Why is TIER Needed?

There is very little doubt among sophisticated observers that Texas has led the nation in public education reform over the past twenty years and that it has served as a model for other states as well as the nation in the advancement of standards and accountability. This has been accomplished by the dedication of a statewide coalition of educators, administrators, and legislative and business leaders in a consistent effort.

However, there is mounting evidence that the pace of reform in Texas public schools is insufficient to meet the demands of a globally competitive workforce. This evidence indicates that some of the more intractable problems remain untouched by reforms while serious backsliding is underway in others, that incremental changes at the margins will not produce the results we need, that simply adding more funding to the same delivery structure is not the answer, and that a much more difficult phase of transformational reform lies ahead if we are to reach state education goals for the proficiency of our children.

Today we have a strong platform for transforming public schools; the school finance and academic reform packages enacted by the 79th and 80th Sessions of the Texas Legislature provide exciting new opportunities for improving teacher quality, academic and financial accountability, and high school performance. We must properly implement these reforms and follow them with a comprehensive, long-term agenda that sets our sights on the level of education that Texans require to successfully compete nationally and internationally. The need is urgent. Unless we fundamentally change how our youth are educated and sharply accelerate the rate of academic gains, demographers predict that the state’s economy and the well being of every Texan will dramatically decline within the next twenty years.

The schools we need are within reach—with the energized support of the state’s major opinion leaders, who must take the lead in an honest appraisal of where we are and the direction in which we need to go to advance the recent progress in Texas education reform and to extend the Texas and American dream to every child. Much is at stake in this mission. Beyond the quality of our cultural and economic future, this challenge represents the civil rights revolution of the 21st century. TIER is dedicated to helping Texans meet this challenge.