I have heard people say that a child has only one chance to do third grade.  A kid’s whole life can be made in one good or bad year in school.  In one year, a child can become a success story or just another distressing educational statistic.

So isn’t it incumbent upon policy makers to make sure that whatever policies they pass are focused on getting that child the best chance to have a positive experience?

Superintendent Tony Bennett often talks about how his team is focused on kid issues and not adult issues. It’s a great philosophy, one that says children should be at the very heart of every education policy decision.  It seems like a simple concept, but take a minute and think about how many times the education debate veers off course from how kids are impacted.

It often seems to become about power between adults; how much money are taxpayers willing to pay, how much should administrators make, who has authority over curriculum, discipline policy, how big and expensive is the football stadium?  All important issues perhaps, but where do the kids fit into those debates?

One might think that if there were a silver bullet to solve our state’s education problems someone would have implemented it years ago.  But perhaps if all engaged in the making of education policy would first ask themselves, “How does this impact the kids” before any other consideration, maybe we could begin to make tangible gains in the educational achievement of our children.

For more information on what Tony and his team are doing, visit their website at http://www.doe.in.gov/superintendent/ .