Todays+Education

The following was originally published August 28, 2008 at http://barb-todayseducation.blogspot.com/2008/08/future-of-education.html Hi. My name is Barb. I have been a public educator in Pennsylvania for 32 years. I have taught graduate classes in Educational Technology for 15 years. I believe that students need to have the best resources possible to learn in today's world and that is through using technology as a tool. We cannot train students to enter the work force using chalkboards and textbooks that are obsolete when they go to print. The world is changing exponentially and it is time for education to jump aboard and take a ride! With all the educational rhetoric and with No Child Left Behind teacher’s hands have been tied. It is time teachers have the opportunity to do what they do best- TEACH. Individuals that go into education have a gift. They open a world to students that allows them to grow. They have a love for their art.

This year should be interesting as the election unfolds. No Child Left Behind has been with us through the Bush administration, for better or worse (mostly worse!). We have 2 candidates looking at education through two different eyes. I would like to list the 2 different approaches.

John McCain's educational plan is as follows:


 * "John McCain believes American education must be worthy of the promise we make to our children and ourselves. He understands that we are a nation committed to equal opportunity, and there is no equal opportunity without equal access to excellent education.
 * Public education should be defined as one in which our public support for a child's education follows that child into the school the parent chooses. The school is charged with the responsibility of educating the child, and must have the resources and management authority to deliver on that responsibility. They must also report to the parents and the public on their progress.
 * The deplorable status of preparation for our children, particularly in comparison with the rest of the industrialized world, does not allow us the luxury of eliminating options in our educational repertoire. John McCain will fight for the ability of all students to have access to all schools of demonstrated excellence, including their own homes.
 * No Child Left Behind has focused our attention on the realities of how students perform against a common standard. John McCain believes that we can no longer accept low standards for some students and high standards for others. In this age of honest reporting, we finally see what is happening to students who were previously invisible. While that is progress all its own, it compels us to seek and find solutions to the dismal facts before us.
 * John McCain believes our schools can and should compete to be the most innovative, flexible and student-centered - not safe havens for the uninspired and unaccountable. He believes we should let them compete for the most effective, character-building teachers, hire them, and reward them.
 * If a school will not change, the students should be able to change schools. John McCain believes parents should be empowered with school choice to send their children to the school that can best educate them just as many members of Congress do with their own children. He finds it beyond hypocritical that many of those who would refuse to allow public school parents to choose their child's school would never agree to force their own children into a school that did not work or was unsafe. They can make another choice. John McCain believes that is a fundamental and essential right we should honor for all parents.
 * As president, John McCain will pursue reforms that address the underlying cultural problems in our education system - a system that still seeks to avoid genuine accountability and responsibility for producing well-educated children.
 * John McCain will place parents and children at the center of the education process, empowering parents by greatly expanding the ability of parents to choose among schools for their children. He believes all federal financial support must be predicated on providing parents the ability to move their children, and the dollars associated with them, from failing schools. " http://www.johnmccain.com/Informing/issues/19ce50b5-daa8-4795-b92d-92bd0d985bca.htm

Barack Obama's plan is as follows:

No Child Left Behind Left the Money Behind: The goal of the law was the right one, but unfulfilled funding promises, inadequate implementation by the Education Department and shortcomings in the design of the law itself have limited its effectiveness and undercut its support. As a result, the law has failed to provide high-quality teachers in every classroom and failed to adequately support and pay those teachers.

Students Left Behind: Six million middle and high school students read significantly below their grade level. A full third of high school graduates do not immediately go on to college. American 15 year olds rank 28th out of 40 countries in mathematics and 19th out of 40 countries in science. Almost 30 percent of students in their first year of college are forced to take remedial science and math classes because they are not prepared.

High Dropout Rate: America has one of the highest dropout rates in the industrialized world. Only 70 percent of U.S. high school students graduate with a diploma. African American and Latino students are significantly less likely to graduate than white students.

Teacher Retention is a Problem: Thirty percent of new teachers leave within their first five years in the profession.

Soaring College Costs: College costs have grown nearly 40 percent in the past five years. The average graduate leaves college with over $19,000 in debt. And between 2001 and 2010, 2 million academically qualified students will not go to college because they cannot afford it. Finally, our complicated maze of tax credits and applications leaves too many students unaware of financial aid available to them. Early Childhood Education

