With Regents, new schedules, transcript grades, and Valentine’s Day around the corner, which high school student has really been paying attention to what President Obama has been doing these past several weeks? Well, these weeks are also when Obama has been making some very crucial decisions in education reform, particularly concerning former President Bush’s controversial No Child Left Behind Act. So let’s take a few moments to get updated.
Just to brush up on what we’re sure we already knew but maybe just forgot, the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act was established by Bush in 2001 in hopes of improving the national education system. It enacts the theories of standards-based education reform, which is based on the belief that setting high standards and measurable goals can improve individual outcomes in education. In fact, it is very comparable to our school’s SMART goals.
Like our SMART goals, the NCLB act has not been without some disapproval. Most of this stems from the way by which these set standards are measured- testing, school evaluations, and more testing. Schools are encouraged to focus only on reading and math test taking skills, as opposed to a more creative and individual approach to education. This approach may even be going back on the ultimate goal for the NCLB Act- to prepare students for careers. Knowing how to do better on a test without knowing the material itself cannot get a student very far in life.
“Some students just aren’t good test takers, but that doesn’t mean they’re not smart,” said junior Glenn Kugelmann. “A school with lower test grades doesn’t automatically mean it’s worse.”
That is why we believe it’s crucial to be shadowing Obama’s plans at this time. Though no concrete plans have been made yet, Obama has said he wants to keep the NCLB Act though with drastic alterations to certain parts. Rather than rating school solely on student test scores and placing all the administrations’ focus on testing, the president proposes to replace that system with a new accountability stem that incorporates many new factors.
“We want accountability reforms that factor in student growth, progress in closing achievement gaps, proficiency towards college and career-ready standards, high school graduation and college enrollment rates,” said Education Secretary Arne Duncan when announcing the proposed changes earlier this month.
As with many of his other reforms, Obama also wishes to invest billions of dollars in reforms for education in the States. As announced in his 2011 fiscal year spending plan, the president has allocated almost $50 billion towards education this year, which is $4 billion more than last year. Of that, a total of $1.3 billion of the additional money requested for the department would finance a third round of Race to the Top, a competitive school improvement grant program.
The program is essentially a competition between participating states and districts for the title of the ‘most reformed’ school and the extra money that comes with the title. New York is a participating state in the competition.
“If you set and enforce rigorous and challenging standards and assessments; if you put outstanding teachers at the front of the classroom; if you turn around failing schools – your state can win a Race to the Top grant that will not only help students out-compete workers around the world, but let them fulfill their God-given potential,” said Obama as he introduced the program in July 2009.
Competition never served anybody wrong. It makes our phone bills lower, health coverage better, and it may just make our education greater as our administration has some extra motivation for improvement.
Nothing is yet concrete in terms of Obama’s education reform. Yet, from what we’ve heard, things are certainly on the right track. Less emphasis on testing and greater motivation for improvement? Sounds just as sweet as that chocolate heart we’re all awaiting in a few days’ time.
