Helping Texas Schools Do More With Less the Goal of Education Productivity Forum March 19, 2012

At a time when there are four school finance lawsuits claiming that the current school funding system is unconstitutional, The University of Texas at Austin’s Institute for Public School Initiatives (IPSI) and the Institute for Productivity in Education (IPE) are convening the second annual Improving Productivity in Public Education forum to talk about how schools can do more with less.

Government, academic and civic leaders will be meeting in Austin on Wednesday, March 28, to have an interactive dialogue about improving fiscal transparency and cost effectiveness in public schools.

Forum presentations will address the latest education research, education innovations, better ways of using data, blended learning models and the challenges of implementing district wide reforms.

IPSI executive director Darvin Winick and IPE chair and former University of Texas System chair Charles Miller will host the event.

“The goal of the forum is to continue the growing national conversation about education productivity,” says Winick. “Policy makers and school leaders are searching for ways to manage effectively in resource challenged times and Texas can take steps to implement best practices so we can innovate and lead.”

Panelists include:

• Marguerite Roza of the University of Washington Center on Reinventing Public Education
• Jim Shelton of the U.S. Department of Education
• Bob Swiggum of the Georgia Department of Education
• Heather Staker of the Innosight Institute
• Don McAdams of the Center for Reform of School Systems

 “We need to measure K-12 productivity,” says Miller. “To do that, we should unbundle school financial data – it’s too confusing now.  Texas may know what we spend on public education but we don’t really know what it actually costs. Offering policy makers and the public greater transparency about education spending will lead to more local control.  Ultimately, we should develop a system that rewards productivity and allows the reallocation of resources at the campus level for the best possible use.”

IPSI is part of The University of Texas at Austin’s College of Education and aims to improve pre-kindergarten through college student performance through strategic partnerships with the 15 UT campuses as well as community colleges, school districts and state agencies.

IPE’s mission is to improve public education by promoting cost effectiveness and productivity, fostering research and public discussion and recommending policy improvements.

For the forum agenda and a list of panelists view the Forum Flyer (pdf).

– Laura Kelly, IPSI, 512-232-1519; Kay Randall, College of Education, 512-363-6520