Obama's Plan Promises Better Education for Kids - Revising No Child Left Behind - Hmmmm...call me skeptical on this one!

March 15, 2010 by jenni

Sunday an AP article, "Obama's Plan Promises Better Education for Kids", was published in the Daily Oklahoman. It described briefly, President Obama's plans for dismantling the federal program, No Child Left Behind.

I have no idea what to think about our President's proposals for schools. Truly. As I sit in front of my computer this morning, Monday, March 15, 2010, the Democratic congress lead by none other than Pres. Barrack Obama is attempting TO FORCE an UNCONSTITUTIONAL HEALTH CARE MANDATE DOWN MY THROAT. Yet, according to this article, this same man - who many of even the more moderate conservatives are calling Socialist, if not Marxist in policy-making - appears as though he is trying to move the oneness for education back where it should be: THE STATES.

How does this happen?

Honestly, I am uncertain. While I realize how splendidly lopsided in reporting is the AP, our President's attempts to establish more Charter schools has been unprecedented in terms of his predecessors. In fact, this President now says he is attempting to move control over education back to the states by dismantling the horrifyingly unConstitutional, George Bush-created, "No Child Left Behind" plan!

AAAHHHH, but wait! Yet another article on our website, "Please, Please tell the National Governors Association and the Council of the Chief State School Officers that Oklahoma Does NOT WANT A NATIONAL CURRICULUM!", details how the President has put these two groups together to determine our NATIONAL CURRICULUM. Obviously then, states should be trusted to take care of every aspect of education but curricula?

Interestingly, the article below also describes how our President wishes to also put the oneness of educating students on teachers. Here's another problem. While I agree that there are some really bad apples in the teacher bunch, I feel that a majority of teachers out there are simply doing the best they can under an onslaught of state and federally mandated curricula and policies. Yes, the teacher should accept ownership of failing students to a degree, but what about the administrator's role in this fiasco?

We pay administrators in some cases simply OUTLANDISH salaries, yet these people seem to exist with a complete lack of responsibility for controlling their schools and districts. As a former teacher, I can say without equivocation that a school is only as good as its ADMINISTRATOR - NOT its teachers - because Administrators HIRE and FIRE TEACHERS!

If a teacher is not following up on their duties, the administrator is responsible for admonishing or instructing that teacher. If a teacher is teaching an poor or wrong curriculum, it is the administrators job to know!

I think the AFT's statement at the end of the article, "it just doesn’t make sense to have teachers — and teachers alone — bear the responsibility for school and student success”, is actually dead on here - and I am NO friend of national teachers unions.

Where is all the money made in education? Why do you have to go out and buy your kids school supplies every year? Why are teachers constantly complaining that they have little classroom resources? Why, when the State of Oklahoma budget for education is the highest line item in the ENTIRE STATE BUDGET at $1,166,673,273.01 and that number is simply APPROPRIATIONS! This figure does not include Federal Grants and other income such as interest on current system bank holdings. Teachers pay - for the whole state is approximately $18,000,000. WHERE IS ALL THIS MONEY GOING? I don't need to make the subtraction here for any reader to understand that these numbers are as far apart as Milan and Tulsa!

After using the Openbooks.gov website and looking under Oklahoma Education, you find that there is a whole lot of money unaccounted for and a whole lot of visible money going to, administration, travel and building expense to name a few.

While President Obama mulls over how he intends to 'dismantle' No Child Left Behind, let's us Oklahoman's decide that, no matter what, our state will take care of its own business in education, with the FIRST order of business to SHOW ME THE MONEY!

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Obama plan promises better education for kids
By The Associated Press | AP
Published: March 14, 2010

ATLANTA — President Barack Obama is promising parents and their kids that with his administration’s help they will have better teachers in improved schools so U.S. students can make up for academic ground lost against youngsters in other countries.

A plan to overhaul the 2002 education law championed by President George W. Bush was unveiled by the Obama administration Saturday in hopes of replacing a system that in the last decade has tagged more than a third of schools as failing and created a hodgepodge of sometimes weak academic standards among states.

"Unless we take action — unless we step up — there are countless children who will never realize their full talent and potential,” Obama said Saturday. "I don’t accept that future for them. And I don’t accept that future for the United States of America.”

In the proposed dismantling of the No Child Left Behind law, education officials would move away from punishing schools that don’t meet benchmarks and focus on rewarding schools for progress, particularly with poor and minority students. Obama intends to send a rewrite to Congress on Monday of the law.

The proposed changes call for states to adopt standards that ensure students are ready for college or a career rather than grade-level proficiency — the focus of the current law.

The blueprint would let states use subjects other than reading and mathematics as part of their measurements for meeting federal goals, pleasing many education groups that have said No Child Left Behind encouraged teachers not to focus on other important subjects.

The White House is proposing a $4 billion increase in federal education spending, most of which would go to increase the competition among states for grant money.

