Education has seen a lot of time in the limelight in the last year. The President’s high-profile “Race to the Top” initiative, NBC’s week-long Education Nation summit and media coverage, and the controversial documentary Waiting for “Superman” have focused more and more attention on the issues facing our public education system.

Locally, over 90% of our region’s school-age children are educated in public schools and almost half of them fail to graduate from high school. Far too many of our children are falling behind and it is absolutely essential for our future prosperity, and democracy, that we have a strong public education system.

This is a problem that needs an answer, but while it is tempting to jump to conclusions about how to solve the public education crisis, there is no silver bullet answer.

What will education in the Bayou City look like in 2040 or 2050? The answer to that question, in large part, depends on what education in Houston will look like in the next three to five years.

Houston has, in fact, played a leading role in the evolution of our public education system over the past 20 years – from pioneering many of the reforms that became part of the No Child Left Behind Act, to being home to some of our nation’s top performing charter schools.

At the same time, many of our educational structures have remained the same. The majority of our public schools still run on a 36 week per year, five days per week, seven hours per day calendar. We continue to have several months of summer vacation which research has demonstrated leads to learning loss, particularly for our lower-income children. In addition, we still rely predominantly on one teacher to deliver curriculum and instruction to a class of students who are increasingly coming from families with lower incomes and that have “all” parents working.

In the end, we are demanding more of our schools and teachers working with increasingly diverse and lower-income student population while we have done next to nothing to change how we educate and engage our students.

In the companion book to Waiting for “Superman,” Eric Schwarz, co-founder and CEO of Citizen Schools, the nonprofit organization that I work for, wrote a chapter entitled “Calling All Citizens.” Schwarz wrote that we must stop making education reform a spectator sport. He argued that rather than waiting for any one person, program, charter school or even school district to solve the dropout epidemic we face as a region and country, we must all roll up our sleeves and get involved.

In the next 30 or 40 years, I see a Houston education system that is valued by and actively supported by the entire region. Parents, grandparents and whole communities play an active role in educating our children. Businesses, hospitals and universities encourage their scientists and engineers to take an afternoon once a week or once a month to teach and actively engage young students in the wonders of science.

Retirees and recent graduates comprise the bulk of an education corps that goes into our schools to augment and enhance our children’s educations. A second shift of educators could support our teachers in our children’s education in a manner that allows more schools to stay open for a significantly longer time to increase quality learning time for more students. The added human capital could ensure that the additional time is rich in hands-on, project-based learning that engages and excites students.

I see an education system that uses technology to customize lessons for students at their learning (not necessarily “grade” or age) level. In addition, teachers have the additional training, resources and support necessary to utilize technology to engage and challenge students to master skill sets and content and advance according to their ability rather than their birth date.

What if Houston pioneered these concepts through a push for increased volunteerism focused on our public education system? What if we allocated funding to attract outstanding college graduates to our region and our schools?

Perhaps counter intuitively, we have to look beyond our schools to teach our children the content and skills necessary to thrive in the global economy. If we look solely to our over-taxed teachers and schools, then we may continue to fail.

By each of us finding our own way to actively contribute and get involved in our public education system, we can transform our region into a true land of opportunity for every child and make our community the greatest model of America’s promise for our country and the world.

Todd C. Litton is executive director of Citizen Schools Texas