperative that minority businesspersons play a critical role in making things change. But white businesses in those communities have to play a role too.

There's been some concern in economically disadvantaged communities about whether they should meet the same standards as a rich suburban community. I'd be insulted if someone said that I couldn't adhere to the same standard, but there may be a very different learning process in different kinds of schools in some areas than in others. Everybody should go for the high standards, but the way of getting there can be different.

There is nothing inherently wrong with our children. We do not have the school system or the surrounding support system to get our kids through school. When we get out into the next decade and look back we'll see schools very differently.