What an election season this has been. We are faced with major challenges over the next eight years. Senator John McCain and Senator Barack Obama have made their closing arguments for why they each should be elected. Neither, I believe, has made the case for educational policies that would be any different than George W. Bush or Bill Clinton.
The last two terms of the Bush administrations have been a boon to the textbook and testing companies by promoting an ill-conceived and ill-executed educational policy--No Child Left Behind--which underscores the inherent problems with most of the Bush era policies, foreign and domestic.
The Clinton years were not any more successful in helping school-aged children. Indeed, the school accountability movement got its legs under Bill Clinton's administration. School Choice found voice, teacher and student "competencies" became a mantra, and religious acceptance in schools became issues from 1993 to 2000. Teachers, students, and schools have all suffered under the yoke of failed policies, and no matter who wins on Tuesday, we may be in for more years of grandstanding.
Perhaps George W. Bush needs to be pilloried the most for this failure (let's all pile on) because he ran on a platform of being the "Education Candidate" in the 2000 election. Yet, with 9/11, and wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, the only education the nation received was in war and failed policies, both foreign and domestic. We are in sad, sad shape as a country because of failed ideology, Realpolitik. We are desperate for leadership and vision rather than just rhetoric and cult of personality.
So, what should our top three educational initiatives be in the next eight years with regard to education?
1.) REPEAL NO CHILD LEFT BEHIND: Great idea in theory but lousy execution. This law should be buried and schools should be given a pass on what it portends and pretends to be. No equity and justice, no peace.
2.) SCHOOLS AS CENTERS OF STRENGTH: Using K-12 schools as educational Centers of Strength (see the Harwood Institute for descriptions here). Schools should be at the center of our collective thoughts. Current and future leaders who understand the processes of their community should be given more weight during these next four years. It's important to have our working and successful schools become models to follow rather than being broad-brushed and dismissed as not working. Most schools work and work well.
3.) INCREASE SPENDING FOR EDUCATION: More schools need to be created, more teachers must be inducted into the profession, and higher rates of pay should be given for effective teachers and administrators (where testing is only part of what gets rewarded). We should also look at ways of creating consistent professional development opportunities for teachers and other school personnel so that we look at school work as closely as scientific exploration.
Showing posts with label education policies. Show all posts
Showing posts with label education policies. Show all posts
Sunday, November 02, 2008
Friday, January 04, 2008
Education As We Know It Is Dead: Radical Ideas About Education
Two days ago, one of our readers wrote:
>NCLB, Great concept but DUMB implementation
I'm not all that in love with the concept of NCLB because of what it does. I hate to be a platonic elitist but, like you, I believe that all children should be seeking what they are good at and what their strengths are. We should figure out the bare-bones of what kids absolutely need to know and then get them into societally appropriate endeavors where they will be productive. Do all kids need to have Geometry and Algebra II? Do they all need to have Ancient History, World History, and US History? Can we feed them early on in their educational careers by having them fed by things like culinary schools or a sales academy, perhaps, rather than dragging their carcasses through a regiment of "what we think you need to know" think? What about giving kids who aren't real school-type kids the Cliff Notes' version of education, with the appropriate credit, of course, and get them doing more stuff that might make a difference in their lives, and more importantly in the lives of their community.
Education as we know it is dead, or at least close to it. When in many urban and rural communities, over half of the children are dropping out between 7th and 12th grade (see they never give us the drop out rates of the kids who have never made it into high school), then you know that the*system*isn't*working. It's not about teachers, administrators, or parents, per se, it just means that what we are selling (in teaching) isn't being bought by America's youth.
In any event, I like NAF's Academy model or even CART in Fresno. Do you know that school. If you don't, you should visit it some time. CART is what I was basing some of my Agassi School ideas on.
About the environment. It's like ulcers. Remember everybody got ulcers back in the day. What happened to ulcers? We as a society work ourselves into conditions, illnesses, and diseases. We need to stop doing that. Global warming is one thing that we have created, like the Cold War, that truly exists and yet it doesn't. "Mr. Gorbachev, tear down that wall."
>NCLB, Great concept but DUMB implementation
I'm not all that in love with the concept of NCLB because of what it does. I hate to be a platonic elitist but, like you, I believe that all children should be seeking what they are good at and what their strengths are. We should figure out the bare-bones of what kids absolutely need to know and then get them into societally appropriate endeavors where they will be productive. Do all kids need to have Geometry and Algebra II? Do they all need to have Ancient History, World History, and US History? Can we feed them early on in their educational careers by having them fed by things like culinary schools or a sales academy, perhaps, rather than dragging their carcasses through a regiment of "what we think you need to know" think? What about giving kids who aren't real school-type kids the Cliff Notes' version of education, with the appropriate credit, of course, and get them doing more stuff that might make a difference in their lives, and more importantly in the lives of their community.
