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EXECUTIVE PERSPECTIVE

I was raised in a small town in rural Wisconsin. My father was a veteran of the Korean Conflict (you can call it what you want, but it seemed like a war to me) before returning to work for the local energy company, and my mother taught high school home economics and English until she retired. My dad served on our local school board and served our community as a representative on the Parks and Recreation Commission and on the Police and Fire Commission for decades. I was so proud of both of my parents’ public service to our local community. The essential role of public service — for country, for community and for our nation’s youngest minds — underpinned my upbringing and shaped my values system.

When I was graduating high school and thinking about how I might best be of service to our country, the answer came quite quickly. What’s more important than giving our nation’s youngest minds an education that allows them to be curious, to dream, to hope and to plan for their own bright futures?

Whether that’s serving in the military, as a farmer, a nurse, a CEO, an electrician or a teacher, every child deserves to belong, feel prepared for the challenges and the opportunities of futures they cannot yet imagine, and to be supported and respected. Our youth deserve to have ownership in how they will provide for themselves and their families, and how they will contribute to their community and country.

Prioritizing the availability of high-quality public education must remain a core bipartisan American value. Public schools are very often the economic engines of entire communities, the largest employers and the social glue ensuring the community remains connected to the things that matter .… like who wins the game on Friday night!

It is our duty as educators and school system leaders to prepare America’s children to graduate not only as good students, but as good citizens who are ready for real life in the real world.

A Fulfilling Duty

The Public Education Promise is AASA’s commitment — joined by leaders from the education, philanthropic, and business community — commitment to serve every child in America by providing every child, in every community, with a highly effective education that prepares them for college, career and real life in the real world.

It is a recognition that preparing America’s public school students to become active contributing citizens in the real world goes beyond the essential academic achievement. Preparation also includes learning life skills like critical thinking, curiosity, collaboration, problem solving, resilience and workforce readiness.

For this to be achievable, the people serving on the frontlines of learning must be supported and empowered to lead. In America’s highly decentralized public education system, we believe teachers, principals, counselors, coaches and district leaders — the practitioners — are the on-the-ground experts best positioned to initiate and effect the changes necessary to improve learning experiences and outcomes for every student.

But we cannot expect learning experiences to be powerful and impactful if we are adding more and more to teacher’s plates on a given day. We need to focus on the skills that are integral for a student to be successful and give teachers permission to prioritize the new basic skills and concepts students need to be successful.

Future-Ready Framework

The Future-Ready Education Framework, developed by The Public Education Promise Advisory Committee, is deceptively simple. Each of the five principles is rooted in practice and designed to integrate well with how public schools currently operate.

The framework represents a fundamental redesign of the current education system, rooted in principles and practices flexible enough to enable practitioners to lead in ways that are specific to their community context but sturdy enough to prepare all students to thrive.

This work is intended to be done in partnership with employers, local businesses, philanthropy, faith and community-based organizations and families.

Call to Action

A strong foundation of public education is what sets America apart from other democratic nations. It is the essence of democracy. At the end of the day, public education is about protecting both our children’s future and America’s future.

If not us — the leaders who serve, represent and lead America’s public school children in every community across the country — then who? And if not now, then when? We have no time to lose. I hope you will join me in fulfilling America’s Public Education Promise. Learn more, and sign up, here:

Be well, my colleagues and friends.

David Schuler is ÂÜÀòÍøexecutive director. Twitter: