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Congress can unleash the power of K-12 education in two steps:
Click the + to see more. Click the – to see less
First, Congress can relegislate the U.S. Department of Education itself—the mission is wrong
Congress can rewrite the U.S. Department of Education (referred to as the DOE in this explainer site) to end decades of underperformance disclosed by NAEP results. Click this U.S. Department of Education link to see guidelines for Congress to consider.
If relegislated, the DOE can become a powerful national asset for K–12 student performance.
Codified DOE mission and verification.
The U.S. Department of Education must be accountable in hard numbers, directly tied to measurable performance metrics for K–12 students nationwide (NAEP is one example).
Further codified, there must be continuous outreach for innovation to enhance K–12 student performance, followed by due diligence, judgment, implementation, and testing.
Second, Congress can direct a federal agency to sponsor national-scale K-12 innovation
Congress could both rewrite the U.S. Department of Education (DOE) and assign it responsibility for the HSe4Metrics platform innovation—the dual focus of this explainer website.
Congress could also direct any federal agency—whether the DOE itself, the Department of Labor (DOL), the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), or another—to serve as the funding sponsor for the HSe4Metrics platform.
That’s it—then just implement and test
As with any innovation, outcomes are not known until it is implemented and tested. The HSe4Metrics platform is a societal innovation for K–12 student performance. Outcomes will be verifiable through hard-number metrics results, such as NAEP assessment results.
Much is right about U.S. K–12 education. With a few adjustments, it can become an international contender.
And yet K–12 student performance is in dire condition—and has been for over 60 years.
The nation’s K-12 teachers are not at fault. In fact, the U.S. public K-12 system, along with its teachers, is regarded by other top industrialized nations as the best in the world. The global community recognizes the system’s remarkable ability to prepare a diverse range of students for success in U.S. colleges and universities.
And no, COVID did not cause the NAEP assessments crisis. Before COVID (in late 2019), only ~37% of K–12 graduates could read at minimum NAEP proficiency, and only ~25% could do math. The post-COVID reality is worse—but even at the 50% figure sometimes cited by Big Media, the blow to the nation’s socioeconomics, GDP, quality of life, and human capital is staggering.
Today the rates are even lower—approximately 25% for reading and 24% for math (click the NAEP link).
A “forever” K–12 failure by the states.
Taken as a whole, NAEP results—often reported by major media—indicate that the states collectively forfeit roughly 50% of the nation’s K–12 students, with many leaving school below minimum NAEP proficiency in reading or math.
Although 50% is arguably catastrophic, the figure may be much worse—click the NAEP link.
Even states that perform well on NAEP may still fall short on other critical metrics, such as cap rate, potentially placing students at a lifelong disadvantage.
A “forever” K–12 failure by the U.S. Department of Education (DOE)—but the structural issue can easily be corrected.
A time for Congress.
Congress can unleash an extraordinary level of pent-up K–12 student performance across the United States simply by re-legislating the founding documents of the U.S. Department of Education. (Click the link.) Such a rewrite would position the DOE as an unparalleled national asset for advancing K–12 student performance.
The U.S. Department of Education (DOE), created nearly 17 years after President Kennedy’s assassination, did not carry forward Kennedy’s urgent call to improve nationwide K–12 student performance. Click the John F. Kennedy link for his vision.
Theoretically, any of the federal agencies—whether the DOE, the Department of Labor (DOL), one of the cabinet-level executive departments, or an independent agency such as the National Science Foundation—could serve as sponsor of the HSe4Metrics platform. However, aside from the DOE, none could make K–12 student performance its sole focus. Ironically, even the DOE does not currently do so—but it could if re-legislated by Congress.
If housed within another agency, K–12 student performance would necessarily be secondary to that agency’s primary mission, creating a risk of mission dilution in efforts to improve national student outcomes.
In sum, the sponsoring agency’s singular focus should be K–12 student performance.
K–12 student performance drives everything in the U.S., so consider the example of the national workforce.
Keep in mind that the untapped population required for massive workforce transformation already exists—the nation’s forfeited bottom 50% of students identified by NAEP assessments, along with those barely above minimum proficiency.
To reach that untapped population, consider a Congressional rewrite of the DOE’s founding legislation—including a requirement for innovation.
JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon advocates the pursuit of societal innovation to solve the unsolvable—innovation that serves the public good, distinct from industry-focused efforts. The HSe4Metrics platform—the motivation for this explainer website—represents such an opportunity, and its results can be verified with hard-number metrics.
Courage needed: In innovation, success is not guaranteed. The outcomes of innovation remain “unknowable” until tested through implementation.
For innovation, costs may appear frighteningly prohibitive—even though they may represent only a rounding error relative to potential GDP gains. One additional requirement for the HSe4Metrics innovation: access must be free; students and parents cannot be expected to fund the platform.
