Barack Obama on Education

[Colobo]

A World class education
“I don't want to send another generation of American children to failing schools. I don't want that future for my daughters. I don't want that future for your sons. I do not want that future for America.”

— Barack Obama, Jefferson-Jackson Dinner, Des Moines, Iowa, November 10, 2007

At a Glance
Early Childhood Education
K-12
Recruit, Prepare, Retain, and Reward Teachers
Higher Education


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The Problem
No Child Left Behind Left the Money Behind: The goal of the law was the right one, but unfulfilled funding promises, inadequate implementation by the Education Department and shortcomings in the design of the law itself have limited its effectiveness and undercut its support. As a result, the law has failed to provide high-quality teachers in every classroom and failed to adequately support and pay those teachers.

Students Left Behind: Six million middle and high school students read significantly below their grade level. A full third of high school graduates do not immediately go on to college. American 15 year olds rank 28th out of 40 countries in mathematics and 19th out of 40 countries in science. Almost 30 percent of students in their first year of college are forced to take remedial science and math classes because they are not prepared.

High Dropout Rate: America has one of the highest dropout rates in the industrialized world. Only 70 percent of U.S. high school students graduate with a diploma. African American and Latino students are significantly less likely to graduate than white students.

Teacher Retention is a Problem: Thirty percent of new teachers leave within their first five years in the profession.

Soaring College Costs: College costs have grown nearly 40 percent in the past five years. The average graduate leaves college with over $19,000 in debt. And between 2001 and 2010, 2 million academically qualified students will not go to college because they cannot afford it. Finally, our complicated maze of tax credits and applications leaves too many students unaware of financial aid available to them.

Barack Obama's Plan
Early Childhood Education
Zero to Five Plan: Obama's comprehensive "Zero to Five" plan will provide critical support to young children and their parents. Unlike other early childhood education plans, Obama's plan places key emphasis at early care and education for infants, which is essential for children to be ready to enter kindergarten. Obama will create Early Learning Challenge Grants to promote state "zero to five" efforts and help states move toward voluntary, universal pre-school.
Expand Early Head Start and Head Start: Obama will quadruple Early Head Start, increase Head Start funding and improve quality for both.
Affordable, High-Quality Child Care: Obama will also provide affordable and high-quality child care to ease the burden on working families.
K-12
Reform No Child Left Behind: Obama will reform NCLB, which starts by funding the law. Obama believes teachers should not be forced to spend the academic year preparing students to fill in bubbles on standardized tests. He will improve the assessments used to track student progress to measure readiness for college and the workplace and improve student learning in a timely, individualized manner. Obama will also improve NCLB's accountability system so that we are supporting schools that need improvement, rather than punishing them.
Make Math and Science Education a National Priority: Obama will recruit math and science degree graduates to the teaching profession and will support efforts to help these teachers learn from professionals in the field. He will also work to ensure that all children have access to a strong science curriculum at all grade levels.
Address the Dropout Crisis: Obama will address the dropout crisis by passing his legislation to provide funding to school districts to invest in intervention strategies in middle school strategies such as personal academic plans, teaching teams, parent involvement, mentoring, intensive reading and math instruction, and extended learning time.
Expand High-Quality Afterschool Opportunities: Obama will double funding for the main federal support for afterschool programs, the 21st Century Learning Centers program, to serve one million more children.
Expand Summer Learning Opportunities: Obama's "STEP UP" plan addresses the achievement gap by supporting summer learning opportunities for disadvantaged children through partnerships between local schools and community organizations.
Support College Outreach Programs: Obama supports outreach programs like GEAR UP, TRIO and Upward Bound to encourage more young people from low-income families to consider and prepare for college.
Support English Language Learners: Obama supports transitional bilingual education and will help Limited English Proficient students get ahead by holding schools accountable for making sure these students complete school.
Recruit, Prepare, Retain, and Reward America's Teachers
Recruit Teachers: Obama will create new Teacher Service Scholarships that will cover four years of undergraduate or two years of graduate teacher education, including high-quality alternative programs for mid-career recruits in exchange for teaching for at least four years in a high-need field or location.
Prepare Teachers: Obama will require all schools of education to be accredited. He will also create a voluntary national performance assessment so we can be sure that every new educator is trained and ready to walk into the classroom and start teaching effectively. Obama will also create Teacher Residency Programs that will supply 30,000 exceptionally well-prepared recruits to high-need schools.
Retain Teachers: To support our teachers, Obama's plan will expand mentoring programs that pair experienced teachers with new recruits. He will also provide incentives to give teachers paid common planning time so they can collaborate to share best practices.
Reward Teachers: Obama will promote new and innovative ways to increase teacher pay that are developed with teachers, not imposed on them. Districts will be able to design programs that reward accomplished educators who serve as a mentor to new teachers with a salary increase. Districts can reward teachers who work in underserved places like rural areas and inner cities. And if teachers consistently excel in the classroom, that work can be valued and rewarded as well.
Higher Education
Create the American Opportunity Tax Credit: Obama will make college affordable for all Americans by creating a new American Opportunity Tax Credit. This universal and fully refundable credit will ensure that the first $4,000 of a college education is completely free for most Americans, and will cover two-thirds the cost of tuition at the average public college or university and make community college tuition completely free for most students. Obama will also ensure that the tax credit is available to families at the time of enrollment by using prior year's tax data to deliver the credit when tuition is due.
Simplify the Application Process for Financial Aid: Obama will streamline the financial aid process by eliminating the current federal financial aid application and enabling families to apply simply by checking a box on their tax form, authorizing their tax information to be used, and eliminating the need for a separate application.
Barack Obama's Record
Record of Advocacy: Obama has been a leader on educational issues throughout his career. In the Illinois State Senate, Obama was a leader on early childhood education, helping create the state's Early Learning Council. In the U.S. Senate, Obama has been a leader in working to make college more affordable. His very first bill sought to increase the maximum Pell Grant award to $5,100. As a member of the Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions committee, Obama helped pass legislation to achieve that goal in the recent improvements to the Higher Education Act. Obama has also introduced legislation to create Teacher Residency Programs and to increase federal support for summer learning opportunities.

