Obama to deliver major education reform address

[jefferson_dem]

Obama to deliver major education reform address
By the CNN Wire Staff
July 29, 2010 7:17 a.m. EDT

Washington (CNN) -- President Obama will deliver a major education reform speech at the National Urban League's 100th Anniversary Convention in Washington Thursday morning.

The president will discuss how his signature Race to the Top program and other initiatives are driving education reform across the country and focusing the nation on the goal of preparing students for college and careers, a statement from White House said.

"Now, I know some argue that during a recession, we should focus solely on economic issues," Obama says in prepared remarks released by the White House ahead of the address. "But education is an economic issue -- if not the economic issue of our time."

The Obama education plan champions better teacher pay, but also asks for tangible results.

"I want teachers to have higher salaries. I want them to have more support. I want them to be trained like the professionals they are -- with rigorous residencies like the ones doctors go through," Obama says. "All I'm asking in return -- as a president, and as a parent -- is a measure of accountability.

"Surely we can agree that even as we applaud teachers for their hard work, we need to make sure they're delivering results in the classroom. If they're not, let's work with them to help them be more effective. And if that fails, let's find the right teacher for that classroom."

<SNIP>

http://www.cnn.com/2010/POLITICS/07/29/education.speech/?hpt=T2

[jefferson_dem]

1. Excerpts from Remarks of President Barack Obama on Education

Excerpts from Remarks of President Barack Obama

National Urban League Centennial

July 29, 2010

Washington, DC


Now, I know some argue that during a recession, we should focus solely on economic issues. But education is an economic issue - if not the economic issue of our time. It's an economic issue when the unemployment rate for folks who've never gone to college is almost double what it is for those who have. It's an economic issue when eight in ten new jobs will require workforce training or a higher education by the end of this decade. It's an economic issue when we know countries that out-educate us today will out-compete us tomorrow.


---


... But I know there's also been some controversy about the initiative . Part of it, I believe, reflects a general resistance to change; a comfort with the status quo. But there have also been criticisms, including from some folks in the civil rights community, about particular elements of Race to the Top. And I'd like to address some of those today.


---


So, I want teachers to have higher salaries. I want them to have more support. I want them to be trained like the professionals they are - with rigorous residencies like the ones doctors go through. I want to give them career ladders so they have opportunities to advance, and earn real financial security. I want them to have a fulfilling and supportive workplace environment, and the resources - from basic supplies to reasonable class sizes - to help them succeed. Instead of a culture where we're always idolizing sports stars or celebrities, I want us to build a culture where we idolize the people who shape our children's future.


All I'm asking in return - as a president, and as a parent - is a measure of accountability. Surely we can agree that even as we applaud teachers for their hard work, we need to make sure they're delivering results in the classroom. If they're not, let's work with them to help them be more effective. And if that fails, let's find the right teacher for that classroom. As Arne says, our kids get only one chance at an education, and we need to get it right.


---


So, for anyone who wants to use Race to the Top to blame or punish teachers - you're missing the point. Our goal isn't to fire or admonish teachers. Our goal is accountability. It's to provide teachers with the support they need to be as effective as they can be. It's to create a better environment for teachers and students alike.


---


Still, sometimes a school's problems run so deep that better assessments, higher standards, and a more challenging curriculum aren't enough. If a school isn't producing graduates with even the most basic skills - year after year after year - something needs to be done differently. If we want success for our country, we can't accept failure in our schools.


That's why we're challenging states to turn around our 5,000 worst schools - so many of which are in minority communities. And we're investing over $4 billion to help them do it - as much as we're investing in Race to the Top. Unlike No Child Left Behind, this isn't about labeling a troubled school a failure one day, and throwing up our hands the next. It's about investing in that school's future, recruiting the whole community to help turn it around, and identifying some viable options for how to move forward.


---


I know life is tough for a lot of young people in this country, especially in some of the places the Urban League is making such a difference. At certain points in our lives, young black men and women may feel the sting of discrimination. They may feel trapped in a community where drugs, violence, and unemployment are pervasive, where they are forced to wrestle with things no child should have to face. There are all kinds of reasons for our children to say, "No, I can't." But it's our job to say to them, "Yes, you can." Yes, you can overcome. Yes, you can persevere. Yes, you can make of your lives what you will.


