Though health care reform and job creation are frequently center stage for politicians and the media, the push to improve public education remains one of the top concerns today. Tragically, this is nothing new. There has been a cry for educational reform in the United States for nearly three decades, at least.
In 1983, a two-year endeavor by the Regan Administration’s National Commission on Excellence in Education culminated in a report entitled, A Nation at Risk. An introductory excerpt reads as follows.
"...the educational foundations of our society are presently being eroded by a rising tide of mediocrity that threatens our very future as a Nation and a people. What was unimaginable a generation ago has begun to occur—others (countries) are matching and surpassing our educational attainments. If an unfriendly foreign power had attempted to impose on America the mediocre educational performance that exists today, we might well have viewed it as an act of war."
Some states responded quickly to this strong indictment with reform measures – charter schools being one such response. In 1993 Michigan enacted charter school law that paved the way for Landmark Academy to be birthed eleven years ago.
The call for education reform sounded again in 2001 when the No Child Left Behind Act was signed during the Bush Administration. While this has been debated in terms of its effectiveness in improving education, the intent is clear: Education in the United States must improve.
It is evident that the Obama Administration also shares the concern for educational effectiveness as evidenced by the Race to the Top competitive grants being awarded to states that are the most reform minded. Lansing has recently responded with a flurry of legislative activity intended to demonstrate Michigan’s commitment to improving education.
While the cry for reform has been sounding for nearly three decades, it appears that progress on this front has been painfully slow – except at Landmark Academy. We find it interesting that many of the recent reform laws actually move traditional public schools toward functioning more like Landmark. We have always understood that tenure is not a hedge against effective learning and all Landmark staff members receive annual reviews on our effectiveness (even the CEO). We have had to operate fiscally lean and with transparency since we opened the doors. We have always realized that if we do not get results – students learning what they must learn – we will be forced to close. It will be interesting to see how traditional public schools respond to these “new” ideas.
It all seems simple to us. Regardless of race, religion or political persuasion, all of us with children want the same thing. We want our children to be prepared with academic and life skills necessary to be successful in their careers and for life in general. For the past several years we have been diligently developing and refining our model for education, keeping our eyes on that aim and the promise of our mission.
It has not been too difficult living with the pressure to deliver results. The most challenging task for us has been to usher in change to an industry that has resisted a move toward effectiveness for decades. Many think of reform as returning education to the good ‘ol days like we had – forgetting that the former approach was not much different from today’s approach. Many folks find comfort in familiar and nostalgic notions, even though the results are suspect. We understand that change can be difficult. Nevertheless, we have endeavored to provide a beacon of hope to children who have fallen through the cracks of the system we had in the good ‘ol days.
Five years ago Landmark Academy began our quest to redefine education. We sought to become experts in identifying each student’s individual learning style and customizing our instruction to meet the student’s learning needs. While we still have room for growth, every year we have had improvements in our results for our students. And, we are shifting gears for a new level of classroom effectiveness. Our new program for reading, writing and comprehension has taken us another step closer to this seemingly elusive ideal that reform proponents are pursuing. We are seeing that our students are learning and actually enjoying the process and we celebrate every success story we experience. And, while they are enjoying learning, they are developing character and life skills in a safe and nurturing environment. Little by little, we are doing it. We are redefining education according to the mission we set in place over a decade ago.
We welcome the push for reform. In fact, I would venture to say, “Welcome to our world.”
JT Lyonette,
CEO
Landmark Academy
A Landmark Milestone
February 2, 2010
