is now up Change.gov. And there is a provision that will let you offer comments/suggestions and the like.
To do so, go to this link to read the entire plan and to offer your comments.
The plan has an introduction (which I will offer in its entirety immediately below the fold), and sections on Early Childhood Education, K-12, and Higher Education. Since I do not have expertise on the first and third of these, I will restrict my remarks to the material on K-12.
I invite you to keep reading.
Here's the intro:
Barack Obama and Joe Biden believe that our kids and our country can’t afford four more years of neglect and indifference. At this defining moment in our history, America faces few more urgent challenges than preparing our children to compete in a global economy. The decisions our leaders make about education in the coming years will shape our future for generations to come. Obama and Biden are committed to meeting this challenge with the leadership and judgment that has been sorely lacking for the last eight years. Their vision for a 21st century education begins with demanding more reform and accountability, coupled with the resources needed to carry out that reform; asking parents to take responsibility for their children’s success; and recruiting, retaining, and rewarding an army of new teachers to fill new successful schools that prepare our children for success in college and the workforce. The Obama-Biden plan will restore the promise of America’s public education, and ensure that American children again lead the world in achievement, creativity and success.
The items listed under K-12, which I promised to discuss, are as follows:
Reform No Child Left Behind
Support High-Quality Schools and Close Low-Performing Charter Schools
Address the Dropout Crisis
Expand High-Quality Afterschool Opportunities
Support College Credit Initiatives
Support English Language Learners
Recruit Teachers
Prepare Teachers
Retain Teachers
Reward Teachers
Let me begin with the reforming of NCLB, about which the plan says
: Obama and Biden will reform NCLB, which starts by funding the law. Obama and Biden believe teachers should not be forced to spend the academic year preparing students to fill in bubbles on standardized tests. They 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 and Biden will also improve NCLB's accountability system so that we are supporting schools that need improvement, rather than punishing them.
Here's the good part of that - a recognition that the emphasis we are placing upon multiple choice tests is distorting education. Further, the idea of focusing on the individual students is important. What is not clear is how this will be accomplished. We are still hearing rhetoric about accountability that is potentially troubling in how it might be implemented, even in an administration which is led by a President who has talked about the importance of music and poetry and civic education. What is troubling is that none of these items are addressed anywhere in what appears on the website. I acknowledge that I may have some bias on this since I teach government and I majored in music. Still, I do not see anything that reflects the idea of educating the whole child, which I believe is important, and which is reflect in an initiative of the Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development (ASCD) which you can explore here.
I suspect that there will be strong support for the idea of closing down low-performing charter schools. I know, on the Hill, that Chairman Miller is NOT a fan of charter schools at all.
Teachers are, of course, a key to having successful schools and successful learning. Under Recruiting Teachers we read
Obama and Biden 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.
Ideas like this have been around for quite a while. In theory they increase the pool of teachers for high need areas and high need schools. The problem in both cases is that means they are being served at least in the beginning by novice teachers. he section entitled Retain Teachers does address this at least in part. Thus we read
To support our teachers, the Obama-Biden plan will expand mentoring programs that pair experienced teachers with new recruits. They will also provide incentives to give teachers paid common planning time so they can collaborate to share best practices.
This is not explicitly connected with things like recruiting and preparing. In Preparing Teachers we read
Obama and Biden will also create Teacher Residency Programs that will supply 30,000 exceptionally well-prepared recruits to high-need schools.
No matter how well prepared in content knowledge and pedagogy, we need to ensure that all new teachers, especially in high needs schools, have the support and assistance of experienced teachers. Thus these programs should probably be linked in some way with financial and professional encouragements to persuade experienced and successful teachers be willing to relocate to such high needs schools in order to provide that mentorship and support.
One way to accomplish the providing of such mentors might be to condition part of the stipend teachers receive for National Board Certification upon willingness to serve for several years in a high needs school.
I am not going to explore all of the items under K-12, as it would make this diary far too long.
The plan paints in broad strokes. Things like support of afterschool programs is a recognition of the need to provide out of school support for students whose families and/or communities lack the resources readily available for those in the middle class and above. Similarly, support for programs with a proven track record of assisting students, such as GEAR UP, TRIO and Upward Bound, is probably an effective way to encourage more students to consider and pursue post-secondary education - clearly this has to be combined with ways that make college more affordable and accessible.
I am not certain that I necessarily agree with the idea of massive expansion of Advanced Placement. Even in my partially elite high school I am seeing students attempt courses for which they are not prepared, and that has the potential to lower the level at which such classes can be taught. Further, there is a real problem of whether we have sufficient teachers qualified to teach courses at a college level. I note that the College Board decided to require submission of curricula for approval in order for courses to carry the AP label on a transcript, but even approval an appropriate curriculum does not guarantee that the course itself is taught at the appropriate level.
Further, I want to return again to those issues not addressed. While I agree there is a need for all students to have access to learning about science and math, there is a critical need for students to have quality social studies learning. This is not merely a question of learning basic civics, considering that in theory our students are preparing to participate in our civic processes. It is critical that we improve the quality of our economic education as well, as recent events have made clear. It is not merely that we had a lot of greedy executives whose actions were not being sufficiently regulated. It is also the large number of Americans whose understanding of economic activity, including the consequences of their own actions, that has helped magnify the size of the economic crisis we currently confront.
There are two other areas of education that I think are critical. One is environmental - and I realize that this will cause conflict and dissent, but it is critical. The other is on food and nutrition and health - spend time in schools with junk food and soda machines and even unhealthy and fattening and high cholesterol foods available through the school lunch program, and you will see a direct connection with the increases we are seeing in childhood obesity and diabetes.
I also think at a time when we recognize that we have major infrastructure needs that we include in those needs replacing and/or retrofitting existing school buildings, and while doing so, ensuring that they are environmentally friendly and energy efficient. Similarly, we could include in our national education program the idea of replacing school buses with more efficient vehicles.
Most of what I see in this plan is good, moving in the right direction. Obviously, what is contained in the plan is vastly superior to what we have seen under the direction of Rod Paige and Margaret Court Spellings at the Department of Education. Perhaps it is because I work in schools, and see the effect of policy decision, both those that impose, such as the current testing requirements of NCLB, and those that are ignored, such as the health of our students and of our school buildings.
I think the plan is a good start. But I want much more.
Read the plan. Let the Obama-Biden team know what you think. Perhaps share and discuss here if you are so inclined.
Peace.