I know they can, because I know the character of America's young people - young men and women who volunteered on my campaign; who ask me questions in town halls; who write me letters about their trials and aspirations.


###

http://blogs.suntimes.com/sweet/2010/07/obama_national_urban_league_sp.html

[Dinger]

9. Is The Phrase "Charter Schools" In There Anywhere? (nt)

[jefferson_dem]

18. You should track down a video or transcipt after and find out for yourself.

It's a comprehensive presentation on education reform and social progress/change.

Oh...If the mere mention of "Charter Schools" is your litmus test ... he would have failed it.

[Dinger]

22. I Will try To Find One, So I Have The Whole Thing

For some reason, I want to hear him actually say the words, and anything he has to say related to it. I hope I can find the video. I can always find a transcript, but video will help me better understand what he really thinks about an issue. Wish me luck.

[Dawgs]

2. Sorry, but sounds like a lot of excuses -- not very convincing Mr. President.

Doesn't sound much different that the Bush plan.

[zipplewrath]

3. He glosses over the core point

The whole "teacher accountability" issue is about HOW not IF. No one disputes that teachers should be accountable. The question is how that accountability is established.

[Nicholas D Wolfwood]

6. I'd definitely argue that the AFT and NEA question the "if" part too.

What they propose is nothing more than what is current - a pro forma evaluation where all teachers get labeled "satisfactory".

[zipplewrath]

8. Somewhere in between

Teachers do get unsatsifactory ratings, but they probably aren't as common as they should be. The flip side is that Arne and the White House supported the "fire 'em all" effort recently in Rhode Island which is equally absurd. There are efforts out there, being done with union approval, to have more effective teacher evaluations. It isn't clear why Obama isn't more supportive of those, and less hostile to the unions.

[Nicholas D Wolfwood]

12. Having better tracking of teacher performance would prevent the "fire em all" approach.

Because you could clearly identify the teachers that are failing to live up to their responsibility and not have throw out the baby with the bath water. Both the AFT and the NEA are working to prevent that system from happening.

[zipplewrath]

13. Not entirely

As I say, there are more aggressive evaluation programs going on out here, and they have union support. They just don't rely as much on testing.

[Dinger]

10. Yes (nt)

[zabet]

4. From the AP.....

"The president blames some of the criticism of his plan on teachers and others resistant to change."

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100729/ap_on_go_pr_wh/us_obama_education

[vi5]

5. The problem is....

For every kid who comes from a bad home situation, either personal, emotional, or economic, who wants to do well but is fighting against bad circumstances and could use the extra help and the extra attention, you have 10-15 kids who come from situations with no issues or problems, who just don't feel like working or putting in the time for their studies, and whose parents are perfectly willing and able to afford to make a stink and raise a fuss and get administrators to pressure teachers into giving their kids good grades for frivolous or ridiculous reasons.

Which is why "accountability" doesn't work unless you address core problems like that.

[Nicholas D Wolfwood]

7. That's BS.

There'd be no point to having teachers if every kid were self-motivated to learn. They'd just do it on their own. What you have put forward is a convenient excuse to postpone accountability indefinitely.

[YvonneCa]

26. Unfortunately, it's not BS, It's often quite...

true. Are you saying that the ONLY purpose of a teacher IS motivation?

[Nicholas D Wolfwood]

27. No.

I'm saying it's a total cop out to suggest that until students are better motivated that teachers can't be held responsible for anything that happens in their classrooms.

[YvonneCa]

31. Good...because we teachers also...

...should TEACH. :7

As to your comment, I agree. It's just that this is a 'straw man' argument. What we need to really debate is ...How do we do that FAIRLY?

Until that happens, teachers will be the 'collateral damage' in the education reform debate. That can not happen, IMHO. That is not only bad for teachers, it is bad for their students, bad for successful comprehensive education reform, bad for President Obama and bad for the Democratic Party.

[Nicholas D Wolfwood]

32. And that's the problem.

The teacher unions are refusing to incorporate any form of objective methods into teacher evaluations. They want pro forma evaluations that do little more than rubber stamp teachers as "satisfactory" - which is precisely what we currently have nearly everywhere. That is not a fair evaluation whatsoever as far as the students are concerned.