Education as we know it is dead, or at least close to it. When in many urban and rural communities, over half of the children are dropping out between 7th and 12th grade (see they never give us the drop out rates of the kids who have never made it into high school), then you know that the*system*isn't*working. It's not about teachers, administrators, or parents, per se, it just means that what we are selling (in teaching) isn't being bought by America's youth.
In any event, I like NAF's Academy model or even CART in Fresno. Do you know that school. If you don't, you should visit it some time. CART is what I was basing some of my Agassi School ideas on.
About the environment. It's like ulcers. Remember everybody got ulcers back in the day. What happened to ulcers? We as a society work ourselves into conditions, illnesses, and diseases. We need to stop doing that. Global warming is one thing that we have created, like the Cold War, that truly exists and yet it doesn't. "Mr. Gorbachev, tear down that wall."
Sunday, December 30, 2007
US Presidential Candidates On Education: Hillary Clinton
Many of the pundits have said that Hillary Clinton is the candidate to beat in next year's election? Yet, is her position on education that of a frontrunner or that of an also ran. You decide...
Hillary Rodham Clinton on education
On No Child Left Behind law
Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, D-N.Y., voted in 2001 for the education bill known as No Child Left Behind. Signed into law by President Bush in 2002, the law requires every state to test students annually. Schools failing to make academic progress over several years could be closed or have their faculty replaced.
Now Clinton is calling for a “total change” in the law partly because she says the federal government isn’t giving states enough flexibility to measure student progress. “We need to make sure that when we look at our children, we don’t just see a little walking test,” she said at an August 2007 debate. Like other Democratic candidates, Clinton has accused the Bush administration of not funding the law adequately.
On making college affordable
Clinton has sponsored legislation that would gradually increase the maximum Pell Grant for low-income college students to $11,600 a year. She missed the vote on a bill that would cut the interest rate on student loans by half, to 3.4%, and increase Pell grants from $4,310 in 2007 to $5,400 by 2012. President Bush signed the bill into law on Sept. 27, 2007.
Clinton also wants to increase the Hope Tax Credit to $3,500 from $1,650 and make it available for four years of college instead of the current two. With this tax credit, families would subtract the credit amount directly from the taxes they owe. Clinton wants to increase money for programs that help minorities and first-generation students (those who are the first in their family to attend college). She also wants to adjust federal loan programs so students can borrow at lower rates.
Other education priorities
Clinton wants to provide federal funding to states that agree to establish voluntary pre-kindergarten for all 4-year-olds. Low-income families and those with limited English proficiency would be allowed to enroll their children for free. States would be required to work with existing community-based preschools to ensure parents have a choice on where to enroll their children. States also would have the option to expand Head Start programs as part of a strategy to offer universal pre-K programs.
Hillary Rodham Clinton on education
On No Child Left Behind law
Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, D-N.Y., voted in 2001 for the education bill known as No Child Left Behind. Signed into law by President Bush in 2002, the law requires every state to test students annually. Schools failing to make academic progress over several years could be closed or have their faculty replaced.
Now Clinton is calling for a “total change” in the law partly because she says the federal government isn’t giving states enough flexibility to measure student progress. “We need to make sure that when we look at our children, we don’t just see a little walking test,” she said at an August 2007 debate. Like other Democratic candidates, Clinton has accused the Bush administration of not funding the law adequately.
On making college affordable
Clinton has sponsored legislation that would gradually increase the maximum Pell Grant for low-income college students to $11,600 a year. She missed the vote on a bill that would cut the interest rate on student loans by half, to 3.4%, and increase Pell grants from $4,310 in 2007 to $5,400 by 2012. President Bush signed the bill into law on Sept. 27, 2007.
Clinton also wants to increase the Hope Tax Credit to $3,500 from $1,650 and make it available for four years of college instead of the current two. With this tax credit, families would subtract the credit amount directly from the taxes they owe. Clinton wants to increase money for programs that help minorities and first-generation students (those who are the first in their family to attend college). She also wants to adjust federal loan programs so students can borrow at lower rates.
Other education priorities
Clinton wants to provide federal funding to states that agree to establish voluntary pre-kindergarten for all 4-year-olds. Low-income families and those with limited English proficiency would be allowed to enroll their children for free. States would be required to work with existing community-based preschools to ensure parents have a choice on where to enroll their children. States also would have the option to expand Head Start programs as part of a strategy to offer universal pre-K programs.
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