[media-credit name="Steve McMillan, The Denver Post" align="alignright" width="270"][/media-credit]Education expert Rick Hess
Education expert Rick Hess talked Wednesday about the difficult task of “cage-busting leadership,” referring to how educators can push aside antiquated rules and regulations that keep public schools from better teaching and mentoring students.
“We try to say if we had a little more money, coaching, time, the story would be different,” he said.
Hess, the director of education and policy studies at the American Enterprise Institute, spoke to 700 Denver business and education leaders at the annual Public Education & Business Coalition luncheon. He said the private sector is often faster at eliminating obstacles that impede higher level performance than the public school system.
But that doesn’t mean business has it figured out. “The average lifespan of a Fortune 500 company is 50 years,” he said.
Hess said business can help public schools with quality control, but business people who get involved with the schools need to understand that a partnership is a two-way street. Business people often bring a unique set of skills to the table — budgeting, finance or information technology systems — and instead of sticking to what they do well, they want to give advice on curriculum.
He said when business gets in the game, it needs to commit for the long-term, like the Massachusetts Business Alliance for Education, which has invested in schools for 25 years. He noted, too, that PEBC has been involved in Denver schools for 30 years.
Hess is the author of six books, including his recently published book “Cage-Busting Leadership.”
Two students were presented with the Leaders and Achievers $10,000 scholarships at the luncheon: Tianya Jackson of the Martin Luther King, Jr. Early College in Denver, and Andria Kelly of Loveland’s Thompson Valley High School. Fifty-three other students received $1,000 scholarships. The awards are sponsored by Comcast/NBC Universal.
Bill Gold II, a businessman involved with the Facing History and Ourselves program, and Susan Zimmerman, an author, speaker and consultant, won the Cal Frazier Investing in Education Awards
