Obama Makes Appeal for Education Reform "That Works"

By: Stephanie Condon
Topics: Domestic Issues

President Obama appealed to the nation's governors today to fulfill education reforms that move past partisanship to offer every American a complete and competitive education. What's at stake, he said, is "nothing less than our primacy in the world."

"We are tired of arguments between the left and the right, between reformers and teachers unions," he said. "We want to find out what works."

Under former President George W. Bush's "No Child Left Behind" legislation, 11 states lowered their standards for students in math, Mr. Obama said, signaling that the law created the wrong incentives.

The Obama administration is taking a different approach to incentivizing educational improvements. The president's 2011 budget proposal includes billions in additional funding for elementary and secondary schools. The extra funding includes a large expansion of Mr. Obama's "Race to the Top" initiative, which awards competitive grants to states that implement reforms favored by the administration, such as linking teacher pay to student test performance.

Mr. Obama also wants to scrap No Child Left Behind's 2014 deadline by which all schools are supposed to reach "academic proficiency" in favor of a new goal of helping all students graduate "college or career ready." In order to receive funding for primary and secondary education, Mr. Obama said today that states will have to put in place a plan to adopt and certify "college and career ready" standards for reading and math. He praised the National Governors' Association for already working to develop common academic standards.

"If we can come together to do all this – in Washington, in state houses, across party and ideology – we'll raise the quality of American education," he said. "We'll give our students, workers and businesses every chance to succeed, and we will secure this century as the next American century."

Stephanie Condon
Stephanie Condon is a political reporter for CBSNews.com.
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by DocG4Equality March 1, 2010 6:08 PM EST: President Obama, has merely skimmed the surface of "reforming" our nations School Systems.

One of the most powerful consequences and deterents for motivating a great many students in our Nation's Schools is Bullying!

Whether they are targeted due to being Gay, Lesbian, BI-Sexual, Transgender, Small, Large, Fat, Nerdy, etc., NO student should ever have to "FEAR" going to school!

Preventing Bullying; a Public School Responsibility

It is without a doubt, that all Public School Systems throughout this country, are plagued with students who have nothing better to do than pick on others.
The psychological, physical and emotional ramifications to those being bullied are terrifying.

Every School District, no matter what State, City or Town, must protect each student seeking an education without peer retaliation.
All Teachers, Administrators, Guidance Counselors, and District Staff members need to maintain a Zero Tolerance Policy as well as being consistently pro-active in preventing any student from becoming a victim of Bullying.
When District employees knowingly disregard the verbal and/or physical cruelty being initiated by a Bully, they should be held accountable and reprimanded.

The Fear of attending school daily, knowing that around each corner, classroom, lunchroom, bathroom, etc., there could be a predator waiting to bring about a torturous confrontation.

For years, I have been trying to convince organizations, and numerous educators dedicated to the care, rights and well being of each child/student, to seriously address the creation of a Task Force against Bullying.
This Task Force would be comprised of Educators, Psychologists, Psychiatrists, Guidance Counselors, and especially a variety of Victims, who were targets of their tormentors.

The Task Force's Zero Tolerance Bullying Programs and Policies would be presented to every Public School Board of Education throughout the nation, with the understanding, that each school must adopt and sustain this uncompromising District wide curriculum.

All students are entitled and have the right to receive an Education without being subjected to a daily barrage of unaccountable abuse at the hands of individuals, whose identity as Bully's are nothing more than cowardly acts of insecurity, brought on by low self-esteem acts of fantasized superiority.

Creating a sense of security and safety within our Public Schools that are supposed to protect our children while they learn, must be first and foremost in establishing motivation, toward any Educational Reform.

How many times has a child taken their own life, due to unrepentant and relentless bullying in School?s across this country, due to an insensitive and blind Educational system!?!?

Anyone besides me, up for the ?Task??

DIVERSITY EDUCATION CURRICULUMS IN PUBLIC SCHOOL DISTRICTS:
FRAMEWORK, FOR PLANNING A "ZERO-TOLERANCE POLICY," TOWARD ANY INTERFERENCE OF AN INDIVIDUALS RIGHT TO LEARN, IN NATIONWIDE PUBLIC SCHOOL DISTRICTS.

Population: Pre-K-12
Establishing a Well Rounded Education, without the Fear of attending a Public School System.
Administration, Faculty and Community Involvement, Will Establish a Guiding Principle of Sensitivity, Understanding and Respect, in Regard to Every Child's Right For A Safe Learning Environment.

