In a recent Washington Post article, education leaders from around the country spoke out about current education reform and their part in the strategy.
“All of us have taken steps to move our students forward, and the Obama administration's Race to the Top program has been the catalyst for more reforms than we have seen in decades. But those reforms are still outpaced and outsized by the crisis in public education.
Fortunately, the public, and our leaders in government, are finally paying attention. The "Waiting for 'Superman' " documentary, the defeat of D.C. Mayor Adrian Fenty, Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg's $100 million gift to Newark's public schools, and a tidal wave of media attention have helped spark a national debate and presented us with an extraordinary opportunity.”
The article goes on to say “So, where do we start? With the basics. As President Obama has emphasized, the single most important factor determining whether students succeed in school is not the color of their skin or their ZIP code or even their parents' income -- it is the quality of their teacher.
Yet, for too long, we have let teacher hiring and retention be determined by archaic rules involving seniority and academic credentials. The widespread policy of "last in, first out" (the teacher with the least seniority is the first to go when cuts have to be made) makes it harder to hold on to new, enthusiastic educators and ignores the one thing that should matter most: performance.”
The education reps in this post speak more of the whole rule than the exception when it comes to teachers’ outlook for the future of education. Most teachers and administrators want the best for their students and understand the import of their jobs, but that’s not to say that all teachers feel the burden of the state of today’s education. To some it’s a day job and their responsibility goes to the lesson plan and the end of the day.
We need to offer another option to parents of students in the dropout factory schools. Unfortunately many districts don’t have enough high performing schools to provide each student with an opportunity to a high quality education. Some states support inter-district school choice options for families in lower performing school districts. This suggestion has its own issues however. In many states, property taxes fund education and districts funding is tightly tied to local votes for increases in property taxes.
The real answer is for all school districts to have enough high performing schools to accommodate all of their students. We need to provide schools with enough funding to provide a quality education to our children and hold schools accountable for the education they provide.
Posted By: Paul Adams
Monday, October 25th 2010 at 5:56PM
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