Economic Development and Public Education: Strategies and Standards

Abstract

Public discussion of public school reform has been animated by a popular presumption that public education is a key to economic development. The popular model further presumes that a direct and simple mechanism connects education and development. Review of a rapidly accumulating literature indicates that there is a strong connection, but the mechanisms are many and complex rather than few and simple. Three basic development strategies are identified and corresponding educational standards are defined as a way of simplifying a growing complexity confronting public decision makers. The strategy-standard pairs are termed the shifting foundation, high-performance applications, and innovation process.