Chris Dodd understands that while children are 25 percent of our population, they are 100 percent of our future. But if America is going to face the challenges of the 21st century with boldness and optimism, we will need the best-educated generation in the history of our country. Coming from a family of educators, Chris Dodd has dedicated his career to educating our children, starting the first Children’s Caucus in the Senate, focusing on early childhood development and Head Start, and working to improve college affordability. With proven, experienced leadership in the White House, Chris Dodd believes every child – regardless of economic circumstances – can receive a high-quality education from pre-k to college.
That is the summary of Dodd on education as listed on his main issues page. It is one of ten issues (alphabetically)listed, each with such a summary,and with a link to the detailed plan. In this diary I will explore Dodd's education plan.
I have previously explored those of Edwards, Obama, and Clinton. As I did in each of those, I will examine only what the candidate has chosen to put on his campaign website.
When you go to the link that is provided, you are greeted with quotes from notables who find the plan worthy. Among those from who blurbs are provided are Eli Broad, George R. Boggs, CEO and President, American Association of Community Colleges, aPhil Apruzzese, President, Connecticut Education Association,and Michael Casserly, Executive Director, Council of the Great City Schools. These are notables of varying importance. However, what caught my attention was the first blurb, from author and educational advocate Jonathan Kozol:
Chris Dodd, a lifelong warrior on behalf of children, has by far the best, most ambitious and enlightened education plan of the Democratic presidential candidates. I applaud him for his courage.
That praise is strong validation from someone who is greatly admired by many educators for his commitment to children, especially in inner-city schools.
Let us examine Dodd's plan in more detail, seeing if Kozol's strong words of praise are warranted.
The full plan is entitled Restoring America's Competitive Edge Strengthening America's Schools, From Preschool to College. It has four main components which are listed in bullet form near the beginning:
*The Dodd plan will reduce the cost of college student loans, raise the Pell Grant and provide an opportunity for free community college to every American.
*The Dodd plan will ensure that all Americans have access to a world-class public education.
*Chris Dodd will reform No Child Left Behind to realize the promise of strengthening and supporting every public school.
*The Dodd plan will ensure that every American graduates from high school college- and workforce-ready.
each of which is then explored in more detail, under a restated title.
Thus, the first section is entitled The Dodd Plan: Making College Affordable and Accessible and has the components of
Ending Corporate Welfare on Student Loans - Dodd proposes requiring banks and other providers to participate in an auction to bring down the cost for student loans and claims that this "will generate a minimum of $18 billion in government savings over four years. Savings will be used to provide additional financial aid for students and improve college-readiness."
Community College for All - if states maintain their funding level for community college education, the Federal government would match the state's provision for tuition up to 50% on a dollar for dollar basis. at the maximum level community college tuition would be free for students
Raising the Pell Grant (to have a built in escalator of $100/year)
Putting a Spotlight on the Skyrocketing Cost of Tuition in the belief that such disclore might cause institutions to be more responsible in when they raise tuition and allow families to plan better
Protecting Students from Unscrupulous Lenders We have seen recent scandals in the student loan industry. Dodd would take advantage of existing federal law like the Truth in Lending Act and extend it to cover all private student loans.
Postsecondary education is not my area of expertise. I offer one caution on what seems to be a good plan. The "spotlight" is likely to anger a number of colleges, who will feel it is unfair. Let me explain from my perspective as an admissions volunteer for my alma mater, Haverford College, who has been well briefed on this issue. Colleges have found that if their tuition is NOT high there is a tendency among applicant families to believe that the college is not of equal quality to those which are high. Many competitive colleges therefore list a high tuition, which is usually discounted through various forms of financial support for a majority of students. Colleges and universities have taken this approach because of the market realities of drawing quality students. If the intent includes better informing families of applicants, I would hope that any such spotlight would include not only the nominal tuition but also the average effective tuition, after financial aid is included.
