Yes We Can! Long Island 2012In the opening of his speech today at the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, the President met critics head on who complain of too much change, too fast:
Every so often, throughout our history, a generation of Americans bears the responsibility of seeing this country through difficult times and protecting the dream of its founding for posterity. This is a responsibility that has fallen to our generation. Meeting it will require steering our nation’s economy through a crisis unlike any we have seen in our time. In the short-term, that means jumpstarting job creation, re-starting lending, and restoring confidence in our markets and our financial system. But it also means taking steps that not only advance our recovery, but lay the foundation for lasting, shared prosperity.
I know there are some who believe we can only handle one challenge at a time. They forget that Lincoln helped lay down the transcontinental railroad, passed the Homestead Act, and created the National Academy of Sciences in the midst of Civil War. Likewise, President Roosevelt didn’t have the luxury of choosing between ending a depression and fighting a war. President Kennedy didn’t have the luxury of choosing between civil rights and sending us to the moon. And we don’t have the luxury of choosing between getting our economy moving now and rebuilding it over the long term.
The President explained why, on education in particular, we cannot afford to wait, noting that even within a few years America will see a different reality: “By 2016, four out of every ten new jobs will require at least some advanced education or training.”
The President pledged to end pointless partisan finger-pointing, and to ensure that new investments also came with new reforms. He pointed to deep commitments both in the recovery act and his budget proposal, while also telling the audience that “It is time to start rewarding good teachers and stop making excuses for bad ones.”
Merit pay and charter schools are the third rail issues of the education debate at this time. That will likely change when Congress gets involved and NCLB starts to be redone (new name, increased funding, retain some facets, lose others).
Give President Obama credit for stirring up interest here. I am not a knee-jerk educator who rules out neither merit pay nor charter schools (vouchers–no!). We will have to look at things with an open mind. The devil is ultimately in the details. There are, for example, teacher union run charter schools. Obama does not talk solely about opening charter schools, but also closing them if they deserve it.
Bottom line, schools are about kids first, then teachers. We are there for them; not the other way around. Public money going to charter schools is still going to public kids.
Many of the arguments (who is going to rate teachers?) are legitimate. But there are answers. There are working models. Everybody gets rated. The issue is not to do it as NCLB does with kids–pass/fail–punish/reward. Rather to find reason to reward because we are truly making progress.
The recent (finally) public discussion of national standards and an array of student (and teacher) assessments is encouraging. I think that is what Obama does best as a community organizer-get people thinking and innovative- and the community must include all stakeholders, all willing to confront the hard issues and make concessions if we are to get beyond a three-decade status quo focusing on the same issues, resources, questions and answers.
I think that most of us believe that our Educational system in this COuntry could usae an overhaul. However, going to merit pay , vouchers and charter schools is not the way to do this. Public education is one of the most important institutions we have in the US. Public education gives everyone the right to go to school. When you allow people ot use vouchers and/or to send their children to charter schools the money that would have gone into public education becomes depleted. The public schools then are left with dwindling resources from hiring teachers to supporting support services. Another phenomena of this is that student population in the public schools can be left with the neediest of students as more and more parents who can aford to take advantage of vouchers or charter schools do so. Remember that a voucher does not necessarily pay for the entire private school choice. Also, those charter schools and private schools have the privelage of sending students who are disruptive, or not able to keep up with the curriculum, – back to the public school they would have gone to.
Deciding which teacher gets more money based on what, that the Principal likes that person better than another Or that teacher A in a class of highly motivated, high functioning students , parents who are very involved in their children’s learning and who do well on the standardized tests,will get merit pay while teacher B in that same school who has a class of students with learning problems, uninvolved parents and behavior issues gets no merit pay because these students do not perform well on standardized tests.
I see an overhaul of the teacher education schools where future teachers have to go through an intensive program and must complete at least two years of participating and student teaching in schools. Now, most of our future teachers student teach for only six months and that is the culmination of thier certification program. I also see our schools instituting an internship program for new teachers so that they would have a more seasoned teacher to work with and none if perhaps only one out of classroom responsibility, i.e. lunch duty. Money is needed for this and if it is funneled away from the public schools because it is being given to private schools and charter schools through vouchers or Federal grants then a change cannot occur.