Education Reform 101 and What You Can Do

I've been struggling to write a concise recap on Education Reform.  The issues and solutions are complicated.  So, I am starting with the basics and building the conversation from there.

Providing quality education to poverty level and below children is my main concern when I think about Education Reform.  Is this a political issue or a philanthropic issue?  I think both.


THE FACTS

Luckily there is wide-spread bipartisan agreement that reform is needed (Associated Press). Here's why:

• In the highly publicized international PISA tests, USA 15 year-olds, out of 65 counties ranked 29th in math, 16th in Reading, and 21st in Science (source) 

• For every 50 kindergarten children who have difficulty learning to read, 44 of them will still have difficulty in third grade. (source)

• 4 out of 10 4th- and 8th-graders are proficient in math (source)

• On average, only 58 percent of students in America’s 50 largest cities make it to commencement  (source) 

THE PLAN

According to the White House Education Website Obama has outlined a detailed plan for K-12 that focuses on three areas:

#1- Modify unwieldy testing requirements, like No Child Left Behind requires, with goals that would foster critical thinking and innovative use of knowledge to prepare students for college and careers.


#2 - Put a new focus on teacher performance and the lowest performing schools.  This includes better support and incentives for teachers as well as removing ineffective teachers

#3 - Support high-quality charter schools that offer reform, innovation, and choices for parents.



THE DEBATE

 It goes as no surprise that these three focus areas aren't without their challenges.  These include:

#1 Modify unwieldy testing requirements:

• Democrats want a full overhaul of No Child Left Behind and insist it has to be done this year, before the 2012 campaign takes over the political agenda. Republicans, on the other hand, favor an incremental approach and insist they will not approve any new spending (Slate). 

• There is lack of agreement on how big of role federal government should play in day to day education (Washington Post and Bloomberg).

#2 - Put a new focus on teacher performance

• I think we are all aware of the hot topic of teacher tenure.  "There is a consensus among education reformers and some teachers'-union leaders that the rules need to be changed and the process streamlined. The contentious debate tends to be about how to modify what constitutes due process."  I highly recommend this article, from Time, for a fuller discussion.  Of course there are several articles a day published on this one topic alone.

#3 -   Support high-quality charter schools

• Are charter schools as effective as they are being hailed?  Read this article from the Washington Post for a fuller discussion on this topic.

WHAT YOU CAN DO


Stay informed: Articles on Education Reform are published about as frequently as kids are dropping out of high school.  I hope this post encourages you to read these articles and provides you a framework for understanding the issues.  You can also click here to see my prior postings on Education Reform and here for websites I like.

Contact your politicians:  Regardless of your party, there is a concern that Republicans will not make this a top priority.  It is important that you contact your political leaders and let them know you consider this an issue needing immediate action.  This can easily be done via the House of Representatives and U.S. Senate websites. This is my goal for the week.



Help your local school:  Check with your local schools to see how you can help.  Can you help gather needed supplies, assist in a classroom, or provide tutoring?

For more ideas check out these two websites:
Takepart.com
Waiting for Superman -Take Action