Quality Counts 2012

EdWeek has been publishing its quality counts reports for more than a decade, and it is their effort to summarize "the state of education" in the US.

The 2012 edition is out, and my initial reaction is "ho-hum." It seems more of the same.

• The rest of the world is moving ahead, and we are stuck with mediocre performance, especially in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. 
• We are "making progress" on issues like teacher quality, equity, and funding; but we still have a long way to go.

It sure seems to me that this could have been written at any point in my career. It sure seems to me also, that if we are ever going to be serious about reforming education, then we will be forced to ask questions that cut to the core of what human learning is and how it occurs. That will also cause us to recognize that the education I had (in the 1970's-- I graduated from high school in 1983) is not appropriate for my kids.