Original Source | The Hill
By Sen. Edward M. Kennedy (D-Mass), Monday May 4, 2009

The stakes are high for education reform in this Congress. At issue is a principle that Americans cherish - opportunity for all. The current economic crisis may tempt some leaders to delay measures to improve the present system, but education is the cornerstone of economic and civic success in our democracy, and we cannot afford to be short-sighted. Improving education is essential to successful economic recovery and future American prosperity.

Our leaders have always recognized the importance of education. As John Adams wrote in the Massachusetts Constitution in 1780, education of the people is "necessary for the preservation of their rights and liberties." In the 19th century, Horace Mann understood that bringing this vision to life meant public education for all children.

Like these leaders before him, President Obama understands the challenges we face if we are to enable students to become productive citizens in this rapidly changing world. He set a bold goal in his February address to Congress, calling for the United States once again to lead the world in the proportion of its citizens with a college degree. We in Congress must understand the implications of this critical but fundamental objective in charting our approach to improving education today. Currently, only about 70 percent of students are graduating from high school and only about half of those are prepared for college. Regaining our place at the forefront of education will require expanding access to college and improving the quality of education from birth through college and beyond.

To start, we must recognize that early childhood sets the course for future learning, and that focusing on children during their first years is one of the best education investments our government can make. High-quality early learning opportunities increase preparedness for school, reduce placements in special education, and in many cases improve parenting as well. That's why I look forward to working with the president to help states create more and better early-childhood education opportunities through early learning challenge grants.

We must also continue to focus on needed reforms such as providing expanded learning time, engaging parents, offering students a broader range of support, improving America's high schools and doing more to see that students at all grade levels have the literacy skills they need to succeed. These initiatives will combine with other reforms such as better standards and assessments, turnaround of low-performing schools and support for excellent teaching as part of the reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, which is urgent and overdue to ensure that more students can graduate from high school prepared for success in college and future careers.

Ensuring a genuine high school diploma is essential, but unless students have the financial and other resources to complete a postsecondary degree or certification, they are unlikely to have a job in the 21st century economy capable of sustaining a family.

There are several steps Congress can take to help advance these goals. It makes no sense to pour $100 billion into unnecessary subsidies to private lenders when such funds could be used to increase the amount of Pell Grants. We should also update the Workforce Investment Act to modernize our job-training and workforce development programs and enable Americans of all ages to develop the skills needed for rewarding careers with opportunities for upward mobility. Whether in a college or a workplace setting, it is essential that adults receive the credentials and skills needed for success in today's economy and in tomorrow's growth industries.

In recent years we have made some progress in improving federal education policy from birth to college, from the reauthorizations of Head Start and the Higher Education Act to the recent Serve America Act, which creates an Education Corps to send more Americans, young and old, into our neediest schools to make a difference. But there's vastly more to be done. If we in Congress take a broader view of education reform, we'll discover together what our Founders knew - that opening the doors of educational opportunity for every American will safeguard not only our economic prosperity and national security, but also our future leadership in the world.