My area of expertise focuses on 12 grade and below. Dodd entitles this part of his plan as The Dodd Plan: High Quality Schools that Prepare Every Child. It includes sections on
Universal Preschool which he hopes to achieve by " by creating a Pre-K Incentive Fund that matches state funds -- dollar for dollar-- in providing free, high-quality preschool to 4-year-olds from families with incomes below $50,000 and matches state dollars on a sliding scale thereafter." There are specifications of what standards states would have to mee to be eligible for the matching funds
Reforming No Child Left Behind which I will discuss in more detail below
Quality, Experienced Teachers In Every School Dodd would aim to double the number of national board certified teachers by having the government pay the costs for certification and provide a salary supplement of 10,000/year for teachers who would commit to serve in high-needs schools for at least five years
World-Class Standards Dodd is an advocate of voluntary national standards in math, science, and language arts, which if states adopted they would receive more money and more flexibility under NCLB. I will also discuss this below.
Extended Learning Dodd would provide funds for extended learning opportunities to "allow schools to spend more time on core academics, and provide additional time to provide a fuller curriculum and enrichment activities in areas such as the arts, technology and service learning." Awarding funds on a competitive basis to schools that agree to extend the school day by 30% (!!!) this is intended to "to add increased core academic instruction, more individualized instruction, enrichment programming for all students especially those at risk, and more planning and professional development time for teachers. Extended time will provide additional opportunities for student learning and benefit working parents."
Modernizing Schools, Reducing Class Size Dodd is prepared to provide $25 billion for construction of new schools and modernizing of existing schools. His goal is to " that every child goes to school in a state-of-the-art learning environment." Given a backlog of undone maintenance on existing buildings of over $100 billion, this might seem like an insufficient amount. However Dodd's intent for the Federal funds is to cover the cost of interest on bonds so that school systems merely need repay the principal on the funds borrowed to accomplish this task. It is an interesting approach, but I do not think it fully recognizes the inability of some jurisdictions to be able to raise sufficient revenue for such a task, even absent responsibility for the interest.
Keeping Kids on Track Have every 9th grader have an individual graduation plan, hire more counselors to assist students with staying on track (in some schools counselors have more than 500 students each to handle), and raising compulsory attendance laws in states to 18.
Virtual Learning Using the power of the internet to provide additional instructional capabilities to schools lacking sufficient resources. I note that this is one way of providing enrichment such as AP or cross-enrolled college courses to students in rural schools or smaller schools which do not have sufficient students able to benefit from such a class. Dodd would also provide funds to study effective use of such instructional technology.
Focusing Philanthropic Efforts Dodd points out that more than 6 billion of private philanthropic funds are given to public education every year. He wants to create a mechanism to ensure that such funds are applied in the most effective way. I would guess that this point is what drew the praise of Eli Broad, who along with Bill Gates is among the most generous donors of such philanthropic funds. I do worry that people like Broad and Gates would try to drive the agenda of any such approach. I also note that 6 billion is a tiny fraction of the total expenditure on public K-12 education. It can when focused become an important part of the financing of schools serving at-risk students.
Before I turn specifically to NCLB, I think it important to note that Dodd has an issue paper on revitalizating rural America entitled A Renewed American Heartland that is relevant to his educational plan. Under the heading Ending the Digital Divide Dodd offers the following:
Broadband Across Rural America. As President, Chris Dodd will launch a Broadband for Rural America initiative that will provide $2 billion in loan guarantees and below-market rate loans for the construction and improvement of broadband facilities and equipment in rural America. He will also require the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to make new spectrum available for wireless broadband services in rural areas. Chris Dodd knows that access to broadband brings new jobs.
Absent access to broadband, Dodd would be unable to provide the opportunities for virtual learning that are a part of his educational plan. And one notes in the plan for rural America that immediately after what I have just quoted, Dodd reiterates the points from his educational plan on virtual learning and providing community college opportunities for all.