K-12 o Reform No Child Left Behind: Obama will reform NCLB, which starts by funding the law. Obama believes teachers should not be forced to spend the academic year preparing students to fill in bubbles on standardized tests. He will improve the assessments used to track student progress to measure readiness for college and the workplace and improve student learning in a timely, individualized manner. Obama will also improve NCLB's accountability system so that we are supporting schools that need improvement, rather than punishing them. o Make Math and Science Education a National Priority: Obama will recruit math and science degree graduates to the teaching profession and will support efforts to help these teachers learn from professionals in the field. He will also work to ensure that all children have access to a strong science curriculum at all grade levels. o Address the Dropout Crisis: Obama will address the dropout crisis by passing his legislation to provide funding to school districts to invest in intervention strategies in middle school - strategies such as personal academic plans, teaching teams, parent involvement, mentoring, intensive reading and math instruction, and extended learning time. o Expand High-Quality Afterschool Opportunities: Obama will double funding for the main federal support for afterschool programs, the 21st Century Learning Centers program, to serve one million more children. o Expand Summer Learning Opportunities: Obama's "STEP UP" plan addresses the achievement gap by supporting summer learning opportunities for disadvantaged children through partnerships between local schools and community organizations. o Support College Outreach Programs: Obama supports outreach programs like GEAR UP, TRIO and Upward Bound to encourage more young people from low-income families to consider and prepare for college. o Support English Language Learners: Obama supports transitional bilingual education and will help Limited English Proficient students get ahead by holding schools accountable for making sure these students complete school. Recruit, Prepare, Retain, and Reward America's Teachers o Recruit Teachers: Obama will create new Teacher Service Scholarships that will cover four years of undergraduate or two years of graduate teacher education, including high-quality alternative programs for mid-career recruits in exchange for teaching for at least four years in a high-need field or location. o Prepare Teachers: Obama will require all schools of education to be accredited. He will also create a voluntary national performance assessment so we can be sure that every new educator is trained and ready to walk into the classroom and start teaching effectively. Obama will also create Teacher Residency Programs that will supply 30,000 exceptionally well-prepared recruits to high-need schools. o Retain Teachers: To support our teachers, Obama's plan will expand mentoring programs that pair experienced teachers with new recruits. He will also provide incentives to give teachers paid common planning time so they can collaborate to share best practices. o Reward Teachers: Obama will promote new and innovative ways to increase teacher pay that are developed with teachers, not imposed on them. Districts will be able to design programs that reward accomplished educators who serve as a mentor to new teachers with a salary increase. Districts can reward teachers who work in underserved places like rural areas and inner cities. And if teachers consistently excel in the classroom, that work can be valued and rewarded as well. Higher Education o Create the American Opportunity Tax Credit: Obama will make college affordable for all Americans by creating a new American Opportunity Tax Credit. This universal and fully refundable credit will ensure that the first $4,000 of a college education is completely free for most Americans, and will cover two-thirds the cost of tuition at the average public college or university and make community college tuition completely free for most students. Obama will also ensure that the tax credit is available to families at the time of enrollment by using prior year's tax data to deliver the credit when tuition is due. o Simplify the Application Process for Financial Aid: Obama will streamline the financial aid process by eliminating the current federal financial aid application and enabling families to apply simply by checking a box on their tax form, authorizing their tax information to be used, and eliminating the need for a separate application. Barack Obama's Record
 * Zero to Five Plan: Obama's comprehensive "Zero to Five" plan will provide critical support to young children and their parents. Unlike other early childhood education plans, Obama's plan places key emphasis at early care and education for infants, which is essential for children to be ready to enter kindergarten. Obama will create Early Learning Challenge Grants to promote state "zero to five" efforts and help states move toward voluntary, universal pre-school.
 * Expand Early Head Start and Head Start: Obama will quadruple Early Head Start, increase Head Start funding and improve quality for both.
 * Affordable, High-Quality Child Care: Obama will also provide affordable and high-quality child care to ease the burden on working families.

Record of Advocacy: Obama has been a leader on educational issues throughout his career. In the Illinois State Senate, Obama was a leader on early childhood education, helping create the state's Early Learning Council. In the U.S. Senate, Obama has been a leader in working to make college more affordable. His very first bill sought to increase the maximum Pell Grant award to $5,100. As a member of the Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions committee, Obama helped pass legislation to achieve that goal in the recent improvements to the Higher Education Act. Obama has also introduced legislation to create Teacher Residency Programs and to increase federal support for summer learning opportunities. http://www.barackobama.com/issues/education/

Read these carefully and you will see only one person wants to really change the outlook in education. We cannot continue with what we have been doing over the last 6 years. It is not working!!

The concept of No Child Left Behind sounds good but where was the money to actually do this? What has this produced? Teachers teaching for the test. Students who can take test. But is there real learning taking place? Are all states doing the same test? Can you really compare students from one state to the next? If not, how can we have no child left behind?

If we want to do something that would really shake education, level the playing field. Have standards and benchmarks that are national, not by state. Have a curriculum that is national. Have a test that is devised by educators that every student in the nation would take. It should not matter if there is a third grader in Pennsylvania or a third grader in Alaska. They should have the same standards, the same curriculum, the same benchmarks, and the same test. I know this would ruffle the feathers of the state government who want to control this. It would also ruffle the feathers of local boards of education. The state and local authorities can determine how they will deliver the curriculum. Level the playing field with qualified teachers and supplies including technology tools. We can spend millions of dollars rebuilding other countries, why not spend some money to fix our educational infrastructure.

There has been much talk about why teachers should not have tenure. The main reason I have heard -teachers with tenure that are not good teachers are stuck in their position and provide menial instruction. I challenge administrators to do their jobs! If there are teachers that cannot teach it is the administration's responsibility to document and remove them in a legal way. It can be done!! For the good teachers- well let them do their jobs. Let them teach with differentiated education. Allow them to explore and use the tools that should be provided. It can work!

Yesterday I was listening to Good Morning America and they interviewed someone in the McCain political camp. He was asked what John McCain would do to help education K-12 and students in college. He said he would provide vouchers to parents so they can send their children where they want to go to school. He would allow qualified individuals to teach, even if they do not have a teaching degree. There will be nothing to help fix failing schools in order to meet the NCLB standards. McCain will help college students by making the FAFSA application easier to fill out. Well that is certainly going to help students who want a college education. The Republican concept of helping education is a joke. It has been a joke for the last 8 years and it will continue to be the same if John McCain is President!