While Congress spends –– and plans to spend –– like the proverbial drunken sailor to "bailout" various industries for practices that are largely their fault and the fault of those in Congress who were supposed to provide oversight, another deficit looms which is at least as troubling as the economic one.

For the third straight year, the Intercollegiate Studies Institute (ISI) has found that a large number of Americans cannot pass a basic 33–question civic literacy test on their country's history and institutions. The multiple–choice questions ask about the inalienable rights mentioned in the Declaration of Independence (life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness), the name of Franklin D. Roosevelt's 1933 series of government programs (The New Deal) and the three branches of government (executive, legislative, judicial). No, I didn't peek at the answers. I received a good education.

WASHINGTON –– Barack Obama probably cannot fix every leaky roof and busted boiler in the nation's schools. But educators say his sweeping school modernization program –– if he spends enough –– could jump–start student achievement.

More kids than ever are crammed into aging, run–down schools that need an estimated $255 billion in repairs, renovations or construction. While the president–elect is likely to ask Congress for only a fraction of that, education experts say it still could make a big difference.

"The need is definitely out there," said Robert Canavan, chairman of the Rebuild America's Schools coalition, which includes both teachers' unions and large education groups. "A federal investment of that magnitude would really have a significant impact."

... Except in Minnesota.

The 2007 Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) was released on Tuesday, and it contained both good news and bad news for the U.S. The TIMSS tests students in fourth and eighth grades in math and science.

The U.S. takes the tests, along with many other countries (36 in fourth grade, 48 in eighth grade). Since a large number of these are underdeveloped countries, such as Yemen, Colombia, Iran, Botswana, Ghana and Tunisia, it is really no great honor to be above average. What we usually hope for is improvement in our students' performance, especially in relation to other industrialized nations in Asia and Europe.

A three–count indictment of educational reform.

We don't need a rocket scientist to see that something is deeply wrong with K–12 education in the U.S. For the last 50 years, three facts dominate the landscape: Clever reform proposals are a dime a dozen; cost–per–pupil expenditures increase; and student performance continues to lag. It is as if our current policymakers felt duty–bound to wreck our educational system.

With the dawn of the Obama administration, hope springs eternal that the next round of educational reforms will be different. Yet the disinterested outsider should brace for more disappointment. Modern policy loses out to a three–part indictment. Count one: some proposals are bromides. Count two: other proposals are counterproductive. Count three: real structural reform is off the table. Guilty on all three counts is Louis V. Gerstner's heartfelt plea for educational reform.

We need a new vision for a 21st century education––one where we aren't just supporting existing schools, but spurring innovation; where we're not just investing more money, but demanding more reform; where parents take responsibility for their children's success; where our schools and government are accountable for results; where we're recruiting, retaining, and rewarding an army of new teachers, and students are excited to learn because they're attending schools of the future; and where we expect all our children not only to graduate high school, but to graduate college and get a good paying job.

––Barack Obama, Dayton, Ohio, September 9, 2008[1]

We cannot be satisfied until every child in America––I mean every child––has the same chance for a good education that we want for our own children.

––Barack Obama, Flint, Michigan, June 16, 2008[2]

President–elect Obama, your comments during the campaign show that you recognize the urgent need to transform and improve American education for the 21st century. American students' reading scores have remained relatively flat since 1970.[3] In 2007, 33 percent of fourth graders and 26 percent of eighth graders scored "below basic" in reading.[4] Millions of children are not receiving a quality education in American schools. In many of the nation's largest cities, less than half of all children are graduating high school.[5] Nationally, on both test scores and graduation rates, an achievement gap still separates disadvantaged and ethnic minority children from their affluent and non–minority peers.[6]

Nothing dramatizes the two–tier public–education system quite like the announcement by the First Couple that their daughters, 10 and 7, will attend Sidwell Friends, perhaps the elitist of the elite private schools in Washington, tuition $30,000 a year.