For More Information about Barack's Plan
Read the Pre-K to 12 Plan
Read the College Affordability Plan
Speech on Pre-K to 12 Education
Speech on College Affordability

http://www.barackobama.com/issues/education/

[Critters2]

1. Do his children attend public schools? Did he? nt

[NC_Nurse]

2. What's his stance on the Evolution/ID debate?

He seems to be tight with some fundies...

[Critters2]

3. I belong to the same denomination as him, and we are NOT creationists. nt

[Colobo]

4. No Democrat running is a creationist.

[NC_Nurse]

5. Do you think he will stand up for only teaching

evolution in biology? Or throw a bone to the creationists like Bush did? Ya know, all sides should be debated
in science class...just curious.

[Critters2]

6. All I can say is that our denomination is completely opposed to creationism.

We have no problem with evolution. I trust that will be reflected in his policies.

[MadHound]

7. Reforming NCLB isn't enough, it needs to be removed

It is a horrible law, designed to do nothing more than turn our public school system into a private one, and no amount of reform can fix that.

Oh, and as far as hiring people with math and science degrees, that's all well and good, but you also need an education degree to teach you how to teach. Otherwise what is the good of having an Einstein in the classroom if they can't effectively impart the material to their students? Most teacher's ed programs, especially for specific secondary level topics like math and science already require the pre-service teacher to acquire either a degree, or at least a minor, in the subject that they're teaching in addition to an education degree. Furthermore most, if not all, states require that a teacher acquire a master's in their specific field, math, science, etc. etc. Oh, and teacher's get to pay for this ongoing education out of their own pocket, which is pretty empty, a teacher's salary being what it is( or isn't depending on how you look at it). So perhaps Obama should start mentioning something about increasing the base pay of teachers, not just the frilly extra pay or bullshit merit pay.

Sorry, but Obama has a long way to go to convince me on this one. Then again, almost all of the candidates are in the same boat.

[sandnsea]

11. Edwards and Clinton both support reforming it n/t

[MadHound]

14. Yeah, so, I don't agree with them on this issue either

This thread was about Obama's stance on NCLB and all things educational so I don't know why you're bringing up Clinton and Edwards. Perhaps you're under the mistaken impression that I'm one of their partisans, I'm not. I'm a Kucinich partisan, because as virtually every other issue, Dennis is on the right side of this one, ie he wants to end it.

[sandnsea]

15. And have no education strategy?

:shrug:

What would he put in its place? How much of his replacement plan would look just like NCLB?

