Obama'a Education Policy
- What should we do to improve American public schools?
- Whose responsibility is it to improve public schools (local/state &/or the national government)?
- What do you think of Obama's new initiative Race to the Top as his way to deal with the problems of No Child Left Behind?
Remember this is your last post for this class... EVER. :)
Post due on Friday, March 26th by 7pm.
Brookings Institute:
http://www.brookings.edu/interviews/2009/0313_education_whitehurst.aspx"
"The Brookings Institution is a nonprofit public policy organization based in Washington, DC. Our mission is to conduct high-quality, independent research and, based on that research, to provide innovative, practical recommendations that advance three broad goals:
- Strengthen American democracy;
- Foster the economic and social welfare, security and opportunity of all Americans and
- Secure a more open, safe, prosperous and cooperative international system.
Heritage Foundation:
http://www.heritage.org/Research/Reports/2010/01/A-Smarter-Path-to-a-Race-to-the-Top-in-Education-Reform
"Founded in 1973, The Heritage Foundation is a research and educational institution—a think tank—whose mission is to formulate and promote conservative public policies based on the principles of free enterprise, limited government, individual freedom, traditional American values, and a strong national defense."
posted by M Aby @ 10:00 AM
31 Comments:
The American public school system needs to be improvised. America no longer has some of the top testing academically: the United States currently “…trails behind [Singapore, Taiwan, Japan, the Republic of Korea, Hong Kong, Sweden, the Netherlands, Hungary and Slovenia] in average mathematics scores” [1]. I would suggest passing the Education Opportunity Act of 2009. This is a six part bill that calls for better facilities and teachers, more funding and rigorous testing, and improving accountability and assessment measures for schools [2]. This bill accurately addresses the aspects of American public schooling, in my opinion, that needs fixing.
I think that it is the national government’s responsibility to put emphasis on the importance of strong national academic standards. I agree with President Obama when he said: “Fixing our schools is not a task for Washington alone” [3]. It is up to the state and local governments to figure out where state funding will be spent and how to implement national standards into everyday schooling. National pressure makes education a higher priority and therefore more likely to be fixed.
President Obama is having “…schools and school districts compete for [their share of the $4 billion set aside in the Recovery Act for education]” [3]. The competition will be based on “…whether a school is ready to do what works” as said by President Obama [3]. According to the president, “[s]tates that outperform other states will be rewarded with a grant” [3]. Money is a very good incentive for working harder. This grant of $4 billion is the largest grant in American history to go towards education [3]. This is a key difference between President Obama’s plan and No Child Left Behind. According to No Child Left Behind, a school is graded on its improvement [4]. This system would fail Jefferson High School even though we are a Blue Ribbon School of Excellence. Under the Race to the Top plan, Jefferson High School would be a strong contender for “winning” a fair share of the $4 billion grant. This way, other schools have incentive to be as good as Jefferson while Jefferson has even more incentive to perform better than it already is. Race to the Top would always encourage improvement with a pretty sweet reward that every school wants: free money.
President Obama said in his Race to the Top introductory speech: “I am absolutely confident that if [everyone does their part], we will not only strengthen our economy over the long run and we will not only make America’s entire education system the envy of the world but we will launch a Race to the Top that will prepare every child everywhere in America for the challenges for the 21st century. I’m convinced we can do it…” [3]. I think that President Obama’s plan is a smart plan that will help to work out the kinks of No Child Left Behind if it follows through as planned. Hopefully, this will put America back on the list of academic (and therefore economic) global contenders.
Sources:
1. http://www.realonlinedegrees.com/education-rankings-by-country/
2. http://www.ascd.org/publications/newsletters/infobrief/vol15/issue4/full/Making_High-Quality_Early_Education_a_Priority@_Starting_at_the_Beginning.aspx
3. http://www.ed.gov/blog/2009/07/president-obama-secretary-duncan-announce-race-to-the-top/
4.http://ed.gov/nclb/landing.jhtml
The United States does need to improve certain aspects of the American education. Other countries are starting to fly by us in education. Teachers need to be paid more. It starts here first because with higher salaries, it becomes more competitive. When it becomes more competitive then you bring better more qualified teachers in. Countries such as South Korea, Germany, Belgium and England pay their teachers more. "The United States lags significantly behind other countries in teacher compensation, which adversely impacts efforts to recruit high-quality teachers. In South Korea and Germany, starting salaries for teachers are about 141% of per capita GDP, while the figure for the United States is only 81%" (1). The ability to educate kids to their full potential comes from well qualified teachers. Increasing compensation will bring in these well qualified teachers. "Research shows that though American students do well on assessments during elementary school, they score far below students in other countries by the time they reach eighth grade" (2). Something obviously needs to be done here. Smaller class sizes in middle school and increased funding need to be brought to attention here. This is a point that stands out to researches and this is where the U.S. needs to focus in order to keep children on the right education path. The United States focuses more on a broad based education that it gives its students compared to students in the UK. U.S. students that go to college receive more of a broader education with education in subjects that aren't part of the student's major. In the UK students are expected to decide on a degree and stick with it, only taking three years to receive their degree. I think this is a more practical solution to save money after the K-12 education because students may find it fun to take classes outside of their major but that isn't going to help them once they get into the real world when they major in nutrition and are taking classes in astronomy to fulfill their requirements. It's a waste of time.
It's the state's responsibility to improve public schools. If this responsibility is left to the federal government it leaves way to big of a job in their hands. It's too much responsibility for the federal government. The federal government can provide some funding to the states and set some guidelines but there is no way it can effectively run our national education system, it's just no practical. "The way some states artificially lower their benchmarks to make it easier for students to pass standardized tests is a long-running scandal. And it's absurd to argue, as does Texas Gov. Rick Perry (R), that geography should define a child's knowledge. Shouldn't a sixth-grader in Florida have the same math skills as a sixth-grader in Oregon or Maine?" (3). Even though I believe it's the state's responsibility to improve their schools, guidelines from the national government need to be set. But these states that are lacking in keeping their students to the same level as their peers in other states, need to step it up. These states need to be pin pointed and need to take accountability and change. Also the states need to be pin pointed and recognized if they are artificially lower their benchmarks to make it easier for students to pass standardized testing. It is ultimately the state's responsibility but the federal government does need to set some basic guidelines.
"Race to the Top winners will help trail-blaze effective reforms and provide examples for States and local school districts throughout the country to follow as they too are hard at work on reforms that can transform our schools for decades to come" (4). I think that what Obama is purposing is a good idea for a start of what this country needs to do to reform education. More funding needs to be put into the urban school districts that are suffering, this is a major problem area and needs to be focused on more so. But I like how he is giving rewards to these schools that are doing well. I feel like giving these rewards though puts the schools that in need of this money out even more of the money they need. But I still like the idea. "The new standards are likely to touch off a vast effort to rewrite textbooks, train teachers and produce appropriate tests, if a critical mass of states adopts them in coming months, as seems likely" (5). I like how states can adopt what this plan has in order and it gives them guidelines of what children need to know in order for the United States to graduate kids after high school that are well prepared for the real world. I don't think states should be forced to go by Obama's plan. States like Massachusetts already have a good plan for how they deal with their student's education and they shouldn't be forced by the federal government to do something they don't want to do. "In recent years, many states moved in the opposite direction, lowering standards to make it easier for students to pass tests and for schools to avoid penalties under the 2002 federal No Child Left Behind law" (5). I like how Obama is acknowledging this and doing something to set different types of standards. It's being recognized that this isn't working and something needs to change and it's good that another way of doing so is being looked into. The No Child Left Behind Act never actually took off and it hasn't done anything in improving the quality of the U.S. children's education as a whole."The result was that states set their standards at widely varied levels, some as rigorous as those used in high-performing countries like Japan, but others at far lower levels that lay out at best, mediocre expectations for their students" (6). The Race to the Top will give schools incentive to reach a goal and I think will overall start pushing schools to do better to get the funding that they desire. "The proposed rules make testing an even more powerful factor in schools by extending the use of scores to teacher evaluations. The proposed rules for the $4.3 billion in grants, which the administration calls the Race to the Top, require states to show they are fostering innovation, improving achievement, raising standards, recruiting effective teachers, turning around failed schools and building data systems" (7). The No Child Left Behind Act isn't working and I think this is a good place to start education reform for now.