The blueprint goes before the House Education and Labor Committee on Wednesday as Obama pushes Congress to reauthorize the education law this year.

The American Federation of Teachers, which represents more than 1.4 million educators nationwide, issued a statement Saturday criticizing the plan, saying "it just doesn’t make sense to have teachers — and teachers alone — bear the responsibility for school and student success.”

Read more: http://newsok.com/obama-plan-promises-better-education-for-kids/article/...

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Please note that OK State Superintendent backs the revision plan.

Garrett Sees School-Plan Benefit

REVISING 'NO CHILD LEFT BEHIND'
Sandy Garrett: The state's school superintendent says there were many good things under the Bush-era education law, but some aspects "didn't help move children along." While she is concerned whether there will be enough money and support under the Obama administration's proposed overhaul of the law, she says giving states flexibility in setting standards will be helpful.

By JIM MYERS World Washington Bureau
Published: 3/16/2010 2:24 AM
Last Modified: 3/16/2010 4:06 AM

WASHINGTON — Oklahoma school Superintendent Sandy Garrett said Monday she was pleased the Obama administration's proposed overhaul of the landmark No Child Left Behind law would drop strict targets and give states more flexibility.

Garrett, however, expressed concern over the proposal's use of competitive grants and their impact on funding equity.

"Is there going to be enough money and support?'' she asked about the administration's effort to place a number of areas into competitions similar to the on-going Race to the Top.

Garrett commented following the administration's multiday roll-out of its proposed overhaul of the current Elementary and Secondary Education Act.

Signed in 2002 amid great fanfare by the Bush administration, that law titled No Child Left Behind laid out benchmarks for schools to meet.

It also drew its share of controversy through the years, specifically for what some saw as its emphasis on punishing schools, and it is blamed for actually lowering standards.

Although the administration referenced the No Child Left Behind moniker Monday in its official announcement of the overhaul, officials have made it clear the new reauthorization law will be named anything but that.

U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan said NCLB says that a fifth-grade teacher who helps a student reading at a second-grade level reach a fourth-grade level within one year has missed the goal.

"In fact, that teacher is an excellent teacher and should be
applauded,'' Duncan said.

He officially unveiled the administration's "A Blueprint for Reform'' that is designed to emphasize flexibility, resources and accountability.

One key priority in the proposal would ask states to set standards to prepare their students for college and the workplace and then create accountability systems that recognize students' growth in hitting those standards.

States still would focus on schools that persistently fail to close achievement gaps, but for those that succeed, states and local districts would have more flexibility to determine appropriate improvement.

"I think that is going to be good, particularly in urban areas,'' Garrett said.

Not only does that approach do away with the strict targets in current law, she said, it allows for growth models to be used.

"There were many good things that happened under No Child Left Behind,'' she said.

"But there were also some regressive things that didn't help move children along.''

Under the administration's proposal, Garrett said, math, reading and science will remain important measurements, but states also can bring other factors to the table.

Concerning the competitive grants being pushed by the administration, Garrett said she understands putting carrots out there for certain goals but wonders how states will end up when it comes to funding.

"The devil is in the details,'' she said.

"You need to see the rules.''

Garrett cited the ongoing Race-to-the-Top competition, which are funded through the federal American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 and rewards states that come up with innovative reforms to "accelerate" student achievement gains.

Oklahoma entered that competition but was not among the 16 finalists announced recently by Duncan.

The state is expected to compete in Phase 2, but Duncan has yet to release details for that round.

Read more from this Tulsa World article at http://www.tulsaworld.com/news/article.aspx?subjectid=19&articleid=20100...

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And yet another article:
Obama outlines federal role in education
Jim Brown - OneNewsNow - 3/16/2010 7:00:00

An education analyst believes President Obama's plan to reauthorize the Elementary and Secondary Education Act is another disturbing federal overreach.

President Obama has proposed an overhaul of President Bush's signature education law, No Child Left Behind. In a 41-page blueprint he sent to Congress, Obama says his proposal "is not only a plan to renovate a flawed law, but also an outline for a re-envisioned federal role in education."

The president's plan would replace an annual review of public schools known as "Adequate Yearly Progress" with a requirement that states verify that all students by 2020 are on a path toward "college and career readiness."

Lindsay Burke (Heritage)Lindsey Burke, an education policy analyst at The Heritage Foundation, thinks the President's plan would greatly expand the federal government's role in education.

"The 'blueprint,' as the administration is calling it, really does talk a lot about flexibility for states and schools," Burke notes. "But unfortunately when we dig down deeper into what the proposal's actually advocating, we see a lot of talk about embracing common standards, and those could really lead to national standards and national tests in the long run, which would greatly erode federalism and local control."

The policy analyst adds that 48 states have so far signed on to "common standards" which have been drafted by the National Governor's Association, but the federal government is starting to incentivize states to adopt these standards.
http://www.onenewsnow.com/Education/Default.aspx?id=938254