"Sidwell," the parents joke, "is where Episcopalians teach Jews how to be Quakers." The Obamas called Sidwell, as the locals refer to it, the "best fit" of security and comfort for their children. No doubt. Few begrudge the Parents in Chief seeking the best education money can buy. It's easier than choosing a puppy.

Unfortunately, most Americans don't have that kind of opportunity or that kind of money, particularly in Washington, where the public schools are, to put it kindly, lousy. These schools are distinguished for the lowest performance rates of any school district in the nation despite spending $13,000 per pupil, third highest in the country.

Much of today's K–12 education discussion focuses on boosting the "supply" of quality district or charter schools. Such conversations typically emphasize creating new schools through charter school start–up funds; incubating charter management organizations through philanthropic measures; expanding voucher programs or lifting charter caps; or boosting public school choice programs, including through the public choice and supplemental service provisions of No Child Left Behind. Supply–side activities also feature measures to police the quality of these new schools through testing, No Child Left Behind–style accountability, and charter school authorizing. Much has been learned along the way, although we are far short of fostering a dynamic, quality–conscious supply side.

Americans are about to get a civics lesson –– and not a moment too soon.

Next month hordes of visitors will flood the National Mall to watch the swearing in of President–elect Barack Obama. Millions more will watch on television. But a study by the Intercollegiate Studies Institute shows that few Americans will really understand what they’re witnessing.

ISI gave more than 2,500 people a 33–question quiz about basic historical and constitutional principles. The average score: 49 percent. By any measure, that’s a flunking grade.

He's a business expert, not an education expert.

Louis V. Gerstner Jr. has some daring ideas about how to change American education. He says we should abolish all local school districts (there are some 15,000 of them); establish national academic standards in reading, math, science and social studies; adopt national testing; pay the best teachers more money and lengthen both the school day and year.

Now, in addition to having been CEO of IBM (nyse: IBM – news – people ), Gerstner, writing in The Wall Street Journalyesterday, says that he "has been working at school reform for 40 years," which are his credentials for offering answers to problems that have vexed our nation for many decades.

How about a few civics questions? Name the three branches of government. If you answered the executive, legislative and judicial, you are more informed than 50% of Americans.

The Delaware–based Intercollegiate Studies Institute (ISI) recently released the results of its national survey titled "Our Fading Heritage: Americans Fail a Basic Test on Their History and Institutions."

The survey questions were not rocket science.

Only 21% of survey respondents knew that the phrase "government of the people, by the people, for the people." comes from President Abraham Lincoln's Gettysburg Address. Almost 40% incorrectly believe the Constitution gives the president the power to declare war.

Only 27% know the Bill of Rights expressly prohibits establishing an official religion for the United States. Remarkably, close to 25% of Americans believe that Congress shares its foreign policy powers with the United Nations.

How about a few civics questions? Name the three branches of government. If you answered the executive, legislative and judicial, you are more informed than 50 percent of Americans. The Delaware–based Intercollegiate Studies Institute (ISI) recently released the results of their national survey titled "Our Fading Heritage: Americans Fail a Basic Test on Their History and Institutions." The survey questions were not rocket science.

Only 21 percent of survey respondents knew that the phrase "government of the people, by the people, for the people." comes from President Abraham Lincoln's Gettysburg Address. Almost 40 percent incorrectly believe the Constitution gives the president the power to declare war. Only 27 percent know the Bill of Rights expressly prohibits establishing an official religion for the United States. Remarkably, close to 25 percent of Americans believe that Congress shares its foreign policy powers with the United Nations.

Dec. 1 was a special day for the elementary students at Newark, N.J.'s public schools. All children are now required to wear uniforms.

"The implementation of school uniforms came from the belief that if we can eliminate things that distract our young people, such as name–brand clothing, they will perform better, have high expectations and develop a vision toward academic achievement," explained Newark Superintendent Dr. Clifford Janey.

What a progressive idea! School uniforms were commonplace a century ago.