1- http://www.epi.org/economic_snapshots/entry/webfeatures_snapshots_20080402/
2-http://www.edutopia.org/improve-middle-school-education
3-http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/03/14/AR2010031401955.html
4-http://www2.ed.gov/programs/racetothetop/index.html
5-http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/11/education/11educ.html?scp=7&sq=race%20to%20the%20top%20education&st=cse
6-http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/22/education/22educ.html?fta=y
7-http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/17/education/17educ.html?_r=1&fta=y
To me, education represents the building blocks that make a well-rounded, productive citizen. Children truly are the future of the United States, and giving the same, great-quality educational opportunity to every child is essential. Right now, the American school system is not as good as it should be, and that needs to change. Education Secretary Anne Duncan has been unsatisfied with the schools testing trends lately; “achievement of American students isn't growing fast enough," said Duncan after learning of the not-so-great reading scores across the nation (1).
With that, the educational programs being implemented right now clearly are not working. The government needs to put more of an emphasis on educational programs. I believe that the government is responsible for funding the states educational programs, but that the states are responsible for what they do with such funds. The federal government should provide the states with the necessary tools to educate their students, but the states have to be responsible for educating their citizens. Having the national government control overy states school systems seems like it would be way too daunting of a task, and in reality, would make things even more complicated.
I especially am in favor of education reform such as Florida passed just this Wednsday which will tie teacher pay to student performance (2). This is a fantastic idea, because why should teachers who obviously aren’t teaching their students the way they should be paid. This system, also called merit pay, is used in the rest of the world… and is a part of the way people work and get compensated” (3). Besides money, teachers are the other key ingredient to a great education. Excellent teachers are needed to make excellent students, but not every teacher is an excellent teacher, and I liked what Obama said about how, “we have no way -- at least no good way of distinguishing good teachers from bad ones,” (4) which is unfortunate, but reality. For this reason, merit pay should be implemented. Regardless of the basis of pay, it is crucial that teachers salary be increased. It does not make any sense to me that NFL players get millions of dollars to provide no real service to anyone besides entertainment, while teachers are working to build our future. Ridiculous? I think yes.
Obama recently announced his “Race to the top” Education reform. While I think this reform has good intent, I don’t believe it will be much more successful than the “No child left behind” reform. I like that the program “will reward states that come together and adopt a common set of standards and assessments,”(4) but I don’t think that this is what the nation actually needs. Its great if a states education programs are successful, and its even great if the result of such success is more funding, but what about the states who are not obtaining the same great results? I believe it is those states who truly need the extra funding. I do think that the RTTT reform will be fantastic for “smart” states, but like NCLB, it’s the needy states who will once again be sort of pushed aside.
While I am a tad bit pessemistic about the Race to the top reform, I hope I will be able to say that I was wrong. I think that we, as a nation, have the ability to institute some of the greatest education programs ever seen. Like every dilemna, however, the problem is beginning the implementation of such excellence reforms. For this reason, I think that RTTT is a step in the right direction. Like Obama said, “it's not going to come easy, it's not going to come quick… But we have no choice” (4).
(1) http://www.cnn.com/2010/US/03/24/reading.report.card/index.html?iref=allsearch
(2) http://www.newsherald.com/news/state-82519-bill-tallahassee.html
(3) http://www.brookings.edu/interviews/2009/0313_education_whitehurst.aspx
(4) http://www.whitehouse.gov/the_press_office/Remarks-by-the-President-at-the-Department-of-Education/
I think that in order to improve our education system in America, we need to combine strategies such as the merit system and giving more money to schools as well as strategies that improve students' health. The quality of a student's health-the amount of sleep they get, the foods they eat, and their stress levels-are a huge part of how well they perform on tests, their learning ability, and other aspects of school (4). I think that if education programs shifted their attention from putting endless stress on students to promoting healthy study habits, their would be a great improvement in education. This idea has already been applied to schools and universities such as UW-Madison, where they have a program designed to study the connection between students' minds and bodies that makes for a better education. I think these ideas also must be combined with new programs such as replacing teachers with those that are more qualified, as suggested in Obama's new plan (3).
As far as who should have control over the education system in America, I believe that the Federal government has no place. The states and local governments have a way better idea of what is best for their state education programs than does the Federal government. I think that too much control by the Federal government would be chaotic and actually be counter-productive in improving our education system. The states should continue to make their own standards and tests for their students.
I think that Obama's Race to the Top idea has some good points to it. Changing teacher salaries to the merit system would be good; it would encourage higher quality education (1). It also but may have a negative effect on the economy, specifically, a higher unemployment rate, if too many teachers end up getting fired as a result of it (2). I wish to be a teacher out of college, so this issue is important to me. I fear that with the merit system, it will be more difficult to find a career with decent pay, but it would also provide great benefits in the long run. As I mentioned earlier, I think that too much government intervention in the education system would not be beneficial to our country.
1. http://www.brookings.edu/interviews/2009/0313_education_whitehurst.aspx
2. http://www.heritage.org/Research/Reports/2010/01/A-Smarter-Path-to-a-Race-to-the-Top-in-Education-Reform
3. http://www.thevillager.com/villager_360/talkingpoint.html
4. http://www.ericdigests.org/pre-926/stress.htm
While the United States of America is a very competent country with high standards in many respects, there is much that can be done to improve the educational system in our nation. The Obama Administration has recognized this, and as every president comes and goes, they leave a mark on America’s educational system. However, Obama has taken more steps to work with the United States Educational System than many previous presidents. Some have done very little, including when former President Reagan tried to dismantle the Department of Education. There are obvious problems with our system. For example, we no longer are the top testing country in the world, trailing behind many other countries including Slovenia and Hungary (4). There are many options to improving the educational system in the US, from passing legislation as the Heritage Foundation suggests to completely overhauling our system (2).
One problem with American schooling is that the Federal Government has become almost too attached to the educational process. It is important for the government to encourage certain aspects of education and to provide some incentive for states to perform well. However, the only way the Federal government has “helped” education is by increasing the standard of teaching to the test, which is an unhealthy way of providing inadequate educational support for individual students. Encouraging merit pay is a good way of providing incentive to teachers to teach well and to teach curriculum that is actually important (1). According to the University of Manitoba in Canada, “the job of any teacher is first and foremost to promote learning in their students” (3). This concept should be applied further in the United States, and I think this is primarily up to the states to decide their curriculums and staffing.
This brings up this issue of responsibility. Who controls education? In my opinion, the greatest measure of education should be left up to the states. Each state should have good leeway in controlling what is learned, and this is the way most education in the United States has been, until acts such as No Child Left Behind and an increased competitive air between the Federal Government and the State Governments.
President Obama’s Race to the Top initiative is a mixed bag for me. While I don’t always support the Federal Government’s decisions in controlling state-run educational programs, the plan has some impressive points. His speech starts “I am absolutely confident that we will not only strengthen our economy…[but make] America’s entire education system the envy of the world” (5). This type of incentive is just what our nation needs right now, although so far the Government has done little but put punishments on schools that are lacking in funds already. I think that the program will be successful as long as No Child Left Behind is actually taken away and not just duplicated. To my knowledge, this seems like a likely goal.
