The Washington Post today published a story entitled "Obama to Schools: Change or Miss Out on Cash"
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/...
In it, the authors explain that Obama will be dangling $4.35 billion in funding for states only if they "ease limits on charter schools, tie teacher pay to student achievement and move for the first time toward common academic standards."
As a former public school teacher, National Board Certified Teacher, union representative, and a current PhD student in Curriculum and Instruction, I can tell you that Obama is dead wrong on all three of these issues and these policies will lead to greater drop out rates, greater segregation, greater narrowing of the curriculum to test-prep, less money and attention given to the arts/physical education/computer literacy and time for imaginative play such as recess, will lead to a more watered-down non-critical curriculum devoid of passion, and to even higher rates of teacher attrition (currently 50% of teachers stay in teaching for less than 5 years).
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