new basic skills for today

7/29/2019 New Basic Skills for Today

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New Basic Skills for Today's Economy

by Susan Friedman

Will professional development lead to better teaching? What other responses will

make a difference in public education? Does class size matter? These are the

questions on Richard Murnane's mind this fall as he follows the political debates in

his home state of Massachusetts. Murnane teaches at the Harvard Graduate School

of Education and is the author (with Frank Levy) of Teaching the New Basic Skills --

Principles for Educating Children to Thrive in a Changing Economy.

Murnane isn't surprised that education figures so prominently on the platforms of

many candidates, because he sees strong economic justification for better

education. Think your child is learning the skills she will need to get a good job in

the economy of the 21st century? Think again. According to Murnane, today's

schools are not teaching kids the skills they will need to earn a middle class wage.

We spoke to him about what schools need to do to prepare students for today's

economy, and how parents can help instigate change.

FamilyEducation Network: What's the problem with the education children are

getting today?

Richard Murnane: Our economy has changed drastically in the past 15 years but

schools have changed very little. An education that was good enough for the

economy of the 1970's is no longer good enough for today's job market. Today,

graduates no longer leave high school prepared with the basic skills they need to

earn middle class wages.

Look at the change in wages over the last 15 years. In 1979 a 30-year-old male high

school graduate on average made $28,000 a year (in today's dollars). Today, a 30-

year-old male with a high school degree earns an average of $21,000 a year. This is

a 25 percent decline. The problem is not that today's high school graduate has

lower skills, but rather the skills that are needed to get middle class jobs have


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changed because the economy has changed. Schools aren't worse than they used

to be. Rather what was good enough fifteen years ago is not good enough today.

FamilyEducation Network: What is the difference between the economy of today

and the economy of 1979?

Richard Murnane: Today, skills play a much larger role in determining earnings than

was the case for the 1970's.

FamilyEducation Network: What does today's high school graduate need to get a

middle class wage job?

Richard Murnane: To get a higher wage, middle class job, a high school graduate

needs skills that fit today's economy. This involves hard skills like being able to read

and do math but also soft skills like the ability to problem solve and work well in

groups. Many of the most important activities at work involve group interactions,

not repetitive actions by individuals. Group activities depend on taking initiative and

applying skills. Companies like Motorola and Honda are looking for those basic skills

and almost half of high school graduates lack them.

FamilyEducation Network: How do children develop some of the soft skills like

problem solving and working in groups?

Richard Murnane: Cooperative learning is one of the ways children can develop

some of the soft skills -- being able to work with a group of people to solve

problems. Often parents think cooperative and group work is a waste of time and

are frustrated with it. When done well, some of the soft skills (like cooperative

learning) can be used to teach the hard skills, like reading and math. But a lot of

teachers don't know how to teach this way. They really need training to know howto use cooperative learning.

FamilyEducation Network: How can parents judge the quality of their kids' schools?


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Richard Murnane: Parents usually compare how their child's school compares to

their own school experience. In terms of homework and school subjects, things

usually seem fine. But the world the children are entering is different, so parents

need to ask some different questions like:

Where do kids from the school go after they graduate?

If they are moving on to middle school, do they take algebra? What track?

What percentage of kids graduate from your child's high school?

What do the graduates do afterwards? Where do they work?

Where is the class of 1994?

This information will probably tell parents more about how their children will fare

than test scores and grades.

FamilyEducation Network: In your book, you describe the Zavala Elementary School

in East Austin, Texas, and the changes that were implemented in this school to

improve children's basic skills. How did this school change?

Richard Murnane: The changes in the Texas school involved using for all children a

curriculum that had previously been used only in gifted and talented programs.

There was also intensive teacher training. Lower class size was implemented. And

finally, there was deep and intensive parent involvement. This included allowing

parents on governing boards, parents being involved in hiring decisions -- a level of

parent involvement that goes way beyond what most people think parent

involvement means.

FamilyEducation Network: What do you do if your child's education seems

inadequate?

Richard Murnane: This is not an easy answer as to what parents can do. The Zavala

Elementary School in East Austin, Texas, changed over a period of three years with

the help of an organization that was specifically created to help this type of change

take place. Another example is district two in New York City, where dramatic


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change took place through professional development -- retraining teachers. But

parents should know that it is very hard for schools to change unless parents want

them to change. Parents insisting on change is the first step.

new basic skills for today

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