Ed Morrison · Holding the mirror

December 11th, 2010

Ronn Richards, president of the Cleveland Foundation, gave Cleveland a clear, profound, and pragmatic summary of the state of the city’s schools yesterday. He spoke at the City Club.

Building on his 2007 graduation address at Baldwin-Wallace, Richards joins Sandy Pinalto, president of the Federal Reserve in Cleveland, as the most sensible of Cleveland’s current leadership. They both have pointed to the core economic development issue facing Cleveland and Cuyahoga County: the failing public schools.

Richards’ comments yesterday were grounded in experience. He established his credibility early in his talk (coming from a family of teachers, deeply committed to the social justice traditions of America’s union movement) and went on to outline what the Cleveland and Gund foundations were actually doing to turn matters around.

Richards’ speech comes within days of three other important developments.

  • McKinsey released an important report on how school systems improve. (Watch video here.)
  • The Gates Foundation released a report of preliminary findings on its $45 million project to understand teacher effectiveness. (Watch the video here or read the coverage from the LA TImes.)
  • The latest international tests meant to measure the academic aptitude of 15-year-olds–the Program for International Student Assessment, whose results were released on Dec. 7, show that American students continue to lag those in other countries in math and science.

    • Both Cleveland’s public sector (Pianalto) and foundations (RIchards) have pointed the way to Cleveland’s future prosperity: dramatically better education outcomes through accelerated, agile innovation.

    One wonders about the private sector leadership in this city, though. They seem to be focusing their attention in odd places, like moving the Cuyahoga River to build a casino parking garage or building the next Big Thing with the public’s money. (More on the Big Thing Theory of economic development here.)

    Perhaps the Cleveland Foundation can shift this dynamic. They could put a DVD of Richards’ speech yesterday on the desk of every CEO in the county.

    Come to think of it, the foundation could include the recent issue of the Cleveland Fed’s Forefront on the importance of education to economic development. It includes an interview with Fed Economist Art Rolnick, “Stop Investing in Stadiums…Start Investing in Kids”.



    Last 5 posts by Ed Morrison

    Random Posts

    Category: BFD
    Comments Off