1) http://www.brookings.edu/interviews/2009/0313_education_whitehurst.aspx
2) http://www.heritage.org/Research/Reports/2010/01/A-Smarter-Path-to-a-Race-to-the-Top-in-Education-Reform
3) http://www.umanitoba./publications/cjeap/articles/volante.html
4) http://www.realonlinedegrees.com/education-rankings-by-country/
5) http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970204886304574308442726348678.html
Education is an interesting topic because we as students get to experience it first hand. The policies that Washington passes directly affect our life. The No Child Left Behind Act has led to a wave of standardized testing during our school career. Federal education reforms are a great idea in principle. They support an equal education opportunity and ensure the future of the nation receives proper learning and instruction. In reality, however, education on the federal level can get messy. Trying to regulate schools across the nation is almost impossible. By setting up requirements for schools to get funding, they will just find the easiest way to pass tests and not focus on education improvement. According to Dan Lipps, states will only go through the motions of reforming, not actually changing anything (1). This was made clear by the shortcomings of the No Child Left Behind Act. Reform costs money for states, and many aren’t willing to spend it. Instead the federal government needs to look at the needs of individual states. The state of Minnesota has drastically different education needs than that of Alabama. The government’s only role in education should be funding states where education needs to be improved. Then the states should have the power to decide how to use the funding in order to provide the best education possible. Obama’s plan for education has its ups and downs. It is an improvement on NCLB. I like the fact that it doesn’t group a school as failing if some of the students are. It also keeps standardizing tests in the lower grades to evaluate student progress (2). The problems I have with RTTT is that it focuses on reforming failing schools. If the government only deals with failing schools, then schools will only strive to be mediocre to pass along. A principle from Ohio claims that schools will just focus more on doing really well on tests to win funding, but will not strive to become anything more than ordinary (3). I also don’t think this is the best move for Obama. Teachers and principles have had mixed reviews of the reform. The issue of merit pay has isolated some teachers (4). Perhaps education reforms are too strong to bring on all at once. It could be something that is phased in one reform at a time.
1. http://www.heritage.org/Research/Reports/2010/01/A-Smarter-Path-to-a-Race-to-the-Top-in-Education-Reform
2. http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/dn/opinion/editorials/stories/DN-nclb_0326edi.State.Edition1.2543b1d.html
3. http://voices.washingtonpost.com/answer-sheet/guest-bloggers/a-principal-critiques-obamas-e.html
4. http://www.brookings.edu/interviews/2009/0313_education_whitehurst.aspx
The problem with our education system today is that our politicians do not put enough emphasis into future generation’s education. The blame also can be placed on the students and the community around them. President Barack Obama’s webpage says that the government needs to stop, “paying lip service to public education and start holding communities, administrators, parents and students accountable (1). I agree with this statement. I think students are becoming less motivated than in years past. This can be explained through the dropout rate of the United States for high school students. On average, 9 to 11% of students drop out. Obama sees this as a serious problem as well; he spoke on the matter recently this year. Obama not only says it is no longer an option, he says it is quitting on yourself as well as your country (3). President Obama also wants to work on the children’s education before kindergarten (1). This can be accomplished by expanding head start programs because the earliest times of a child’s life are the most critical times for learning.
I think that it is the government’s responsible for this public school improvement. Like the economy, the education system needs a boost. I think one of the reasons that the government has not stepped in as aggressively with education reform as with the economy. There is not as large of a vested interest in education as the economy. Heritage Foundation seems to disagree, and there is some logic and evidence in their opinion: they say, “But past experience with No Child Left Behind (NCLB) shows that strengthening federal control may result in a number of unintended consequences” (3). To some extent I agree with this because the first government policy did not delve out as much success as America and the government had hoped, but I feel that the economy stimulus plan has not been perfect as well. In other words, things need to be tried out and tested so that the government can develop the best legislation possible. Nothing is accomplished on the first try, typically.
On the other hand, there is the argument that the reformation should be left to each state. The National Education Association said that they found President Obama’s new policy a disturbing top-down approach (4). They also wrote in their letter, “We have been down that road before with the failures of the No Child Left Behind, and we cannot support yet another layer of federal mandates that have little or no research base of success, and that usurp state and local governments' responsibilities for public education…” (4).
RTTT seems more like a reward program than a punishment program. I feel like they are both similar in the fact that they are very controversial. Like the National Education wrote in their letter, there are many defects and negatives of federal aid to the education systems of individual states.
1- http://www.barackobama.com/issues/education/
2- http://nces.ed.gov/fastfacts/display.asp?id=16
3http://www.heritage.org/Research/Reports/2010/01/A-Smarter-Path-to-a-Race-to-the-Top-in-Education-Reform
4) http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/10/20/teachers-unions-give-race_n_327508.html
American public schools have been in need of improvement for a while. The United States used to have the highest graduation rates and was one of the leaders in terms of math and science (1). Now, the U.S. trails far behind countries such as Singapore, Taiwan, Japan, Republic of Korea, Hong Kong, Sweden, Netherlands, Hungary, and Slovenia when it comes to mathematics and science test scores (2). The United States has the ability to improve the education of American children, and as a nation should take steps in reaching this goal.
Overall, I believe that the responsibility to improve schools falls on all aspects of government, state, local, and national. It is up to the federal government to create the standards that the public schools should live up to, and provide assistance for schools that fall short of the standards set before them. It should be up to the states to ensure that the schools are receiving the funding and support that they need to meet the standards that the national government places before them. The local governments should work closely with the school districts to find sources that can help to improve schools individually and also to place the best teachers and principals into the schools and therefore provide America’s children with the best education possible.
President Obama has proposed a new “Race to the Top” program to help raise and meet the standards of education in the U.S. When describing the Race to the Top program, President Obama stated that: “We want to challenge all the stakeholders -- parents, teachers, unions, school administrators -- to not only raise standards, but make the changes that are required to actually meet those standards, by having the best teachers and principals, by having the kind of data collection that tells us whether improvements are actually happening, and tying student achievement to assessments of teachers, by making sure that there's a focus on low-performing schools, by making sure that the standards that have been set are ones that mean a kid who graduates can compete at the international level” (1). Overall, I believe that this program has some good points, and a goal that could be attainable if everyone works together to achieve it.
In comparison to the “No Child Left Behind” program, I feel that the Race to the Top program has better methods of achieving its goals. When schools failed to reach the “No Child Left Behind” standards, they would receive less, or no funding at all from the federal government (3). If schools are failing, shouldn’t they be given more funding so that they can attempt to become a better school and provide higher educations to their students? The Race to the Top programs goals fit under a slightly different category. Under the RTTT program, the best teachers and principals are to be placed into the schools. This then will allow for students to become prepared for the world that we live in today and have the skills necessary to prosper. I feel that this is just the first step in reforming and improving education in America. If everyone plays their part, students will be ready to enter the “real world” and the United States can once again be one of the education leaders of the world.
Work Cited:
1) http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/07/23/AR2009072302938_pf.html
2) http://www.realonlinedegrees.com/education-rankings-by-country/
3) http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Politics/2010/0315/Obama-s-No-Child-Left-Behind-revise-a-little-more-flexibility
President Obama requested $1.35 billion for his Race to the Top program in his 2011 budget. In this program, states are being asked to implement reforms in four areas, including adopting standards that prepare students to succeed in college and the workplace, building data systems that measure student growth and success, recruiting and rewarding effective teachers and principals, and turning around the lowest-achieving schools (1). His speech on education in 2009 was moving and unapologetic towards the American public school system and politicians. President Obama stated that “… despite resources that are unmatched anywhere in the world, we’ve let our grades slip, our schools crumble, our teacher quality fall short, and other nations outpace us …” (2). While I agree with these sentiments, whether or not his reforms will work is yet to be seen.
The American public school system is not at the top. American students rank 25th in math and 21st in science compared to students in thirty other industrialized countries (3). The top math students in American rank 25th out of top math students in 30 other countries (3). By the end of 8th grade U.S. students are two years behind in the math being studied by their peers in other countries (3). The poverty rate for families headed by school dropouts is more than twice that of families that are headed by high school graduates (3). These alarming statistics show that we need to change the system in America. First and foremost, this needs to start with the teachers. Teachers shape students lives and influence the way they think and learn. Being a teacher, however, isn’t exactly the most high paying and desirable job in America. To attract more and better quality teachers, they need to be paid more. Instead of spending money on the schools themselves, why not focus on the real reason students learn or do not learn, which is the quality of their teachers?
One of President Obama’s new reforms includes basing teacher salaries on the merit system; something I think isn’t the best idea. My mom is a private school science teacher, and I asked her what she thought about merit pay. She believes that this only increases competition among teachers, and detracts from their success. At her place of work, the teachers collaborate on teaching and curriculum ideas, which she believes makes them all better able to teach. With the merit system, this collaboration will be gone, and teachers will only focus on appearing to be the best. Another question is how a teacher’s “merit” will be measured. What about teachers in inner-city schools whose success isn’t always seen in turning out the best and brightest students? While the merit pay reform is a good idea in principle, I think it will only encourage competition among the teacher’s themselves to get the best pay. The focus should be on schools. A merit-based system among schools themselves will provide incentives for students AND teachers to work together towards a common goal.
