Planning to Succeed

Since the financial crisis, government and business leaders around the world were forced to take bold action to keep the global economy afloat. At the World Economic Forum this week in Davos, there will be cautious optimism with a sentiment we are heading in the right direction in the winter air.

January 27, 2014 by John Fallon
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3 minutes read
Credit: GPE/Midastouch

This blog post originally appeared in The Huffington Post:

“Since the financial crisis, government and business leaders around the world were forced to take bold action to keep the global economy afloat. At the World Economic Forum this week in Davos, there will be cautious optimism with a sentiment we are heading in the right direction in the winter air.

But at the Education World Forum, a collection of education ministers and leaders, the conversation will have a different tone. As we approach the Millennium Development Goals deadline progress has been made, but there remains much to be done to improve quality and equity in education globally. So we will be discussing the need for similarly bold action: investing in education is necessary to keep the economy growing.

School curriculums and assessments need to be re-imagined to meet with the labor market needs of the 21st century. Technology infrastructure is required to enhance access and help workers returning to learning to re-skill. We need to invest more in teacher development, their status and role in society.

In this high stakes context, it is critical that we have a sophisticated understanding of what a good outcome looks like. It is up to educational leaders, public and private, to rethink the way we approach standards and measure outcomes. The answer: ensuring that the learning materials given to our children do what they say they will.

The notion of measuring effectiveness is not a foreign concept to consumers. Would you take medicine that might not cure your ailment? Would you give it to your child? The answer to all of these questions is “of course not.” The same approach should be taken in education.“

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