On Monday I attended the U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s National Education and Workforce Summit, where they released the second installment of their Leaders and Laggards report. The Chamber released the first installment two years ago which graded states on their education achievement. This installment, however, graded each state on their educational innovation in eight categories using 47 indicators.

The categories include:

1. School management
2. Finance
3. Staffing: Hiring and evaluation
4. Staffing: Removing ineffective teachers
5. Data
6. Technology
7. Pipeline to postsecondary
8. State reform environment

For each of these categories states were given a grade (A – F), mainly on the basis of whether a state had implemented a policy or not. In most of the cases, it didn’t matter if the policy was effective, it just mattered if there was one in place.

For example, part of a state’s Finance grade was based on whether states allow teachers to be paid based on their performance. However, the Center’s Teacher pay for performance report shows that such pay for performance plans have shown only modest gains in student achievement and that there is little evidence yet on what type of rewards are most effective.

Furthermore, the Center’s Wanted: Good teachers report also points out that the impact of alternative certification programs are quite mixed. Yet, part of each state’s Staffing: Hiring and Evaluation grade is based on the percent of teachers who entered the profession through an alternative certification program regardless of its quality. So the grades in these areas do not necessarily represent how effective state policies are at improving student learning.

Yes, our schools do need to be innovative. But just implementing policies with no track record of improving student learning isn’t exactly innovative. As a matter of fact, it is something that has been done for far too long in education.

What would be truly innovative is if states were graded on how successful they were at scaling up successful programs and eliminating those programs that aren’t effective. Another truly innovative approach to grading states and our schools would be to grade them on how much they improved their student’s learning. The Chamber didn’t give grades for either of these measures in either installment of their report. –Jim Hull