By Andrew Carden

An education reform advocacy organization has launched in New York, aiming to encourage the state to muster the political will necessary in improving what they hail as an imperfect public school system.

In "The State of New York Public Education," its first public report in the state, the New York Campaign for Achievement Now aims to chart a path toward great schools for every New York child. This can be done, they suggest, by addressing the questions of what is working for and failing the state's students, which education policies have emerged as proven paths toward improvement and how much further is necessary to go in achieving such improvement.

In 2011, New York ranked 35th on the Nation's Report Card, a national test instituted every other year to students in every state. This placed it well below two neighboring states, Massachusetts and New Jersey, which ranked first and third, respectively.

"Our top students are the tops, but our overall progress is stagnant at best and our students are far outshined when they go head-to-head with our neighbors in Massachusetts, our competitors across the globe and even when they arrive at colleges here in New York State," said the report, published last Wednesday. "What's more, the economics of New York State are clearly calling out for a more highly educated workforce that we are just not delivering."

On a global level, too, New York is lagging behind.

"Even with one of the most educated workforces in the country, New York is still significantly outperformed by 18 other countries in the world when comparing our students who have one parent with a four-year degree with all students of the world," said the report. "New York public schools are not adequately preparing even our most accomplished students to compete with other nations in the world."

NYCAN's inaugural education campaign, nicknamed "The Empire State Strikes Back," argues in favor of three reforms to combat the state's achievement gaps.

First, NYCAN suggests, the state should implement a parent trigger law, which would enable the parents of students to "take over" struggling schools. Upon "pulling the trigger," which would come with a majority of the school's parents signing a petition to do so, the parents would garner the ability to fire the school administration, convert the institution into a charter school or outright close the school.

"A parent trigger law will dramatically increase parental involvement in education by demanding parental concerns are recognized in a way that has never happened before," said the report. "For the first time, 'unions' of parents may feel compelled to become engaged and take a stand for a better education for their children."

Second, interstate reciprocity rules for teacher certification should be revamped to recruit more out-of-state teaching talent into New York's classrooms. Finally, the state should support early college high school programs which enable students to garner college credit in secondary school.

Christina Grant, NYCAN founding executive, has a personal life story which, she says, is emblematic of the goals her organization is working to achieve. Her parents worked hard, but there was no school choice in her community.

"Most parents care deeply about their children's educational options, but, when you lack resources, you are often stuck in a system that doesn't work for your kids," said Grant. "I was afraid to go to high school. Gang violence, bullying and apathetic teachers defined my high school experience."

Despite graduating second in her class at Hempstead High School on Long Island, when Grant began her undergraduate studies at Hofstra University, she was told she could not write at a college level.

"If it hadn't been for a few professors who worked to fill the gaps in my knowledge, I would have been another college dropout," said Grant.

Education progress in New York, Grant says, remains stagnant.

"Less than 75 percent of the state's high school students graduate, even though we spend over $18,000 per student per year on education, more than any other state in the country," said Grant. "Our goal is to change state policy to ensure all students have access to great public schools."

NYCAN notes New York also ranks second in the nation, behind only Maryland, in percent of students who successfully complete an Advanced Placement course. Yet, while nearly a fifth of overall high school graduates accomplish such a feat, only 4.1 percent of black students do the same. Likewise, in 2011, white students in the state were nearly twice as likely as their black and Hispanic counterparts to meet basic standards in writing and reading.

By 2018, NYCAN projects, 73 percent of state jobs will require some form of post-secondary education, but, as it stands now, a mere 45 percent of New Yorkers in the workforce have that form of higher education.

"Once considered a preeminent manufacturing state, New York's economy has moved toward a more service-oriented system, demanding a very different educational structure," said the report. "Middle and high-skill jobs are growing, and jobs that require only a high school diploma are shrinking. Post-secondary education and technical training are more important than ever."

The report suggests 2010's Race to the Top grant, which awarded New York nearly $700 million in federal funding to expand and implement education reform efforts, has yet to be fully implemented.

"A barrier to implementation is that the Race to the Top legislation mandated teacher evaluations in a broad sense and left the details to be bargained at the local level between districts and unions," said the report. "This local arrangement has led to little progress in developing comprehensive evaluation plans."

NYCAN is a branch of 50 Campaign for Achievement Now, which bills itself as a "growing national network of state-based education reform advocacy groups." 50CAN has additional campaigns in Maryland, Minnesota and Rhode Island.