However, I do agree with President Obama that No Child Left Behind is failing miserably. Since No Child Left Behind was put into place, our numbers as compared to other nations have fallen even more drastically. Teachers have focused on the lower students, working hard to get them to pass tests, and as a result have left the brighter students in the dust. While it is important to find a way to help those lower students, jeopardizing others because of this is not a solution. President Obama’s new plan calls for states to adopt standards that ensure students are ready for a career or college, and not grade-level proficiency as No Child Left Behind did (4). The new plan also allows states to use subjects other than just reading and mathematics as part of their measurements for meeting these federal goals (4). This is particularly pleasing to those against No Child Left Behind, which encouraged teachers not to focus on history, art, social studies, science, and other important subjects (4). I love this.
President Obama’s new plan is much more realistic and fair than No Child Left Behind, and I believe it has a better chance at success. Education officials will now move away from punishing schools that don’t succeed to rewarding schools that do, fostering competition and incentives to improve and make our way to the top of the education ladder again. The federal government doesn’t have the constitutional authority to fund or regulate public education, and but I believe at this time it needs to become more involved. While the states should have discretion in deciding some things, I believe that the federal government can and should interfere in a positive way to promote a better public school system. President Obama is moving in the right direction.
(1) http://www2.ed.gov/programs/racetothetop/index.html
(2) http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2009/03/obamas-grand-education-plan-can-it-really-work/1428/
(3) http://www.educationnews.org/commentaries/59783.html
(4) http://www.heritage.org/Research/Reports/2010/01/A-Smarter-Path-to-a-Race-to-the-Top-in-Education-Reform
Overall I think that one of the biggest hurdles that America is faced with today is how to deal with the ever changing education expectations and complicated system. With resources stretched as they are, the amount of money that goes into education is often less than most people would like, and worse, it’s ineffective. I think one of the things we should do to improve America’s public schools is force or implement some sort of reward/punishment system to the state governments if they don’t force weak schools to implement federal changes [1]. One of the major problems with the No Child Left Behind Act was that it didn’t have a strong way to enforce the new regulations it was putting on schools because the states would simply change the tests or weaken the standards so the schools’ practices were allowed to continue [3]. I think that this is one of the major challenges that Obama’s Race to the Top plan faces [1]. If the states and local government isn’t willing to really put the time and effort in to changing how the public system works, then what is the point of the federal government authorizing money to change it? I personally believe that it is a collective effort of the local, state and national government to improve public schools. At the same time I recognize how the federal government is a bit more detached from these public schools because it isn’t close enough to real see how hard it would be to make some of these changes happen. Mainly I think that within the three levels, the state should share most of the responsibility. But the facts are that the states are already stretched thin, and those states who make education a priority are the ones who don’t really need to reform most of their public schools. So where do we go from there? The local government has no more power than the state had, and sometimes has even less motivation to change it. Its during these times that I think the national government has the responsibility to set aside money for education and hold states accountable. That is one of the things that I would like to see in America’s educational future: schools being held accountable. The NCLB allowed schools to skimp by on adjusted standards, and its helpfulness is at least questionable [2]. For Obama’s RTTT he faces challenges, such as resistance from the states and dodging the tests set up by the bill [3]. More importantly, the question still remains if this is an accurate way to measure student’s progress [3]. Annual evaluations can often tell a lot about a school but they can also leave a lot out.
[1]. http://www.heritage.org/Research/Reports/2010/01/A-Smarter-Path-to-a-Race-to-the-Top-in-Education-Reform
[2]. http://www.brookings.edu/interviews/2009/0313_education_whitehurst.aspx
[3]. http://blogs.wsj.com/juggle/2010/03/25/education-reform-and-leaving-no-child-left-behind-behind/
I agree with some aspects of President Obama’s Race to the Top plan. I think removing teachers that are not giving students an adequate education should not be able to teach, which is something the president covers in his plan (1). As one of the top nations in the world, we should also have top notch education and I know that I have not always received this. I have grown up all my life in what many would say are great schools based on standardized test results, however there still seems to be many teachers that do not know how to do their jobs. Although I think many students say this simply because they do not like the specific teacher, I still think there many teachers that do not only advance a students ability to learn, but sometimes prevent it. I do not think this is acceptable in the United States (2). However, by removing teachers from jobs, the president would be putting more people out of work, something our country is already struggling with now. Although I realize new and better teachers would replace them I do not think this is the most effective way to change the education system right now. I think it is the way future teachers are taught to teach that makes the difference and we should focus the most attention to those students. I know state governments do not have the authority to regulate the practices of private colleges, but they do have that power over public schools. I know this is also hard because they are going to be incompetent teachers in the colleges as well, but I think the way teachers are taught to be teachers is a major issue (2). Therefore, I think it would be easiest for the state governments to implement this program if they applied it to colleges as well because it is one less thing the national government needs to focus on and is something the state governments are definitely capable of handling. I think some of President Obama’s ideas are good, but I think his plan contradicts some of his other views. He wants to take people out of jobs, while he is constantly battling the demanding issue of unemployment. I think it will be interesting to see how it all plays out later.
Sources:
1. http://www.brookings.edu/interviews/2009/0313_education_whitehurst.aspx
2. http://www.heritage.org/Research/Reports/2010/01/A-Smarter-Path-to-a-Race-to-the-Top-in-Education-Reform
We need to reform and revamp our public schools. This is exemplified by developing trends of disappointingly low math and science scores for American public school students on international tests. Based on the 2006 Program for International Student Assessment scores, American students were ranked 17th (out of 30 developed countries) in science and 24th in mathematics (1). This leads to serious questions about jobs and continuing scholastic opportunities for American students in the future. This issue was addressed by Roy Romer, chairman of Strong American Schools and former governor of Colorado, “"How are our children going to be able to compete with the children of the world? The answer is not well” (1). To resolve this bleak future, we must reform our education system now!
Plans for education reformation should be centered around the states. Each state, and district for that matter, are in extremely different places with their education successes and failures. This results from vast differences in teacher quality, facility quality, student demographics, and overall funding. Average ACT scores exemplify this the educational divide. In 2009, Massachusetts students had the highest average scores, 23.9, while Mississippi students earned an average of only 18.9 (2). The national average was 21.1 (2). How can the federal government use the same criteria to evaluate schools with this wide range of student achievement? Simply, it cannot. Hence, educational discretion should be left to the states, in accordance with the 10th amendment (3).
Besides from the tangible factors that divide states, there are a myriad of mentalities about education and the nature of federal educational programs that the government cannot combat. According to The Heritage Foundation, the federal government and the Department of Education have a very limited ability to force states, districts, and individual schools to comply with set Race to the Top policies. In order for national reforms to be entirely successful, school authorities must all agree not only meet but strive for the goals set by the Department of Education (4). Once again, because of prevailing regional and personal differences about education, this is highly unlikely to happen.
In regards to President Obama’s Race to the Top program, I view it as a significant improvement over President Bush’s No Child Left Behind. However, the program still does not reflect what I would consider to be the ideal education reform for our nation. The power to make decisions should be vested in state and local governments since, as already discussed, educational cultures vary dramatically around the nation and the federal government cannot reasonably and responsibly monitor all schools. School districts should focus on personal reforms, including more tutoring options, smaller average class sizes, more advanced classes, and improving teacher quality. Because of the correlation between educational preparedness and quality of education (5), states have a right to raise taxes in order to better fund their schools. Paying educational taxes will help the future well-being of the nation as a whole. Additionally, tax increases will prevent the government from increasing the national debt and related interest payments that are already a burden for future generations.
