I venture to say that public education is in the midst of an identity crisis. Government-provided schooling is one of the world’s oldest social institutions, yet it overwhelmingly fails to act as an institution driven by a social mission. The United States is increasingly admitting that its public schools fail to deliver the social impact necessary to equip every young person to achieve the American dream. We acknowledge that students aren’t satisfactorily proficient in reading and math and that many are not graduating from high school. But why is this happening, and how can we fix it? How can we maximize the effectiveness of our schools? Continue reading →