FIFTY YEARS OF EDUCATIONAL PLANNING - What Do We Have To Show For It? - What Might We Do Next?

Oct 15, 2026

Uploaded by dabgoudw

Education spending over the past 50 years has struggled to deliver ethical, measurable value for the investment. While education aims to make learners productive citizens, non-core demands and social requirements burden the system, making it difficult to deliver core mission outcomes safely. The article reviews how education currently performs, argues the need for responsive value, and proposes two complementary planning and leadership approaches: outside-in and inside-out.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages11

Reading Time28 min

AccessFree to download

Abstract

Introduction

Good Intentions

Our Return on Investment from Planned Intentions

How Does This Current Educational Reality Happen?

FIFTY YEARS OF EDUCATIONAL PLANNING: WHAT DO WE HAVE TO SHOW FOR IT? WHAT MIGHT WE DO NEXT? ROGER KAUFMAN Florida State University, U.S.A. ABSTRACT The hard work and the money spent by and for education in the last 50 years does not, it seems, to allow us to deliver required and ethical value for the money. We are charged with assisting all learners to be productive citizens of tomorrow, but, loaded down with non-core curriculum and social requirements, the educational ship is creaking and falling short. This article reviews how weare doing in delivering value and suggests two types of leadership and planning for us to transform ourselves: Outside-in and Inside-out leadership in planning. Both are useful and combined they can be a powerful force in delivering true value. INTRODUCTION Education either adds measurable value to our shared society or it subtracts it. If it adds value, our world gets continually better. If it doesn’t, it subtracts value on many dimensions. Education and educators agree that we want to add value. We have burdened it with many non-core things that exhaust us and divert us from our core mission of adding value to our society, and doing it safely. Do we now add responsive measurable value? If not, what might we do and accomplish? It is possible to make education so it will add value to all stakeholders. Let’s go from what is overloading education today and how another perspective on planning could reform education and realy help learners be successful in school, successful in life and help develop our world to bea really safe and add value to all. GOOD INTENTIONS Here is a partial list of likely well-intentioned changes in the last 50 years, either mandated or enlisted. Have they been effective, just putting more demands on education with little, no or negative return on investment? • Desegregation • Mainstreaming • Affirmative action • Busing • Block scheduling • Ban of prayer • Accountability • Tenure • Teacher testing • High stakes testing • High standards • Cultural literacy • Bilingual-Bi-Cultural • Charter Schools Educational Planning 2020 31 Vol. 27, No. 3 • School choice • Class size limitations • Merit-based compensation • Outcome based education • No Child Left Behind • Initial mastery • Computers/CIA/CMI • School-to-work • Common core • Distance learning • Political correctness • Women’s studies • Black Studies • Latino/LatinX Studies • Gender neutral bathrooms • Race to the Top • ESSA • STEM • STEMA • Social Justice • Safe spaces • Project-based learning • Flipped classrooms We have caused fatigue by all the things we load up on education to do and deliver. All, somewhere and somehow, included in educational planning and then delivery. Each intended to improve learner and social performance. Perhaps as did your mother, mine repeatedly told me,“The road to hell is paved with good intentions.” Did they? When change initiatives fall short, there is a tendency to fix the blame and not fix the problem. OUR RETURN ON INVESTMENT FROM PLANNED INTENTIONS How did each and all do? Although US education includes possibly the widest diversity in its learner population (and no declines in performance should be appreciated and dropouts seem to be decreasing), the results and return on investment is, putting it gently, disappointing. Here are some data indicating that we spend abundantly per learner (2nd in the world) and get a poor return (See Figure 1) . Despite our high spending on education, current PISA data ([https://data.oecd.org/pisa/](https://data.oecd.org/pisa/)[ ](https://data.oecd.org/pisa/)reading-performance-pisa.htm\#indicator-chart) show that the US is doing a bit better at reading, worse in math, and better in science. We have made limited progress, if one can call it that, over the years for the sizeable investments made. We are still not, it is suggested, getting appropriate return on ou

FAQs

Why does the article question the value of 50 years of educational spending?

It argues that despite large effort and money, education has not consistently delivered required ethical and measurable value for learners and society.

What main causes of underperformance does the article highlight?

It points to non-core curriculum and social requirements that exhaust the system and divert it from safely adding measurable value.

Which planning and leadership approaches does the article propose?

It suggests two combined types of leadership and planning: outside-in and inside-out approaches to transformation and value delivery.

Oct 15, 2026

Uploaded by dabgoudw