Government as Innovation Catalyst
In my latest Bloomberg Businessweek column I assert that the U.S. Department of Education Race to the Top has the potential to catalyze system level change. We must transform our education system and government has an important innovation catalyst role to play. The student is waiting.
The best use of government is as a catalyst for social system innovation. Yes, that’s right: “Innovation bureaucrat” need not be an oxymoron. Leaders should get the innovation reaction started—and then get out of the way.
U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan is showing how it can be done. The “Race to the Top” program offers $4 billion in grants to states committed to reforming their education systems. Duncan outlined a clear goal of restoring the U.S. as a world leader in preparing students to succeed in college and the workplace and announced the first grants on Mar. 29, 2010—$100 million for Delaware and $500 million for Tennessee.
Instead of spreading the money across the country as usual, Duncan sent a clear message. Imagine the reaction in statehouses across the country when they didn’t get a slice of the pie. By being clear and sticking to the announced criteria, Duncan sent a strong signal that states needed to demonstrate a willingness and capacity to transform. Any state with legislation on the books preventing development or expansion of innovative school approaches need not apply. Any state without the means to leverage data and accountability systems to improve measurable performance outcomes need not apply. And, my favorite, any state that couldn’t demonstrate effective alignment with local teachers’ unions on performance accountability and transformation plans need not apply.
