Thirty years ago today, former president George H.W. Bush convened the nation’s governors in Charlottesville, VA for the nation’s first, and to date only, education summit. At this summit, the governors agreed to six national education goals. These goals have been the foundation for state and national education reform efforts over the last three decades.
I have a piece in The Hill today that argues it’s time for a second summit:
America’s education outcomes are largely stagnant. Gaps across subgroups remain a challenge. International test scores put American students behind their peers in other developed nations like Australia and the UK. Given this, it’s time for the nation’s governors to reconvene and create a new set of national education goals that reflect what we’ve learned and define where we want to go.
Read the full piece here. You can also learn more about the origins of this summit — and how states have worked to improve their education systems — in our resource on the American South here.