Increasingly business and industry are forced to become better and better at what they do. They must fulfill two goals that seem contradictory and perhaps even impossible. To be profitable today, businesses must produce more with less. This has forced them to be more productive than ever before in response to global competition. This tremendous challenge has caused many firms to perform to higher levels than was thought possible a generation ago.

Education today is faced with a similar challenge. Nebraska Department of Education Commissioner Doug Christensen calls it providing educational “equity and excellence.” At a time of increased numbers from poverty and growing diversity, schools are being asked to provide levels of educational excellence higher than ever before.

To provide equity, schools must teach a growing number of students more than just learning concepts. They must also teach them how to speak English before they can learn these concepts. To insure equity, schools must also create individual programs for students with learning problems, and this is occurring with increasing frequency. These include children with executive functioning disorders. Such disorders include attention deficit, autism, and obsessive compulsivity. Behavior and learning disabilities are also appearing with greater frequency.

The key for schools is not to water down what they are teaching to struggling learners. Instead, they must create the bridges necessary to provide access for all students to learn the same curriculum. Schools cannot afford to have some students learning and some not.

Likewise schools are being asked to provide counseling and health-related services that were not necessary in generations past. With increasing poverty and diversity come higher levels of needs than ever before. It is not uncommon to have students entering the school doors emotionally and physically hungry. In many cases, they must also teach basic civility.

As students’ needs have increased so have societal expectations of education. This can be seen in the growing national accountability movement. The No Child Left Behind Law embodies these growing expectations. Excellence is demanded. It is required that schools raise their standards and insure that students meet them.

Parents and communities are generally very supportive of their schools. They also expect them to help each of their children attain high standards. Truly this makes today’s educational climate very interesting.

The good news is that schools have generally embraced the two-pronged charge. More than ever before schools are working to meet the needs of all their learners. They do this through creating various programs to help students who are struggling and to provide enrichment for those who are succeeding. They also are doing it through increasing personalization of education.

Schools do not argue the need to meet high societal expectations. They realize that America needs them to accomplish these two goals even when they seem to be in conflict. As a result, educators work long and hard to meet the individual needs of learners. This is something for which they are striving to become ever better.

Providing equity and excellence requires educators to be more flexible and innovative than ever before. School districts today realize that doing things as they have always been done will not get the job done. Like the rest of society education is changing and evolving. Successful school districts are those that are flexible and agile. These qualities make it possible to think creatively and seek innovative solutions to the challenges they face.

Educational success is not possible without these qualities firmly in place.

Helping all students be successful is the ultimate goal. This is a goal that unites all people of good will. With the support of the communities they serve, schools will continue to help growing numbers of students optimize their abilities and tap into their full potentials. After all, children are our country’s number one natural resource. More than just educators have a huge stake in helping schools and their students be successful.

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