Reconnecting On Education

This story originally appeared in The Harvard Gazette.

It’s no secret that the American educational system today lists under the weight of some massive, seemingly intractable burdens such as poor college preparation, modest achievement results compared with other nations, high dropout rates, significant teaching and performance disparities across racial and socioeconomic backgrounds, and a deficit of graduates equipped with the necessary skills for tomorrow’s workforce.

Experts say this crisis is caused by a profound disconnection, whether between different educational levels, between schools and communities, or between education and social institutions. Such disconnections can undermine the nation’s competitiveness, increase social inequality, and diminish well-being and outcomes related to health, income, and even social engagement. It’s an urgent situation, and analysts say fresh educational strategies are urgently needed to address it.

To begin sketching out the task at hand, the Harvard Graduate School of Education (HGSE) held a special Askwith Forum panel last Thursday hosted by Fernando Reimers, Ed.M. ’84, Ed.D. ’88, the Ford Foundation Professor of International Education and director of HGSE’s Global Education and International Education Policy Program, to consider how to make education more relevant, how to get schools to be better at reaching their goals, and whether those goals are, in fact, the appropriate ones...

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