1: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/12/04/AR2007120400730.html
2: http://www.act.org/news/data/09/states.html
3: http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/data/constitution/amendment10/
4: http://www.heritage.org/Research/Reports/2010/01/A-Smarter-Path-to-a-Race-to-the-Top-in-Education-Reform
5: http://www.inc.com/news/articles/2008/06/school.html
Education is a very important and necessary element of our society, and in order to have a better nation, we netter to have a more educated nation. Currently the US is ranked 9th among industrialized countries (1). I think number should be higher and the US needs to fix its education system. First I think that schools that are not testing as well as others should not be punished by getting their funding cut. I think that this makes the problem worse because the money is going to the schools who are doing well on tests, but don’t necessarily need the money. Also I think that testing students in math, reading, and other subjects should be continued. I think these tests allow for an easy way to see how schools are doing as well as if newly created programs are having any effect on students. For example theses tests have allowed for the public to see that reading scores under the No Child Left Behind Act have not improved much (2). These tests allow us to see just how much a program is working and allows us to modify it or get rid of it fast. I think in order to improve US public schools, more funding needs to be sent to schools, especially those that have lower test scores, in order to help them raise their scores. Further than that, however, I think should be left to the state because they are better able to decide what schools need more help and where those schools need that help.
Personally, I believe that education should be left up to the states more than the federal government. I think the states have a better idea of what schools need help and also they have fewer schools to look at. This allows them to help more schools in need rather than just the worst they find. Also the federal government does not have the constitutional authority to fund or regulate public education (3). While the government does still help with funding, I think the best one to regulate education is the states themselves so that they can make the best decisions for themselves. The federal government could make a minimal goal in which all states had to test higher than, but still allow states to push it higher. This is somewhat similar to the current minimum wage laws, but I don’t think that states should be able to set their goal lower. Overall, I do think it is important that the federal government set some sort of testing goal, but I think the states should be able to decide from there.
From what I know so far about Obama’s Race to the Top law, it both helps and hurts the education system. I like that Obama will keep testing students to measure instructor effectiveness but I don’t know if I agree that it should affect a teacher’s pay (4). I don’t think the teacher should be the one to be blamed all the time for a student’s test score, sometimes the student just doesn’t try or doesn’t get it. Another part that I don’t understand is why Obama changing the NCLB’s requirements that all students should be proficient in reading in math in 2014 to being college ready by 2020 (4). This does not make sense to me because everyone goes to college for different things and you can’t prepare everyone the same way. For example, somebody going to Harvard is going to have an entirely different college experience than someone going to Normandale, or if one person is going to be a doctor and another is going to be an electrician. Again, these college experiences are going to be different and even though everyone will take generals, you cannot prepare them all for their field specifically or their school. I think improvements to the education system are needed but I’m not sure more federal government involvement is the way.
1. http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2005/09/13/national/main838207.shtml
2. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/03/24/AR2010032400929.html?sid=ST2010032401072
3. http://www.heritage.org/Research/Reports/2010/01/A-Smarter-Path-to-a-Race-to-the-Top-in-Education-Reform
4. http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704207504575129903919653226.html?mod=WSJ_latestheadlines
It is hard to say what exactly should be done to improve the school system in the United States. There have been many different approaches in past years, and it’s difficult to say which ones have been more effective. I personally think that one way to improve schools would be to increase funding for arts programs. It seems terrible to me that usually when a school district is losing money, one of the first things to go is the music and gym classes. I think these things are essential to a child’s education, and although there are many foundations that go to support it, such as VH1’s Save the Music Foundation, there should possibly be a government standard that requires these programs (1). There have been numerous studies of how music effects the brain, and makes it easier to learn, so there is absolutely no reason why music should be taken out of schools. I think another way to improve public schools would be to have more funding for teacher’s salaries. I think one of the reasons that public schools sometimes do not prepare students for college, or further careers, is because of the fact that talented, well-educated teachers are not attracted to teaching jobs because of the low salary. In the twentieth century, teachers have gone from being some of the most educated people, to those with minimal degrees because more educated people want to make more money. Although this is not always the case, it has become a common trend, and makes it so those in public schools aren’t getting the best education from the most qualified people.
When it comes to deciding who should make the standards for education in government, I think it should be somewhat of a mix. I realize that nationwide standards don’t always make sense, however I think there need to be some to make sure students are mostly equally prepared. I have heard of many situations where, when students get to college, they aren’t as prepared as others in their class who went to school in another state. This is a problem, and I think having national standards will help eliminate it. On the other hand, however, I can see where it makes sense to leave education to the state and local governments. A lot of times, a state or local government may know how to deal with education best in their area. Different areas of the country work in different ways, and sometimes a state or local government will know how to specifically provide funding and standards for it’s own constituents.
I think the Race to the Top program makes some sense, and is certainly better than No Child Left Behind. NCLB seemed to make students and districts that were doing well take too many unnecessary tests to make sure they were up to the standard, but less well off schools had to make tests easier, or avoid the program all together to get by (2). Overall, the system encouraged a lot of wasted time, and a lot of schools stuck changing their standards so they would pass the system (3). RTT seems to make slightly more sense, however I am not completely sure how I feel about it. The goal is to have a financial incentive for schools to meet a certain standard in order to earn money (4). I think this makes more sense, because it encourages schools to use programs that work for them to gain the incentive, but the states that have enough money and have good school programs don’t necessarily need to make changes. The one problem I have with this program is that I feel as though it seems like a bribe. Although it may work well, it seems almost lowly to me that the states have to do tricks to earn money. I suppose it is better than just giving cash handouts, but its something I don’t think you see very much in government. That being said, I think it is a better program than NCLB, and will hopefully yield results of more children deciding to pursue higher education and get better jobs. Also, it should help put the United States on the world’s stage as far as educated students goes.
1. http://www.rgj.com/article/20100326/MVN01/3260352/1305/BIZ01
2. http://www.nysut.org/cps/rde/xchg/nysut/hs.xsl/newyorkteacher_14714.htm
3. http://www.usatoday.com/news/education/2009-11-04-obamatop04_st_N.htm
4. http://www.heritage.org/Research/Reports/2010/01/A-Smarter-Path-to-a-Race-to-the-Top-in-Education-Reform
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Citations:
1. http://www.nationmaster.com/graph/edu_sch_lif_exp_tot-education-school-life-expectancy-total
2. http://media.www.guilfordian.com/media/storage/paper281/news/2009/01/30/World/U.s-No.Longer.A.Leader.In.Higher.Education-3605188.shtml
3http://www.nydailynews.com/blogs/iteam/2009/07/poll-kids-dont-look-up-to-chea.html
4http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/2717861/why_do_our_kids_look_up_to_the_wrong.html
5.
http://www.manhattan-institute.org/html/ewp_03.htm
6.
http://www.census.gov/Press-Release/www/releases/archives/education/001863.html
7. http://www.heritage.org/Research/Reports/2010/01/A-Smarter-Path-to-a-Race-to-the-Top-in-Education-Reform
As everyone as stated, The United States is no longer the leader in education. Norway is currently the most educated country. (1) In recent decades the United States has come to a virtual halt in increasing college participation. (2) Moreover, the percentage of college-age students graduating from liberal arts institutions has declined as young Americans struggle to afford a college education. (2) To improve education, we need to change who some young kids look up to. Although I am a avid participant of the American youth society, I do not think it is necessarily a positive thing at times. Some kids today look up to hip-hop stars, pro athletes, and entertainers as a way to "success." Although this is true, I think it is wrong to classify "kids." Let's remember that not all kids look up to famous people. According to a NYDailynews article/study, "The study found that 78% of kids say a parent is their most important role model, while only 3% said their most important role model is an athlete."(3) To better improve the American public school system; we need to have the famous celebrities that kids look up stress that education is important. There is so much the government can do to try to improve education. Coming from a student myself, kids are not just going to be like, "OMG new standardized tests this year!" Our society as a whole needs to emphasize that schooling is mandatory. (4) If famous people do not show our kids that education is important, the cycle will continue. There is only so much the government can do.
In addition, black and Hispanic students fail to graduate at much higher rates than whites and Asians. (5) I believe this happens because of the economical statuses of blacks and Hispanic. Kids that live in below average social statuses are going to be less likely wanting to succeed through education. I do not blame them. Such kids find it much easier to put a higher emphasis on pro sports or entertainment. This is why it is necessary for a celebrities to stress education to our children. In 2004, 85 percent of adults age 25 and over had completed at least high school, an all-time high, reported by the U.S. Census Bureau.(6)
I think it is a mixture between the federal and state governments to fix education. It is necessary that we get as many kids educated as possible. But in reality, some kids simply choose not to learn. I have witnessed it. Once kids turn 16 and they are eligible to drop out of high school, they just do. What is the government supposed to do about that? Although the government can push for certain legislation to get kids educated, sometimes it simply just doesn't work. Like I stated before, it would be beneficial if we had our celebrities stress education. Also, parents can influence kids' choices. Some kids simply choose not to learn.
