Obama to unveil education plan, no new legislation

[cal04]

Source: Associated Press

President Barack Obama is promoting tighter standards for teachers and a reduced dropout rate for students as part of an education plan that, at least for now, lacks any new legislative component.

Obama plans to call on Americans to educate themselves as well as their children during his appearance Tuesday at the U.S. Hispanic Chamber of Commerce. It is his first major speech devoted solely to education since taking office, but officials say he plans neither to detail any requirements to achieve his goals nor to change President George W. Bush's No Child Left Behind program.

Instead, a senior administration official said, Obama would speak to the importance of increasing the rigor of the standards in place and challenge states to adopt world-class standards rather than a specific standard. The official would speak only anonymously to preview the president's midmorning speech.

Schools are struggling to meet the existing requirements as millions of residents have lost their jobs and state and local governments have seen tax revenues tighten. Obama's economic stimulus plan includes a $5 billion incentive fund to reward states for, among other things, boosting the quality of standards and state tests — much-needed money for some states.

Read more: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090310/ap_on_go_pr_wh/obama_education

[glowing]

1. I don't think stressing out the staff is the way to go.. My sister and mother are

going to really be upset if testing takes out even more of their time. Already it detracts from lesson plans and the amt of paperwork they have to keep up with. I wonder sometimes why we have any teachers. Under paid, under appreciated, and expected to achieve when parents refuse to parent.

[mucifer]

2. I don't think President Obama has enough time to tackle education right now.

It's just reality.

[dynasaw]

3. Teachers facing layoffs

in L.A. area so how is this going to help ANY education plan??? :-(

[Igel]

4. I'm doing the teacher-ed thing now.

I hope that the practicums and student teaching actually teach me how to teach.

The coursework that has been valuable, so far, could be put into a fairly slow-paced 10-week course meeting 3 days a week. Lots of generalities, lots of PC dicta, lots of trendy vocabulary and views. Mostly it's to increase sympathy and empathy, have the right attitude, and, sigh, serve as a gate keeper to keep the "wrong kind" of people out of the profession.

Of course, I took some ed courses in the late '80s, so it's what I expected. Some of the dicta are the same. Some are completely different, but no less the One True Path.