In the years ahead, businesses of all sizes will increasingly need a workforce that is proficient in basic skills, particularly mathematics. And unless workers have those skills, they'll have trouble finding employment at a good wage.  

Although Pennsylvania has a national reputation for having a high-quality workforce, we're at risk of losing that advantage in the new knowledge-based economy. Last year, almost half (44 percent) of Pennsylvania's 11th graders weren't proficient in math, and over a third couldn't read at a high school level. If you think your school district doesn't have a problem, you're probably wrong--only two school districts in the entire state had 90 percent of their 11th graders proficient in math, and only 19 (out of 501) had 80 percent or more proficient in math.  

But the problem starts much earlier--over a quarter of Pennsylvania's 5th graders can't do math properly and almost 40Percent can't read at a 5th grade level.

What business could survive if 25-40 percent of its products were defective? How can Pennsylvania expect to be competitive in the global economy if a third of the young people entering the workforce can't read or do math properly?

The standard excuses are that the tests are bad or that schools need more money to do better, particularly those that have many low-income students. But there are schools in Pennsylvania and in other states that have achieved high levels of proficiency on standardized tests for all children, including low-income children, while spending below-average amounts per child.

The solution isn't more money or new state or federal laws. It's local citizens demanding better performance from their schools for their children. What can you do?

1. Find out where your local schools rank on student proficiency. Most people know how their local high school football team is doing, but not how their local school students are performing on basic skills. You can get statistics on student proficiency for every school in the state from the Pennsylvania Department of Education Web site.

2. Find out if your school district has a plan for improving proficiency. Ask if the district has a goal of 100 percent proficiency for children, and ask if they have a plan for achieving it. Ask if they're using tools like Value-Added Assessment to determine which schools and which teachers are performing below par and how they are addressing problem performers. 

3. Elect school board members committed to proficiency. It's not the President, the Governor, or state legislators who oversee schools, it's the 4,500 school board members across the state, and about half of the seats will be up for election next year. If your school district isn't performing as well as it should, elect new school board members who will hold the superintendent and teachers accountable for improving performance.