I think it is society's problem as a whole to fix education.
I think Obama's new initiative Race to the Top will be more beneficial than No Child Left Behind because many states were lowering testing requirements to meet the quotas of No Child Left Behind. (7) Although I think it will be more beneficial than No Child Left Behind, like I stated before, there is only so much the government can do to get kids educated.
...Citations Above^^^
I believe that the biggest way in which the U.S’s public schools could be improved is through increased funding from the federal government. Especially in the economy we have right now, it’s almost laughable the amount of funding the schools are receiving. One thing that definitely won’t work is simply raising the test scores that the schools must shoot for, like in Bush’s ‘No Child Left Behind’ program (1). This will simply make teachers teach for the tests, as opposed to guiding their students to mastering the subject. The Bush Administration simply did not want to raise the taxes that would fund the program, and they tried other methods that flat out did not work. Our education system is ranked far below acceptable levels, with countries like Hungary getting higher marks (2). This is unacceptable. The most proven strategy is to simply give the school systems more money to work with, in which they can better update schoolbooks and newer technologies that will help facilitate learning.
The burden of who helps our education should fall on the national government. The local and state governments can do their best, but they can only accomplish so much with the money they are allocated by Congress. The national government has the power to raise taxes and give the school system the money they need, so they should bear the bulk of the responsibility. I think that the schooling system is one of the most important aspects of our society. If children are presented with the idea that schooling is the best way to become successful as an adult, our country will be much better off. The problem is that in inner city areas, the public school system is such a joke that kids don’t believe that their education is important. If we would focus more on making schooling seem like a viable option, then more kids will graduate and move onto college.
I think Obama’s new program is a fresh start. By making the state more competitive with each other for funding, they have a much bigger incentive to fund their schools and make their schooling system better. When you look at the finalists for the biggest amount of funding, states in the south are up there with more prosperous states, which is a good sign (3). All in all, I agree with the way that Obama has conducted himself regarding this issue.
(1) http://www2.ed.gov/policy/elsec/leg/esea02/index.html
(2) http://www.realonlinedegrees.com/education-rankings-by-country/
(3) http://www2.ed.gov/news/pressreleases/2010/03/03042010.html
It is widely known that No Child Left Behind was not as successful as everyone was hoping. Now with the new Race to the Top program, people are really starting to question what we should do about reforming public schools so that they can better compete with other industrialized nations, but without the consequences that followed No Child Left Behind [2]. I think that the new Race to the Top program sounds promising. The basic idea behind RTTT is that all the states would compete with each other for bonus funding [3]. To me this sounds like a better program because schools won’t lose funding, only gain bonus funding. The point of the matter is that that the government can’t force the states to comply with their desires [2], so in my opinion, the government should make the states want to comply with the government.
I think that states should be rewarded for their successes, not their ability to follow rules, or bend them [2]. One of the ideas in RTTT, is the idea of merit pay [1]. The idea is that teachers, like most people in other industries, would get paid and compensated based on merit [1]. Personally I don’t think two people should be paid the same amount if one of them is a superior worker, and I think that if people are paid based on merit, they have a reason to improve. For example, New Haven, CT has a new teacher evaluation, in response to RTTT, that sees how students improve over the year. The evaluation assesses teacher performance and provides interventions for struggling teachers through peer-assistance and review program, so that they can become better teachers [3].
I think that it is the state’s responsibility to improve public schools. It is too difficult to apply one form across a nation as diverse as ours. As such I think that each state should have the responsibility to improve their public schools, because they can better find a program that works for them. I also think that since each of the states are competing against each other in RTTT, then each state will have a desire to find a program that works best for them. As Charles Barone, part of Democrats for Education Reform, said, “You want to be the state that competes successfully” [4]. Each of the states will have a better idea of what they should and shouldn’t try based on the success of states around them, and they will have a better idea of how compete.
Personally I like the ideas behind RTTT. It ties teacher and principle pay, and school assignments, based on testing results; adopts international benchmarked academic standards, so we can better compete with other industrialized nations; and fixes low performing schools [4]. The RTTT also creates national standards, with tests regulated by Washington, to monitor the progress of schools [2]. Together I think that this, at least on paper, is an improvement to No Child Left Behind. By making the program more of a competition for bonus funding, I think that actual improvements will be made to improve the school system. Since schools won’t have to compete for their actual funding, the government will have a more accurate picture of how the school system is improving. I also like the idea of giving teachers merit pay. We want an incentive for teachers to become better, and have the best in the field being paid what they deserve.
Overall, I think that RTTT sounds like it is going to fix some of the unforeseeable problems that resulted from No Child Left Behind. While we don’t however know what effect that this program will have in the long run, I think that it is at least taking steps in the right direction.
[1]http://www.brookings.edu/interviews/2009/0313_education_whitehurst.aspx
[2]http://www.heritage.org/Research/Reports/2010/01/A-Smarter-Path-to-a-Race-to-the-Top-in-Education-Reform
[3]http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/fact-sheet-race-top
[4]http://www.usatoday.com/news/education/2009-11-04-obamatop04_st_N.htm
It is becoming clearer and clearer that the American education system is sorely lacking. Other countries are catching up (and passing). While this is good for them, the United States has to stay competitive in education to be competitive in the real world.
No Child Left Behind may have had good intentions, but its pro's stop there. It rewards high test scores (i.e. wealthier schools/students), giving money to those who need it much less than others. This may seem like snarky partisanship on my part, but I feel like that's the prerogative of the Republican Party, at times.
Obama's plan is better. Rewarding schools for progress, rather than flat performance, gives the poorer schools and students a chance [1]. It rewards those that make small improvements, as opposed to those who started out ahead. This basic concept was implemented in New York City three years ago, and as Michael Bloomberg, then-mayor and author of my first source, says, "Graduation rates for 2009 show a record number of students, including blacks and hispanics, who have historically been most likely to drop out. We've cut the dropout rate in half."
Another key feature of Obama's plan is merit pay for teachers. For too long, teachers' salaries have been determined by age. When we think about incentives, this strategy falls flat. You end up with lots of aging teachers collecting higher salaries who can't be removed because of tenure. When job cuts are made, it is always the youngest teachers to go. Former mayor Bloomberg: "Sure, experience matters. But so do skill and energy. We must be able to make staffing decisions based on performance, not just time served."
Obama's decision to move forward with trying to change the way in which the system works took courage[2]. Teachers unions traditionally support Democrats, and they aren't happy with much of his plan[2]. But if the United States is to retake the lead in the area of education, things will have to change. It is the responsibility of all levels of government, federal, state and local, to see that this is done and that quality public education is available to all. I feel that Obama recognizes what we need, and I'm confident that he'll get it done.