Arguably, every federal agency and top-tier corporation has an obligation to support societal innovation for K–12 student performance nationwide.
Written for both the general public and the public sector, this site seeks a sponsor
Help HSe4Metrics connect with a federal agency (click the link Federal Agencies) willing to conduct due diligence and evaluate sponsorship of the HSe4Metrics platform—or a member of Congress prepared to lead on strengthening K-12 student performance nationwide.
If this explainer site’s outreach does not succeed in identifying such an agency or a member of Congress, a fundraising campaign may be launched—potentially supported by Google—to retain a professional presentation team to identify and approach appropriate federal leaders. That team would consist of experienced Washington-based policy consultants and government-relations professionals.
Parents MUST have the HSe4Metrics innovation for their toddlers—years before K-12. A good start is to become familiar with cap rate
The HSe4Metrics innovation (or sponsor name) will stick with families from the toddler tantrum years all the way to high school graduation
With parental oversight, the innovation will help young people excel well beyond grade-level expectations
John F. Kennedy would likely have been appalled by the DOE’s misguided legislation
A presentation team or a lobbyist can secure a sponsor—whether a leading corporation like P&G, a federal agency like the Department of Labor—or even the underperforming DOE (if restructured)
Rescue K-12 students—be bold
As noted by Jamie Dimon, implementing “true innovation,” even for a societal good such as K-12 student performance, may require uncommon courage. Why? The cost to implement and test the innovation can be enormous—yet there is no guarantee of success. In true innovation, outcomes are not “knowable” until the innovation is implemented and tested.
In pursuing innovation, the CEOs of industry giants face the same agonizing implementation decision as the leaders of the nation’s major federal agencies. Consider both Xerox (noted in the Jamie Dimon link) and General Motors (mentioned in the Rivian link), each confronting a high-cost innovation–and each catastrophically declining the risk.
For Congress and a federal agency considering the cost risk of funding the HSe4Metrics platform—a societal innovation for K–12 student performance—there is likewise no guarantee of success.
Free access is essential.
Operational costs (tens of millions) and cloud costs (potentially in the billions) must be covered by the sponsor.
Students, parents, teachers, daycare providers, and others must have free access to the HSe4Metrics platform.
A limited public-access version will also be available to the general public—free of charge.
Lobbyists and law firms are being asked to assist—without pay—in identifying a sponsor.
A number of law firms and lobbyists believe they may be able to help arrange a federal sponsorship.
However, for a lobbyist or law firm to volunteer its considerable business resources represents a business sacrifice, not merely a personal one. Thus far, the response has been that such firms require compensation.
(On a more limited basis, well within the top 100 law firms in the United States—headquartered in Washington, D.C.—is providing legal assistance to HSe4Metrics on a pro bono basis.)
In this explainer site, a group of lobbyists and a law firm to help present the HSe4Metrics platform to Congress is referred to as a “presentation team.”
If no lobbyist is able—at no cost—to contact federal agencies and Congress regarding sponsorship of the HSe4Metrics platform, this explainer site may initiate a limited fundraising campaign. The sole purpose would be to retain a qualified lobbyist or law firm to engage federal agencies and Congress.
To view an example of a fundraising campaign designed to hire a professional presentation team, click the “$5 Example” halfway down the Funding by the Public page.
(No campaign is underway at this time. Instead, YOU are asked to reach out and seek help from policymakers and federal agencies. Even if lobbyists and law firms in the Washington, D.C. area have already heard from HSe4Metrics, trying again may be all it takes—so, go for it!)
A Technical Note
Pro bono works fine. The HSe4Metrics platform has secured an additional form of pro bono support: a top-100 U.S. law firm is assisting with the conversion of HSe4Metrics from its current SCC status (held since April 2000) to a 501(c)(3) private foundation.
Until this conversion process is complete, HSe4Metrics intends to delay any public fundraising efforts aimed at retaining a lobbyist or professional presentation team.
Are YOU motivated to act?
No donations are being accepted, but there is something you can do right now to help identify a national sponsor for the HSe4Metrics platform.
- Ask a public official to suggest a government or corporate sponsor
- Make a simple cold call to any Fortune 500 company — for example, contact General Motors and ask that a decision-maker review this explainer site
- Personally call a federal agency — such as the U.S. Department of Labor — and request that a responsible official review the site
If a sponsor is not secured through volunteer outreach or through HSe4Metrics’ direct engagement with major corporations and federal agencies, only then would a limited fundraising campaign be considered.
If that point is reached:
- A modest, carefully structured $5 campaign would be launched
- Its sole purpose would be to retain a qualified Washington presentation or lobbying team
- That team would work to secure formal meetings with Members of Congress and appropriate federal agencies