Education

The United States is facing unprecedented challenges to its long‑term, global economic leadership.  Likewise, Indiana education is being challenged at all levels by dynamic changes in global commerce – from the increasing proficiency of foreign students in mathematics, to the increasing numbers of engineering degrees being conferred by universities in China and India, to the irrefutable need for technical, analytical, communications and computer skills across all industries.  Modernization and globalization are having a profound impact on Hoosier workers and the educational institutions that prepare them.

The implications of students' continued lackluster performance are dire and unacceptable.  A substandard educational system endangers the future quality of life for students and the State.  Students in Indiana K‑12 schools must be taught to engage in self‑directed, lifelong, 21^st Century learning, as individuals in learning communities and with their families, to achieve rigorous, academic excellence in today's high‑tech, globally‑integrated society.  All students should reach proficiency with the 21^st Century skills targeted for their grade level and apply them in academics.  Students must learn through relevant, real‑world academic disciplines using contemporary technologies.  High school graduates should have the 21^st Century skills necessary to succeed in whatever endeavor they pursue and in every instance they should be encouraged to pursue post‑secondary education of some sort.

Education Policy Recommendations:

• Continue to increase the attainment of bachelor degrees. While the State has improved markedly on this measure over the last 12 years compared with other states, only a small proportion of Indiana residents have a bachelor's degree.  This weakens the State's economy.
• Develop compressed community college academic programs. Currently, only a small proportion of working-age adults enroll part-time in college-level education or training.Indiana's community college, Ivy Tech, can adopt programs to better meet the needs of adult learners and conform to adult learning styles. More modularized, compressed, and accelerated degree and certificate programs must be available for working adults.
• Provide increased support for K‑12 science and mathematics instruction while creating incentives for exemplary students to pursue science and mathematics instruction careers.  This support should include a path for existing teachers and other professionals with technical backgrounds to become certified in math and science instruction.  Incentives for exemplary students to pursue math and science teaching careers could include tuition reduction or reimbursement in return for a commitment to teach in Indiana for a specified period of time.
• Enlarge the pipeline of students who are prepared to enter college and graduate with a degree in science, engineering, or mathematics by increasing the number of students who pass advanced placement courses.
• Promote the equitable funding of public education.
• Promote charter schools that focus on the development of science and mathematical professions.
• Support 21^st Century learning in Indiana by funding student‑centered investments in schools.  For example, this could include self‑directed strategies that build teacher capacity and community support for technology integration in the classroom consistent with recommendations made by the Education Technology Council.
• Cultivate collaborative university‑based entrepreneurship programs, promote entrepreneurship courses in primary and secondary school, encourage business plan competitions in every community, and link entrepreneurship networks across organizational and political boundaries.