Sources:
1) http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1973364,00.html
2) http://www.brookings.edu/interviews/2009/0313_education_whitehurst.aspx
I think that the federal government should be held responsible in some manner. More than anything, the federal government should be a watchdog over public education. I don’t think they should control it totally, though. There should be room for creativity and innovation in the classroom, which would vary from state to state and city to city. Our country is too big and diverse for large standardized education.(1)
How is our education system right now, though? In my opinion, we are doing things backwards. Our public school system is broken and unequal and so far what we have tried to do is fix it but not at the source of the problem. Helping out a few minorities get into college is great, but what about all the other minorities, a greater amount of them, who weren’t qualified even with the help of affirmative action because their education at the lower levels failed them? “Today, the disparity remains troubling, persistent, and large. Last year, 6 of 10 black fourth graders who took the NAEP reading test had not even partially mastered grade-level skills. Only 25 percent of whites scored that low. In high schools, the situation is just as dismaying: Black and Hispanic seniors on average read and do math only as well as white eighth graders.”(2) Why is this? Wealthy people are moving out of the city into the suburbs. The cities in America are becoming poor. The poor have poorer schools. Those who are poor are more likely to be minorities. Therefore, minorities are receiving an education of lesser quality than whites. This isn’t to say that money is everything in education, as I will discuss in a hot second, but education is relative in some ways to money. Those students who are poor might have to work, therefore they don’t have time to study. I have had the privilege of being told NOT TO work during the school year by my mother. Not all students have that luxury. Also, often times poorer students are taught by less qualified teachers because the schools they attend, some which do honestly lack funding, are not able to hire better ones.(2)
But, will it take massive amounts of money to reform education? No, it will not. I’m not going to deny the fact that money is needed to improve our education system, but not as much as we think. In Charlotte, N.C., students at Highland Renaissance Academy have seen the effect of cheap, yet successful, reform. Most of the students there are poor and black. What Highland starting doing was giving out gifts for students who set individual goals for themselves and met those goals. It was pretty simple; they publicly rewarded those who met “individualized goals”. This way, students were rewarded for doing what they are capable of as an individual student and not set up for failure by goals that are out of their reach. This doesn’t mean the goals were easy, but they were attainable. What were the results? “The number of black 9-year-olds at grade level in reading, for example, rose from 29 percent in 1998 to 75 percent [in 2003].”(3)
Money isn’t everything in reform, either. Washington D.C., an area that is struggling with education, spends about $10,000 per student which puts them “slightly above nearby Montgomery County, Md., a wealthy suburb known for its top-notch schools.” It’s not how much money is available to spend but it is how the money is spent that really matters.(3)
I have to be honest, I don’t understand RTTT and NCLB. It’s really complicated for me to understand and it’s 6:48PM, 12 minutes away from the deadline time, and I do not think I can understand it in the time I have. This is my fault, but it’s true.
1-http://www.heritage.org/Research/Reports/2010/01/A-Smarter-Path-to-a-Race-to-the-Top-in-Education-Reform
2-http://eric.ed.gov/ERICWebPortal/custom/portlets/recordDetails/detailmini.jsp?_nfpb=true&_
ERICExtSearch_SearchValue_0=ED494820&ERICExtSearch_SearchType_0=no&accno=ED494820
3-http://www.usnews.com/usnews/edu/articles/040322/22unequal_2.htm
We should give states a great control of their federal funds in turn for having states report their progress and programs to the national government. States should have to report on the states academic achievements and maintain the current level of testing [1]. The government should promote competition to improve by rewarding the states who do well. This would give them an incentive to improve their programs [1]. Local government will them feel the need to improve their school so that they do not fall behind the rest of the country. We NEED to improve the education in this country and put students on point with were they should be. On average you can expect to pay $100,000 for a child today K-12. But fewer then half of American students are up to their grade level in basic math and reading. [2]. School vouchers would help students to escape poor schools and receive a much better education else where [2]. In D.C. when students were allowed vouchers to attend other schools they out performed their classmates who remained in the public school. These vouchers then will reward good schools by giving them more money to fund their working programs then funding failing programs at other schools. We should be getting better programs and schools not throwing money at the problem. I think that state and local governments are responsibly for improving our schools. It is difficult for the national government to carry out it's reforms in each school district [1]. They would also water down the programs that are put forth by the Obama Administration [1].I think RTTT can be a good plan if it implements stricter policies to improve students who are falling behind. His proposed plan does bring the fear of Washington having too much federal control of education [3].
[1] http://www.heritage.org/Research/Reports/2010/01/A-Smarter-Path-to-a-Race-to-the-Top-in-Education-Reform
[2] http://www.heritage.org/Research/Commentary/2010/01/Enemies-and-the-Future-of-American-Education
[3]http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703780204575119214011184980.html?KEYWORDS=Race+to+the+Top
I think that discussions on education are extremely complicated, and if it were easy to reform the educational system for it to work for everyone it would have already been done, but it hasn’t. There are so many factors involved with education that it is impossible to point to one individual aspect and say that it is the main key to solving educational issues or the one problem with the educational system. I think there is a really interesting debate over how to improve the school system and whose job it is to do so.
The heritage foundation makes a pretty interesting point that it is truly the responsibility of the states to control educational policy and implement actions. They believe that the federal government is taking to much of a stance in trying to dictate how schools should implement their policies. They list a number of problems with the government doing this (1). While I do agree that it is up to states and localities to innovate in their educational systems, I think that it cannot only be left up to them. According to a study from the Brookings Institution, federal standards and state standards often differ in exactly how they measure how students are doing. They give the example of Tennessee, who claims that 90% of their students are proficient in reading, while according to national standards, only 28% are proficient. I think this illustrates that the federal government should have some discretion in expecting things from education (2).
Furthermore, I think that expecting policy innovation to happen on local and state levels all the time often leads to massive failures. Because schools are often funded locally, poor areas often have poorer schools. This exacerbates cyclical poverty because people who are born into poverty are more often failed by the school system. On the other hand, a national education standard doesn’t make sense because of the diversity of the country. As Dead Prez says in their song “They” Schools “I tried to pay attention but they classes wasn't interestin They seemed to only glorify the Europeans… They schools can't teach us shit My people need freedom, we tryin to get all we can get… Cuz see the schools aint teachin us nothing They aint teachin us nothin but how to be slaves and hardworkers For white people
to build up they shit Make they businesses successful while it's exploitin us Knowhatimsayin? And they aint teachin us nothin related to Solvin our own problems, knowhatimsayin? Aint teachin us how to get crack out the ghetto They aint teachin us how to stop the police from murdering us And brutalizing us, they aint teachin us how to get our rent paid Knowhatimsayin? They aint teachin our families how to interact Better with each other, knowhatimsayin? They just teachin us How to build they shit up,” (3)
This is reflected in average SAT scores which (surprise) basically follow economic lines. According to an NYU report, SAT scores today correlate closely with the family income of the test takers, according to the ETS' own data. One major reason is the widespread use of expensive test preparation services, such as Kaplan and The Princeton Review.” This is especially harmful for immigrants who are learning English at the same time they are preparing for the SAT. According to a counselor at a mainly ESL school in queens “The SAT Verbal test for our students is catastrophic… the SAT is not a good indicator of their success. Our students might get low scores, but they work so hard-probably at least twice as long on everything as a native English speaker. And that kind of determination often translates into success at college, even if their test scores are low.” (4)
So while there are criticisms of Obama’s educational policies, I still do believe it is a step in the right direction, away from the over-arching demands of the NCLB, but still having a federal element. However, success in school goes far beyond what happens in school. A lot of scholarly success is based upon a student’s environment at home and in the community. I think successful education policy moves beyond the classroom and into a student’s home life, like what the Harlem Children’s Zone does. HCZ starts with a “baby college” for expecting parents and starts teaching students young. This pre – k education is essential for school in the long run, they support students in the poorest and “roughest” neighborhoods to get to college through community interactions and connections starting at a young age and sponsoring in school and after school activities. I think more of these local initiatives are critical to educational success in this country (5).
(1) http://www.heritage.org/Research/Reports/2010/01/A-Smarter-Path-to-a-Race-to-the-Top-in-Education-Reform
(2) http://www.brookings.edu/opinions/2010/0324_naep_whitehurst.aspx
(3) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xf1QcHs4vGY
(4) http://journalism.nyu.edu/pubzone/race_class/edu-matt2.htm
(5) http://www.hcz.org/home
The American public school system definitely needs to make some changes. We fall behind other countries when it comes to academics, falling behind Singapore, Taiwan, Japan, the Netherlands, Sweden, Slovenia, and other countries in mathematics, for example (1). Europeans high school students have far more rigorous school days than American high school students do. My cousin starts school at 8 AM, and ends at 4 with an hour and a half break for lunch. Three times a week, she takes an additional advanced English class that goes until 5:30. She’s only 13, yet she spends more time in school than I do!
In order to improve American public schools, Congress should pass the Education Opportunity Act of 2009. This bill is intended to “expand educational opportunities for all Americans by increasing access to high-quality early childhood education and after school programs, advancing reform in elementary and secondary education, strengthening mathematics and science instruction, and ensuring that higher education is more affordable, and for other purposes” (2). The national government should take responsibility to improve public schools throughout the nation, because currently there is a great difference in public schools based on where they are located. Minnesota has the best public schools in the nation. It isn’t fair that I get access to the best education America has to offer to me just because I live in Minnesota. The government should try to even out the differences between the states by helping states with lower than average test scores first. It is also the job of the state and local governments to help implement these changes, but the national government should be the leader in this.
