Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney

On March 29, Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney delivered an address to AEI on education reform in his state, highlighting what has worked effectively and what still needs to be done to ensure that students have a chance to succeed academically and professionally. Also at this event, AEI’s Frederick M. Hess and Martin R. West of the Brookings Institution released their new study, A Better Bargain: Overhauling Teacher Collective Bargaining for the 21st Century.

According to Governor Romney, “Education reform is vital because what children become, a nation becomes.” Calling the development of children a nation’s primary task, the governor pointed to two gaps in education that must be addressed: the excellence gap and the achievement gap. The excellence gap concerns the fact that the United States is falling behind developed nations with similar resources in academic performance, particularly in math and science. With fewer students earning degrees in engineering and physical science, it will become increasingly difficult for the United States to maintain its superpower status, he said.

Governor Romney asserted that the achievement gap among different racial groups “threatens to become the civil rights issue of our generation.” Blacks and Hispanics continue to lag behind white and Asian students within nearly all subject areas and age groups.

Closing these gaps, Romney emphasized, depends largely upon strengthening the family unit, and he called the home “the center of education.” He advocated removing incentives for single parenthood, teaching abstinence in schools, and enhancing the role of marriage and parental responsibility to strengthen families.

Governor Romney then turned to strategies that have succeeded in improving student achievement in Massachusetts specifically, including setting more stringent academic standards; increasing English immersion programs for students whose first language is not English; and expanding access to charter schools, whose students have posted higher SAT scores.

The governor also highlighted several new initiatives to improve education in the most troubled school districts. He advocated steps to make teaching more of a profession, including increased advancement and mentoring opportunities for teachers based on educational needs and state funding of $5,000 bonuses for those teaching advanced placement (AP), math, and science courses.

Governor Romney also seeks to strengthen the authority of superintendents and principals so that they can hire and assign teachers according to their individual district needs, more easily remove underperforming teachers, and remove work-rule impediments from collective bargaining agreements. He also contended that teacher evaluation and compensation should be based on student achievement.

Under the “Math and Science Excellence Initiative,” the governor seeks to increase the number of exam schools, to ensure that AP courses are offered in every school, to add 1,000 teachers in math and science, to provide laptop computers to every student in grades six through twelve, and to improve teacher training.

He also suggested a mandatory parental preparation program that would emphasize school discipline, the need for children to complete their homework assignments, management of television viewing, after school resources, and parental involvement in their children’s schools.

In terms of the political fight to enact such new initiatives, Romney charged that some teachers unions continue to focus on class size and increased funding--neither of which, according to recent studies, have much impact on student achievement--and hold too much influence over school management. He remained optimistic that minority communities would get more involved in education reform and that there would be increased interest in charter schools as their results continue to surpass most schools.

Governor Romney concluded that education reform is a bipartisan issue, and one that he argued should be “a national priority” due to its profound “human consequences” and effects on the competitiveness of the nation as a whole.