Joe Biden is the first candidate that we'll examine. His stance on No Child Left Behind is, like most of the other candidates, that it is under-funded. He favors innovation and retaining good teachers, while proposing a sizable increase in funding to schools. These sound like good ideas, except where are we going to get that money? Raising taxes?
The following, taken from the candidates website, represents what Biden believes about Education:
Education: A Promise For The Future
“My mother has an expression, children tend to become that which you expect of them. I want a country where we expect much from America’s children. Every child must graduate from high school. Every child should go on to higher education. Today, just two-thirds of students entering high school graduate, and about two-thirds of those go
on to college. We are losing too many children in this country, wasting too much talent, leaving so much potential untapped. We know what we need to do: First, stop focusing just on test scores. Second, start education earlier. Third, pay educators more. Fourth, reduce class size. Fifth, make higher education affordable.”
-- Joe Biden
To build a 21st century education system, Joe Biden would:
1. Move Toward A Sixteen Year System
2. Focus on Retaining And Training Teachers
3. Reduce Class Size
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1. Strengthening Our Education System: Moving Toward A Sixteen Year System Joe Biden would replace the 20th century 12-year school system with a 16-year system. He would start education earlier so that every parent who wants to can send their child to two years of preschool and make sure that students can afford at least two years of higher education.
2. Support and Retain Our Teachers
Research has consistently shown that teachers are the single most important factor in determining how well a student performs in school, yet we can’t keep talented teachers in the classroom. Teacher attrition costs our schools $2 to $7 billion a year. Each year 270,000 of our 3.2 million public school teachers leave the field. Every school day, over 1,000 teachers leave the field for reasons other than retirement. Teachers leave for a wide range of reasons – from low pay to burn out.
3. Reduce Class Size
Create a national initiative to reduce class size: Joe Biden would hire 100,000 new teachers to reduce the average class size to 18 students, particularly in the early grades. Students in small class sizes in kindergarten - 3rd grade are as much as half a year ahead of students from larger classes in reading, math and science by the time they get to 5th grade. Smaller classes will provide teachers with the resources they need to create the opportunities for learning that our students deserve.