President Obama’s Race to the Top program is based on asking states to advance reforms around four main areas: ”1) Adopting standards that prepare students to succeed in college and the workplace and to compete in the global economy, 2) building data systems that measure student growth and success, and inform teachers/principals about how they can improve instruction, 3) recruiting, developing, rewarding, and retaining effective teachers and principals, especially where they are needed most, and 4) Turning around the lowest-achieving schools” (3). By rewarding states with incentives if they improve their schools, the hope is that schools will be motivated to improve (4). However, they all have to apply for the grants, which some states are not going to do because of all the paperwork (4). But the hope is that if the Race to the Top plan proves to be successful in some states, others will follow.
I think that Obama’s Race to the Top program is a good idea. I will be more certain of my opinion after the policy has been implemented more, but for now I think it is a good way to get public schools motivated to improve. The No Child Left Behind Act was based off of using standardized testing in schools, and making sure all students met the basic requirements (5). However, the problem with this is that since the schools in America were so different, some schools struggled to meet the requirements while others sailed through with flying colors. I remember thinking that my sister in middle school could have taken my underclassman assessment. There was no incentive for schools who already met the requirements to further improve (5). Hopefully, Obama’s Race to the Top program will be motivation enough for all American public schools to work hard and improve.
(1)http://www.realonlinedegrees.com/education-rankings-by-country/
(2)http://www.opencongress.org/bill/111-s7/show
(3)http://www2.ed.gov/programs/racetothetop/index.html
(4)http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/12/education/12educ.html?_r=3&partner=rss&emc=rss
(5)http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/subjects/n/no_child_left_behind_act/index.html?inline=nyt-classifier
I agree with the assertion that the American school system is in need of some improvements. One of the biggest obstacles to improving the system is the low wages for teachers. Less and less individuals are encouraged to join this noble profession because they have to think about the bad economy and their financial situation. Therefore, people who have amazing potential to be teachers slip away from the youth. Also, with this system it is easier for less qualified individuals to become teachers, who will not have as great of an impact on a student’s education. I also think that more emphasis should be placed on academic excellence and activities that make students well- rounded people. Students should be able to pursue a variety of interests and have the people available to discuss them with and also resources so that they may pursue theses interests. For example, in middle schools and high schools there should be activity lists sent out to the students with options. Now, students must know about an activity before hand, but in middle school they don’t always know how to go out there and search for things. In the category of academic excellence, some schools do not push students hard enough and emphasize how important academics are in their lives. A statistic shows that every day around the country 2,500 students drop out of high school (1). This is an alarming statistic that is depressing because those students are far less likely to succeed in life, and this is something that needs change.
I think that in some part all the forms of government have responsibilities for improving public schools, including the national, state, and local. The national government should be responsible for setting general guidelines and parameters for how to educate students and the things that should be accomplished, but each state is responsible for developing those with respect to the state’s individual needs. At the local level, the specification become even more detailed as the specific schools respond to the needs of the community. For example, in a lower-class inner city school more emphasis needs to be placed on staying in school and continuing education, whereas in a rural school more emphasis should be placed on outside activities and all the varieties of things available outside of the town.
First of all, I don’t appreciate Obama’s constant degrading remarks about all of the programs before him. So they may not have worked: deal with it and quit trying to make yourself look better. Also, it annoys me that he is always trying to show things down the American people’s throats. Political scientists have commented that in his speech on his new Race to the Top initiative his “language was far more confrontational” and he has been using the “bully pulpit” to advance education reform (2). Although I think that the increase in budget for education could be very useful, I’m wondering where the $1.35 billion dollar expansion is coming from (3). It appears that the program may have a good shot at addressing problems in education such as schools weakening standards and making tests easier so they may ensure receiving federal money. I personally think the policy is a bit aggressive, especially for the federal government to be interfering with matters that are normally left to the states, but quite clearly we need a change so we might as well try it out and see if it brings about positive results. I’m also interested to see if any loopholes become apparent in the next few months of the program, and if it will have the same or far different results of No Child Left Behind.
1.
http://www.pew-partnership.org/pdf/dropout_overview.pdf
2.
http://www.brookings.edu/interviews/2009/0313_education_whitehurst.aspx
3.
http://www.heritage.org/Research/Reports/2010/01/A-Smarter-Path-to-a-Race-to-the-Top-in-Education-Reform
It is clear that the American public school system needs reform, but opinions vary on what steps should be taken- and who should orchestrate this process. Although the federal government in Washington, D.C. cannot single-handedly fix our system, I believe that the national government should bear the most responsibility. The national government has more power, so they can enforce new policies better than local governments. Also, nationalized policies have the strength of consistency. If complete reform was left to the states, legislation and implementation would vary drastically across America, leading to some states having much stronger school systems than others. However, states do need some flexibility because some programs may be more effective and useful in one region than another.
There are many areas that Bush's "No Child Left Behind Program" failed in. For example, while test scores are important, they are not the only grounds on which to judge a school's quality. Reducing funding to a school because they have low test scores won't help that school to rectify the situation. Instead, schools should recieve extra incentives when they achieve remarkable scores, like a boost in technology funding or the resources to hire more teachers. Struggling schools should not have their funding cut. Also, the quality of teachers should be judged more strictly. While quality tools like computers and textbooks are important, teachers are the most integral part of a quality education. A great teacher can change a student's mind about a subject, which is especially vital as the world needs well rounded citizens. I think Obama has the right ideas when it comes to reform.
1. http://www.brookings.edu/ interviews/2009/0313education_ whitehurst.aspx
2. http://www.whitehouse.gov/the _press_ office/Remarks-by-the-President-at-the-Department-of-Education/
3. http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/22/education/22educ.html?fta=y
4. http://www.ed.gov/blog/2009/07/president-obama-secretary-duncan-announce-race-to-the-top/
Currently the public school system in the United States is really struggling and while some schools give their children all that money could offer, other schools are really struggling not only financially but with test scores and graduation rates among other things. It has been stated by many that the young people in this country are the future of the country and we need to provide for them everything we can so they can help make this country grow and be strong while the older people cannot do the work themselves anymore. For the safety of the United States’ future, we need to invest more into our school systems in order to see a more stabilized nation and overall better outcomes.
The people who are responsible for taking care of the public school system are those in the national government. While education is technically left to the states in the Constitution, I believe it is something that affects the whole nation quite dramatically so I believe that the national government really needs to be the ones to create the standards. The power of enforcement may need to be entrusted to the states but in general I believe the national government should be in charge of education. Right now education really is being handled at a local level and that is why there is such a huge gap in the society as far as education as well as earnings (1). We all should be able to start off on an even playing field at least in terms of education that way the child that has the potential to rule the country one day is not held back due to financial aid and education resources.
Basically in order to improve the schools in the United States there are a number of urgent things to do. To begin, we need to get equal funding to those schools that cannot afford even textbooks for kids. I feel guilty when I think about myself sitting in a room with 30 laptops on a cart that are brought to my classroom and that has wireless internet while a school 30 miles away may not even be able to afford a classroom set of textbooks for each subject. As well we need things to get children excited to learn and makes them put their best foot forward that way they don’t regret their decisions later in life. Finally, the ratio of teachers to children needs to be adjusted in the schools; to have thirty kindergarteners in one classroom in insane. We need to create a better balance because at that age children need more individualized attention in order for them to fully grasp and reach their full potential. While it is not the teachers’ fault they are given this situation, it just isn’t working and there needs to be changes made.
I believe that Obama made a smart decision in the way he is dealing with public education. This is really allowing the government to supervise what is going on nation-wide to ensure the well being of the whole nation. While there are many warnings that government control is a bad thing, ultimately they are the holder of the most money and if the states want the money (which of course they do) they will do what they need to do to get the reward even if it is just the bare minimum. While the Heritage program endorses letting local governments have more control and working bottom up, I have to disagree in that there are many things the local governments are in charge of but when we are looking to the future, they need to let go of their want for power and let the federal government take this one (2).
(1) http://www.brookings.edu/interviews/2009/0313_education_whitehurst.aspx
(2) http://www.heritage.org/Research/Reports/2010/01/A-Smarter-Path-to-a-Race-to-the-Top-in-Education-Reform
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