VIDEO: Cassidy Leads Roundtable on Innovation in K-12 Education, Enhancing Student Achievement

WASHINGTON - U.S. Senator Bill Cassidy, M.D. (R-LA), ranking member of the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee, held a roundtable to discuss the state of K-12 education and the need to innovate to ensure student success. U.S. Senators Tommy Tuberville (R-AL), Katie Britt (R-AL), and Joni Ernst (R-IA) also participated in the roundtable.

In the roundtable, Cassidy discussed the continuing decline in student achievement across the nation, including troubling reports that show two-thirds of fourth and eighth graders are unable to read proficiently. The panelists described how parents are increasingly moving to innovative school models like micro-schools, virtual schools, hybrid homeschooling, and charter schools that have proven to enhance student achievement. Cassidy highlighted his Educational Choice for Children Act, legislation that incentivizes the growth of these innovative school models and ensures more students and parents have access to the best educational opportunities possible.

Panelists also discussed implementing programs that provide students with access to increased and varied high-quality learning opportunities, which enable students to succeed in school and in the workforce. These opportunities make learning personalized, which allows all students' needs to be met in the classroom.

"The primary and secondary education system is broken. Many schools have lost sight of their core mission of educating our children," said Dr. Cassidy.

"The education establishment - driven by teachers' unions and special interests - traps students in the status quo," continued Dr. Cassidy. "Parents - the most important educators in their child's life- need to be empowered and have a voice in their child's education. Unfortunately, in the current K-12 system, parents are marginalized."

"It should be without saying that schools should prepare a child for a successful future," continued Dr. Cassidy. "If there ever was a time to disrupt the status quo, that time is now."

The panelists included:

• Amar Kumar, Founder & CEO, KaiPod Learning

• Heidi Vasiloff, Academic Executive Director, Great Hearts Nova

• Kelby Woodard, President & CEO, Cristo Rey Network

• Ruben Morris, Founder, Alabama Aerospace and Aviation High School

• Steve Grubbs, CEO & Co-Founder, VictoryXR

Click here to watch Cassidy's opening statement.

Click here to watch full roundtable.

Cassidy's speech as prepared for delivery can be found below:

I thank my colleagues and our panelists for participating in this roundtable.

Everyone knows we got problems with K-12.

• Two-thirds of US public school students cannot read proficiently in fourth grade, and 40 percent are essentially nonreaders.
• Almost two-thirds of fourth graders and three-quarters of eighth graders are below proficient in math.
• Less than half of public school parents say their child is definitely prepared academically for the 2024-2025 school year.
• Nearly two-thirds of business leaders say that recent graduates are unprepared for the workforce.

The primary and secondary education system is broken. Many schools have lost sight of their core mission of educating children.

The education establishment - driven by teachers' unions and special interests - traps students in status quo. Classroom instruction and the ins and outs of a school day have remained the same for decades, despite technological advances and changes in the modern workforce. Funding and staffing levels have increased, but student achievement continues to decline. Importantly, pandemic-related school closures exacerbated this decline, creating historic levels of learning loss.

If there ever was a time to disrupt the status quo, that time is now. It should be without saying that schools should prepare a child for a successful future. But that's not the case now. Perhaps the solution would be more personalized learning to fit students' needs in the classroom, which Amar will speak more to later.

Parents - the most important educators in their child's life- need to be empowered and have a voice in their child's education. Unfortunately, in the current K-12 system, parents are marginalized. Many are forced to be bystanders in the raising of their own children or feel silenced over fear of retaliation from school leaders. In 2023, 72 percent of parents considered moving their children to a new school. That's a 35 percent increase from 2022.

The failures of the traditional K-12 system are driving more families to innovative school models like micro-schools, virtual schools, hybrid homeschooling, and charter schools that have proven to enhance student achievement. We'll hear from Heidi and Ruben on how non-traditional options are working for students and families.

It's important to incentivize these innovative school models. Parents need more education options, not fewer. That is why I am leading the Educational Choice for Children Act. It would provide incentives for individuals and businesses to fund scholarship awards for students to cover expenses related to K-12 public and private education. This legislation would ensure more students have access to the best educational opportunities-regardless of their zip code or parents' income.

By the way, innovation is not confined to just creating new school models. Many of our panelists today have made changes to how their schools operate or what students are learning that could be replicated by any school. There are new technologies that can be harnessed to create new learning environments at low costs, which Steve will share with us. There are also new efforts to incorporate career learning into students' high school years to give them first-hand experience as preparation for the workforce, which Kelby will discuss.

Again, I thank each of you for being here. This is an important conversation.

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