If more Americans, both liberal and conservative, understood the direction that President Obama is already taking reform of K-12 education, the uproar would far exceed that for health care reform. As if Americans aren't already unhappy with federal government misdirection and intrusion...
The Obama administration's "Race to the Top" initiative is the first shot fired by the administration in reforming public K-12 schools across the nation... and a gargantuan shot it is, with $4.35 billion in initial funds allocated from the 2009 stimulus package.
"Race to the Top" was recently described in the Washington Post as "the crown jewel of the Obama administration's education reform agenda and the largest-ever discretionary federal grant program for public schools."
And per his 2011 budget plan, the President wants to add $1.35 billion more for "Race to the Top" grant funding for the 2010-2011 school year.
Briefly, "Race to the Top" pushes public school systems to improve by creating competition between states for school funding.
All "Race to the Top" funds are allocated via lucrative grants for which states must submit applications which describe future compliance with five education reform criteria... criteria which are both controversial and represent radical change. The five reforms mandated by "Race to the Top" are the model for permament changes the Obama administration wants to make to No Child Left Behind regulations.
Admittedly, since No Child Left Behind was passed in 2002, no legislator has come up a better way to help the lagging U.S. public school system. And certainly, something must be done as status quo is simply not acceptable.
But both conservative and liberals have heated objections to these five reform criteria that are the basis of the Obama education reform agenda.
And most firmly believe that public discussion must take place before the Executive branch continues along the path of unlegislated reform of all U.S. public schools.
A liberal argument against "Race to the Top" reform was set forth by Lisa Schiff, an education activist and parent in San Francisco, when she recently wrote in School Beat: The Race To Nowhere:
"RTTT is doing advance work for a tired, ineffective, punitive approach to education that has moved the country backwards, not forwards... Instead of asking states and schools to keep running in better measured circles, federal officials should be providing leadership and direction on the two most significant issues affecting education today - persistent poverty and insufficient funding in all states."
Republican Gov. Rick Perry's stance exemplifies the most conservative viewpoint when he recently spurned for Texas all "Race to the Top" funds and declared, "We would be foolish and irresponsible to place our children's future in the hands of unelected bureaucrats and special-interest groups thousands of miles away in Washington." Perry added in a newspaper editorial last week:
"... I must have touched a nerve when I announced that Texas won't be pursuing the strings-attached federal stimulus funds known as Race to the Top... The problem with RTTT funding is clear: Under the program's rules, Washington gives preference and dollars to states that agree to adopt national standards that haven't even been written yet..."Adding injury to insult, the price tag to change all our text books and instructional materials to comply with Washington's vision for public education would be about $3 billion."
A more centrist objection was recently expressed in USA Today by a think-tank analyst who stated that "Race to the Top suffers from the same over-prescriptiveness that plagued No Child Left Behind."
For your info, I've succinctly described, in one-page format, "Race to the Top" and its five education reform criteria at Profile of Race to the Top, Obama's 2010 Education Grant Initiative Take time to come up to speed, as these changes are already taking place with only the Executive branch quietly at the helm.
Once you've read this article, please share YOUR thoughts with the world at Readers Respond: Are "Race to the Top" Reforms Good or Bad for Public Education?. I'm quite interested to hear your viewpoint.
I guarantee, when this issue finally enters ideologue radar... when Keith Olbermann on the left and Sean Hannity and Sarah Palin on the right finally get whiff of this radical change agenda... the health care reform battle will seems like a small-time fist fight.
(Photo of President Obama and Education Secretary Arne Duncan with students at the Graham Road Elementary School January 19, 2010 in Falls Church, Virginia. Following his meeting with students, the President delivered remarks on his 'Race to the Top' program: Kristoffer Tripplaar/Getty Images)
Comments
What!? He wants to increase competition among state education initiatives??
He must be a Socialist!!
(…just kidding
NPR recently aired at least two informative spots focused on Race to the Top.
http://bit.ly/6mUHqq January 19 (30 minutes)
http://bit.ly/a4ZEqd February 2 (4 minutes)
“…Here’s what [Department of Education spokesman Arne]Duncan wants states to do with the money. They must shut down failing schools and open lots more privately-run charter schools, develop tougher tests tied to higher academic standards, collect better data with which to track and report students’ progress, make teacher education and training more rigorous and from now on, link teacher evaluation to students’ performance in test scores…”
It’s a bleeding shame that the impressive initiatives of this administration are so boring. Real progress always seems so mundane, doesn’t it? And the moment it gets attention, the first response of political opponents is to look for cracks and tear it to ribbons rather than offer constructive ways to make it work better.
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 always 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.