That's the problem with Dennis. Most of the time when you dig down into his plans, they aren't much different than the plan he's railing against.

[MadHound]

16. You're under the assumption that NCLB is an "education strategy," whatever that is.

It isn't. NCLB is nothing more or less than an attempt to do away with our public school system and replace it with a privatized one.

What did we have before NCLB? Oh, yeah, a public school system that was more concerned about instructing our students rather than turning them into little autonomic test takers, which is what we've gotten with NCLB. Which would you rather have, a generation that actually knows a few things, or one that is talented at taking standardized tests?

Oh, and I would suggest that you go check out Kucinich's website and study his positions and plans. If you honestly think that he is similar to the other candidates, it can only mean that you really haven't gone and looked.

[Mark Twain Girl]

8. Okay, I'll wade in -- about the English Language Learners part

"Support English Language Learners: Obama supports transitional bilingual education and will help Limited English Proficient students get ahead by holding schools accountable for making sure these students complete school."

In the "more info" PDF is this (the "Read the Pre-K to 12 Plan" at the bottom of the page):

"Support English Language Learners: Barack Obama supports transitional bilingual education and will help Limited English Proficient students get ahead by supporting and funding English
Language Learner (ELL) classes. He will support development of appropriate assessments for ELL students, monitor the progress of students learning English and hold schools accountable for
making sure these students complete school."

This would have a potentially huge impact on my institution. So this is a federal program of assessments? What does "holding schools accountable" mean?

Not a snippy question, I promise. An honest one. I'm not trying to say another candidate's position is better, I'm just trying to get a sense of what an Obama administration might mean for public education.

Oh, and I gotta ask about this one, because a have a friend who needs this BADLY: "Affordable, High-Quality Child Care: Obama will also provide affordable and high-quality child care to ease the burden on working families." She can't find any child care she can afford and she's in pure panic mode... and high-quality, her options are not. But I can't find any more details about this on the site.

[sandnsea]

12. pertinent remarks

The first is to the NEA meeting, the second to the National Women's Law Center. I think the way problems are framed is what leads us to the correct solutions.

http://www.barackobama.com/2007/07/05/remarks_of_senator_barack_obam_18.php

http://obama.senate.gov/speech/051110-remarks_of_sena_1/index.php

[Nailzberg]

9. Kicking

:kick:

[lumberjack_jeff]

10. Not a word about special ed. Unfortunate.

The federal government has failed to uphold it's promise of funding in support of the federal law guaranteeing an education to everyone.

On edit:
I did find this:
Support Americans with Autism. More than one million Americans have autism, a complex neurobiological condition that has a range of impacts on thinking, feeling, language, and the ability to relate to others. As diagnostic criteria broaden and awareness increases, more cases of autism have been recognized across the country. Barack Obama believes that we can do more to help autistic Americans and their families understand and live with autism. He has been a strong supporter of more than $1 billion in federal funding for autism research on the root causes and treatments, and he believes that we should increase funding for the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act to truly ensure that no child is left behind.

More than anything, autism remains a profound mystery with a broad spectrum of effects on autistic individuals, their families, loved ones, the community, and education and health care systems. Obama believes that the government and our communities should work together to provide a helping hand to autistic individuals and their families.

Not much specificity, but it's a start.

[sandnsea]

13. Remarks on education

We also know that right now, we need the best teachers in the most challenging classrooms - those underserved, underachieving schools in parts of rural and urban America where we need to make "these kids" "our kids" again.

So let's make a promise right now that if you're a teacher or a principal doing the hard work of educating our children, we will reward that work with the salary increase that you deserve. If you're willing to teach in a high-need subject like math or science or special education, we'll pay you even more.

I commend the work you've done in Minnesota with the Governor there to craft an innovative pay system that not only values your performance in the classroom, but the performance of your students as well. You helped craft it and you and your students benefit from it.

One last point. There's a lot of talk out there about accountability in education. I share that concern, and I've called for more accountability in our schools myself. But I also believe that before we can hold our teachers accountable for the results our schools need, we have to hold ourselves accountable for giving teachers the support that they need. That's where accountability starts with a government that puts its money where its mouth is, and parents and community members who instill the value of education in their students. I am tired of hearing teachers blamed for our collective failures.

http://www.barackobama.com/2007/07/05/remarks_of_senator_barack_obam_18.php