The Center for Innovative Thought's recent teacher policy manifesto begins with the now-obligatory discussion of the impending declines in the U.S.'s intellectual and technological advantages, and ultimately its quality of life--we need to rise above the gathering storm that's brewing above our flat earth; China and India are out-breeding, and out-engineering, and most importantly breeding more engineers, than we are.

The Center (which is part of the College Board) may well be right about all of this, and if so they're certainly right to say that teachers need to be part of the solution. We need more and better teachers, the authors say, and soon we will need a lot more of them to do a lot better; we especially need math and science teachers; and the nation as a whole needs to invest in better teachers and show that it means business. While there's no disagreement here, we were hoping to get some paradigm-busting policy approaches to these questions from this report. However, the Center for Innovative Thought seems intent on splashing around in the waters of innovation without really getting its feet wet.

For example: the authors call for a "cease-fire" between traditional ed schools and alternate route programs. The recommended route to that cease-fire, though, would be to allow and even encourage alternate route teachers to come into the profession--but to then require that they all get master's degrees in education within their first few years of teaching. In other words, absolutely everyone who wants to teach will go to ed school, no matter what--it's just a question of when. Never mind that ed schools have yet to prove that they produce more effective teachers, or that there's not a smidgeon of evidence showing the value added by master's degrees.

Another example: While the report advocates the use of differential pay for high-needs schools and high-shortage teaching areas, it also suggests raising all teachers' salaries 15 to 20 percent immediately, and another 50 percent in the foreseeable future. Someone pinch the College Board--it's dreaming! The problem with these kinds of increases is that first of all, they aren't based in any sort of political or practical reality, and second, they aren't even supported by the relevant facts. While there is a legitimate debate over whether teachers are underpaid relative to other comparable professions, there's no evidence that they are underpaid by 60 to 70 percent. This recommendation makes the NEA's latest salary recommendation--for a nationwide minimum teacher salary of $40,000--seem pathetically meek.

And so it goes for the rest of the report: some decent suggestions, but no real departures from the status quo to keep us warm at night while the earth flattens. The Center for Innovative Thought is thinking well within the confines of the box.