Author:
Dr. Mekah Gordon, Ph.D.
President/CEO
S. U. R. E. Foundation?
?2010, All Rights Reserved; Reply to this comment


by american-in-germany March 1, 2010 9:47 AM EST: I've been in Germany for the last year and six months, and from that time I have really noticed what is wrong with education in the United States in general.
1). Not a lot of money is being put into the education system. If anything the teachers need to make sure they meet the needs of the state and the nation and make sure they teach the proper material in order to provide a better atmosphere for students in general.
2). Too many schools are banning books (ex. The Diary of Anne Frank) based on grounds that have nothing to do with education. Students need to be challenged in all areas, should they ever expect to compete in a GLOBALIZING market. As a WHOLE, the proper subjects are not being taught to students, and or there are not enough teachers to teach important subjects like math and science. They do need an environment that motivates them to study harder. In Germany, as well as other european countries, they have A-level exams, which determine whether or not they graduate from high school and if they can go on to college. In Germany they pick out the subjects, except for german and english (those are mandatory), which can range from economics to biology. Prior to A-levels they have presentations, exams, papers, etc. in every subject they will test in, which prepares them for those kinds of exams. My point is, I believe that students in the United States should be put through the same rigorous exams which determine graduation and their opportunity to go to college. A motivation that might raise the standards of American Education.

I can go on and on as to what is wrong with american education. Personally, I think states, like California, could save more money if they did away with "standardized testing" and invest it into a system that is hanging by its fingertips. We need to look at the necessities in every industry and see what it is that is being sought after, fluency in foreign languages, proficiency in the sciences, etc. We know what we have to fix. The question is, whether or not people want it to be fixed. From the looks of it, it's going to be a long up-hill battle for the american education system.; Reply to this comment


by Dinosaurs1 February 23, 2010 6:43 PM EST: What America's education systems need are examples or models of how a school should be run. Why not find schools on the List of America's Top 100 schools, document their operations and if proven successful, use their system as a model?

One such school where this has been done is Providence St. Mel in Chicago. A recently released film, The Providence Effect, documents the school's change and demonstrates the success of the system. A charter school was opened using the PSM system and has seen dramatic increases in test scores over just a few years.

More information can be found at:
http://theprovidenceeffect.com/

What The Providence Effect is trying to show is just what American Education needs. Businesses adopt industry-best practices; education systems should do the same.; Reply to this comment


by soap-suds February 22, 2010 2:59 PM EST: I believe that what happens in many of the public school education reform activities is that a symptom is observed, and a solution or test is proposed without an academically rigorous determination of the underlying problem / cause. Medical doctors observe symptoms to determine the problem, and then prescribe a solution to the problem, which includes direct or indirect resolution of the symptom.

If there have been rigorous academic studies to determine the problems in public education, then there should be succinct lists of those problems published in the news media for all to see! We need to do research and analysis to decisively identify the root problems and their causes before we define and implement solutions!

Some day someone will create a mathematical model of public school systems that will enable an accurate evaluation of the whole system and its component parts. Then perhaps some improvements might be made. If we do not know what is required to be taught and what is working and not working throughout the whole system, we can not prescribe solutions to the problems.; Reply to this comment


by bpeterson1931 February 22, 2010 11:59 AM EST: Many of the current problems in K-12 education involve developing long term budgets free of political turmoil, a general acceptance of the tangible and intangible benefits of education, and the desire of some groups to interject their ideologies into public education. Rather than solve these underlying problems it appears that we are going to pour money into the assessment business, and rely on Federal programs like Race To The Top (RTTT).
Aggressive testing and assessments programs, like RTTT, when applied nationwide involve large amounts of money, which provides many opportunities for distorting the results. Also, I disagree with the concept of distributing Federal education funds based on competition as opposed to need. RTTT, with its competition between States, holds children hostage to a State's political philosophy and to any peculiarities in judging the competition. In recent years we have also heard from many, including a Supreme Court nominee, the Newtonian concept that the umpire, in this case the assessor, is independent of the system. Both modern logic and experience tells us this is a false concept, and the educational system will be significantly affected by any assessment and testing, often in unpredictable and undesirable ways.
As to the tangible and intangible benefits of education, according to President Obama, in recent speeches, the benefits of a better education are to earn 60% more, eliminate an achievement gap that can cost us hundreds of billions of dollars, and provide success in the global workplace. I find it sad that he did not mention ideas like improvements in ?life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.? In the big picture, is there data that directly correlates aggressive assessment and testing with lifelong creativity, happiness, and social harmony? The Japanese have had very aggressive educational assessments over a long period of time, and they are now concerned about high teen student suicide rates and creativity.
I would suggest that the first steps in fixing our system would be to insure that every teacher has appropriate sized classes, a first class educational environment, and a reasonable wage. For students I would recommend a TLC environment with proper nutrition, parents with jobs that provide a reasonable income for the hours worked, and a home not in foreclosure.; Reply to this comment