Can Barack Obama bring change to American education? The answer is: Yes he can. The question, however, is whether he actually will. Our president–elect has the potential to be an extraordinary leader, and that's why I've supported him since the beginning of his campaign. But on public education, he and the Democrats are faced with a dilemma that has boxed in the party for decades.

Democrats are fervent supporters of public education, and the party genuinely wants to help disadvantaged kids stuck in bad schools. But it resists bold action. It is immobilized. Impotent. The explanation lies in its longstanding alliance with the teachers' unions –– which, with more than three million members, tons of money and legions of activists, are among the most powerful groups in American politics. The Democrats benefit enormously from all this firepower, and they know what they need to do to keep it. They need to stay inside the box.

The most intriguing reforms in K–12 education today are entrepreneurial ventures like the New Teacher Project, the KIPP Academies, and New Leaders for New Schools, which command notice for their efforts to reimagine schooling. In The Future of Educational Entrepreneurship: Possibilities for School Reform, I collaborate with a team of analysts and reformers to examine what it will take to create conditions in which new problem–solvers can help transform K–12 education.

WASHINGTON –– So much for the wisdom of The People.

A new report from the Intercollegiate Studies Institute (ISI) on the nation's civic literacy finds that most Americans are too ignorant to vote.

Out of 2,500 American quiz–takers, including college students, elected officials and other randomly selected citizens, nearly 1,800 flunked a 33–question test on basic civics. In fact, elected officials scored slightly lower than the general public with an average score of 44 percent compared to 49 percent.

Are you more knowledgeable than the average citizen? The average score for all 2,508 Americans taking the following test was 49%; college educators scored 55%. Can you do better? Questions were drawn from past ISI surveys, as well as other nationally recognized exams.

New York Times columnist David Brooks began his June 13th piece with a question: “Is Barack Obama really a force for change, or is he just a traditional Democrat with a patina of postpartisan rhetoric?”

The answer, Brooks noted, might be found in Obama’s approach to American K–12 education — a policy issue that had rather recently evinced in Democratic party circles a divide: between defenders of the pro–teachers’ union status quo and grassroots insurrectionists who demand reform in school administration and staffing to put the interests of students before that of teachers. The side with which Obama chose to huddle on education policy would reveal much about how he’d govern as president.

In the 1990s Continental Airlines was struggling, even more than its troubled U.S. airline peers. As the company’s then–president Greg Brenneman explained in a 1998 article in the Harvard Business Review (HBR), “Continental ranked tenth out of the ten largest U.S. airlines in all key customer service areas as measured by the Department of Transportation: on–time arrivals, baggage handling, customer complaints, and involuntary denied boardings.” The airline had already been in bankruptcy twice, and was headed for a third round as its cash dried up.

In 1994, Gordon Bethune took the helm, with Brenneman becoming president and chief operating officer. They staved off bankruptcy by renegotiating with their creditors. And they launched an organizational turnaround that proved remarkably successful, catapulting Continental from worst to best among big U.S. carriers.

Version 2.0 contains laudable goals but little actionable policy.

The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation summoned 130 or so education heavies (many of them grantees) to Seattle this week to attend the foundation's gala unveiling of its long–awaited education strategy, the culmination of an intense rethinking process spearheaded by the new education director, Vicki Phillips. Bill and Melinda took part themselves––and graciously treated attendees to a well–fed evening at their fabulous home.

President–elect Barack Obama and his aides are sending signals that education may be on the back burner at the beginning of the new administration. He ranked it fifth among his priorities, and if it is being downplayed, that's a mistake.

We can't meaningfully address poverty or grow the economy as long as urban schools are failing. Obama talks boldly about starting new high–tech green industries, but where will the workers come from unless students reliably learn science and math?

The United States is the only country in the industrialized world where children are less likely to graduate from high school than their parents were, according to a new study by the Education Trust, an advocacy group based in Washington.