Chris Dodd is a long-time member of HELP, the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions, which has the brief for the reauthorization of NCLB. Thus it is interesting to see the specifics he offers in that part of his education plan. Let me quote that entire paragraph:
Reforming No Child Left Behind: The Dodd plan will reform No Child Left Behind by easing burdens on students, teachers and administrators. Dodd will provide states with the flexibility to use multiple measures to assess student learning-- measures like student improvement over time. The Dodd plan will allow schools to target resources such as tutoring to the students who need them most. Dodd will introduce more common sense into the teacher certification process. And, instead of penalizing public schools that need help, Chris Dodd will invest in them.
There are some good points in this paragraph, for example the use of multiple measures, and measuring student growth over time (provided the later is done properly - I have previously written my concerns of how this can cause real problems if done June to June). Given how much there is in the plan already, perhaps I am being nit-picky in noting the lack of detail on something like "more common sense" on the issue of eacher certification, but given some of the moves to delegitimize traditional methods of teacher preparation (rather than improving them) on the part of some conservative critics of public schools I think this is one concern many opponents of NCLB would have. And I do not see in this section any explanation of what investing in instead of penalizing means. Will Dodd eliminate the 20% set-aside for Supplemental Educational Services from the budgets of "failing" Title I Schools? Is he willing to move off the totally unachievable 100% proficiency by 2014 target that means the vast majority of schools will be found wanting? And where is there any addressing of things like requiring English Language learners to be tested in English after only one year?
I also worry about his emphasis on national standards, even if voluntary and using carrots instead of sticks to gt the states to adopt them. We attempted to do such national standards several decades ago, and the attempt led to needless battles and demonization of some of those who participated in drafting standards. The rationale used to support ushc an approach based on international comparisons has repeatedly been shown to be false by scholars such as Iris Rotberg and Gerald Bracey.
And as a social studies teacher, I note the continued lack of addressing learning in history and related subjects, something lacking in the original legislation and still missing in most of the various proposals for rewriting the law.
So what is my overall impression of Dodd's educational proposals? I think they are fairly good. I have my concerns. It is not clear to me the that voices of classroom and school-based educators are fully included in the approach he is taking - that is a problem in most plans I have read. Like Edwards, he places education in a larger context clearly connected with his ideas for other issues: there is is consistency and a connectedness that is not as evident in the plan of Obama and seems almost totally lacking in what I read on Clinton's website, although in the latter case I again reiterate that what Clinton has up is clearly incomplete, and perhaps as more is presented we will be able to see a more complete vision.
Having served on the Hill as long as he has, Chris Dodd has a good understanding of what Federal mechanisms are possible, and how to address the relationship between Federal and state governments. I see some creative uses of existing mechanisms, an understanding of the limitations of Federal mandates, and some interesting approaches to leveraging limited resources.
Overall, I think it is a very good plan. I would not agree with the assessment of Kozol, that it is "by far the best, most ambitious and enlightened education plan of the Democratic presidential candidates." I admire Kozol, but I do not see this as superior to what Edwards has presented. I also see some gaps that Dodd does not address (summer learning opportunities for at-risk children) that are part of the plans of both Obama and Clinton.
Having now been through four "plans" by four candidates, I would place Dodd almost equal with Edwards in the quality of what he presents. I have some real concerns about his continued commitment to the current architecture of NCLB. I would rank both of them as somewhat more complete and detailed than what Obama has, and significantly more complete and thorough than what Clinton has so far.
This will be the last of this series of diaries. I do not see sufficient material from the other candidates to warrant spending time on such a diary, nor are they at this point competitive. Granted, Dodd is far from competitive, but the proprietor of dailykos has said that in the most recent poll he voted for Dodd, which perhaps warrants taking the time for this diary. And it is a very thorough plan from someone who has dealt in the Senate with the issue for several decades.
As always, I will read all comments. My evaluation is a personal one, and my ranking of the plans in no way represents a ranking of the candidates. It is neither an endorsement (of plan or candidate) nor a disqualification of willingness to support. I remain neutral in the presidential contest. All four of those whose plans I have examined would be acceptable candidates for president, at least for me.
Peace.