What Is Education For? First Principles for the Next Generation of Learning Systems

Session Submission Type: Roundtable

Abstract

Abstract

Early 20th-century reformers built the American education system around seat time, age-graded progression, and standardized content delivery. They built it in ways that allowed some to succeed and others to fall behind. A century later, the structure persists and so do the outcomes. AI is reshaping the skills economy. Chronic absenteeism has reached historic levels. Nearly $190 billion in pandemic recovery funds have sunset with need still acute. The distance between those with access to opportunity and those without continues to grow. Yet policy conversations remain anchored to incremental reforms within a system whose foundational premises have gone unexamined for decades. This roundtable asks a simple but complex question: “What is education for in the next 10 to 20 years?” In answering it, panelists will grapple with how we move from inequality by design to equity through redesign.

Four panelists whose work spans sociology, economics, applied policy research, and school finance engage three first-principle questions:
-What should people learn? The current system privileges academic content measured by standardized assessments. Employers, communities, and learners increasingly demand broader capacities: adaptive problem-solving, collaboration, civic engagement, digital literacy, and the foundational numeracy and literacy that underpin them all. What does a defensible answer look like when the goal is human flourishing across the lifespan, not college readiness at age 18?

-How does the system sort students and resources? Funding formulas, attendance zones, and labels such as “gifted,” “disabled,” and “economically disadvantaged” decide who gets what. These decisions often happen early and quietly, yet their effects last into adulthood. Linked school, tax, and program records now let researchers follow students from kindergarten into the labor market. What do these records reveal about the system’s design choices, and which choices still serve students?

-Who is responsible, and how will we know it works? Current accountability assigns responsibility almost exclusively to schools and judges them on annual test scores. A broader vision of education requires a broader theory of shared responsibility across schools, employers, community organizations, families, and every level of government. It also requires evidence that reaches past the end of the school year. Who ensures quality? Who funds it? Who certifies mastery? How do promising ideas move from pilot to system?

The panelists bring unique vantage points and the session is built for dialogue. Each panelist offers a 3-4 minute provocation responding to one of the three questions, followed by structured discussion and audience questions. The goal is to dive into: Which assumptions drive current policy? Do they still hold? Where does first-principle rethinking open new design space for the next generation of learning systems?

Moderator and Organizer: Andrew McEachin, Senior Research Director, ETSSpeakers:

Odis Johnson Jr., Bloomberg Distinguished Professor of Social Policy and STEM Equity, Johns Hopkins University
Leah Clark, Economist, Center for Economic Studies, U.S. Census Bureau
Rekha Balu, Vice President, Center for Equity and Community Impact, Urban Institute
Christopher Cleveland, Assistant Professor of Education and Education Policy, Brown University

Policy Area

• Education

Moderator

• Andrew J McEachin, Educational Testing Service

Organizer

• Andrew J McEachin, Educational Testing Service

Speakers

• Odis D Johnson, Johns Hopkins University

• Leah Ruth Clark, U.S. Census Bureau

• Rekha Balu, Urban Institute

• Christopher Cleveland, Brown University