I believe strongly that subjective means combined with using the improved student assessments that Obama is pushing for along with longitudinal data systems that track specific student achievement is a perfectly fair way to evaluate teachers.

I completely agree that the current tests are the wrong tests to evaluate teachers on (unless you live in Massachusetts or Minnesota, that is) because they don't adequately assess whether or not kids are learning. And I completely agree that we need to track progress of individual kids from one year to the next using better data systems than what currently exists in many states because we should be measuring whether or not a teacher is adding value to a kid's education, not whether or not this year's kids are better or worse than the entirely different set of kids that teacher had in prior years. And I completely agree that it would be unfair to incorporate student assessments into teacher evaluations until those things happen, but that's exactly what Obama is pushing to have happen. The fact of the matter is that even this proposal is being met with severe resistance, and that's just utterly unacceptable.

[YvonneCa]

33. Thank you for the civil...

...response. (There's another thread on this that is spinning out of control :7 ).

My thoughts on your words:

The teacher unions are refusing to incorporate any form of objective methods into teacher evaluations. They want pro forma evaluations that do little more than rubber stamp teachers as "satisfactory" - which is precisely what we currently have nearly everywhere. That is not a fair evaluation whatsoever as far as the students are concerned.

This is one reason I believe teachers...not just unions...need to be heard. I DO think unions have an important role in protecting teachers from being the 'collateral damage' of education reform. I imagine that is frustrating to all, but I am actually quite hopeful that there will be a good outcome from this debate.

I believe strongly that subjective means combined with using the improved student assessments that Obama is pushing for along with longitudinal data systems that track specific student achievement is a perfectly fair way to evaluate teachers.

It can be. It isn't fair now. What worries me is that unfair systems are currently being used and are hurting GOOD teachers. I am not the only person who has seen/experienced this.



I completely agree that the current tests are the wrong tests to evaluate teachers on (unless you live in Massachusetts or Minnesota, that is) because they don't adequately assess whether or not kids are learning. And I completely agree that we need to track progress of individual kids from one year to the next using better data systems than what currently exists in many states because we should be measuring whether or not a teacher is adding value to a kid's education, not whether or not this year's kids are better or worse than the entirely different set of kids that teacher had in prior years.

Thank you for this. THIS tells me teachers are finally getting through. THIS gives me hope. ;)

And I completely agree that it would be unfair to incorporate student assessments into teacher evaluations until those things happen, but that's exactly what Obama is pushing to have happen.

MAKE THAT CASE,Nick. :) This is why I still support President Obama.

The fact of the matter is that even this proposal is being met with severe resistance, and that's just utterly unacceptable.

But isn't that the fun of governing? :7 Both sides pushing each other and doing their best to find the common ground? THAT's where the BEST educational system in the WORLD will come from. I will join you to celebrate that. :patriot:

[jefferson_dem]

11. Of course, we have to address the much broader social-economic context

... in which education is delivered to children. I believe this administration is committed to doing that. Specific policy initiatives aside, Obama has spoken out several times about how parents need to serve as positive role models and encourage a positive "learning environment" at home. Google it.

It never ceases to amaze me how some are opposed to accountability in the one place that it's most important - education. And how they excuse shitty schools and underperforming teachers.

[YvonneCa]

28. I do not doubt Obama's intent...

...to address education comprehensively. I just want him to succeed, and not leave a lot of collateral damage behind (good teachers) in the process.

It does get tiring to...every time one stands up for the good teachers in low-performing schools...be constantly told we are trying to avoid change and accountability. UNTRUE.

[jefferson_dem]

30. I totally appreciate your point.

As an educator... :thumbsup:

[frazzled]

17. I don't think your analysis applies to the bottom 5000 schools

And this is where the main part of the plan the president discussed lies. Almost all of the kids in this bottom 5% of schools come from bad home and economic situations.

I know what you're talking about. For high school (we moved to a different state) my son went to a public school in a very nice town with a higher than average socio-economic and very higher than average educational demographic. Yet still there were plenty of those screw-up kids who didn't do their work .... This is a problem for our culture and for families.

The extreme turnaround plans that are the controversial core of Race to the Top are for schools in south central LA, the South Side of Chicago, that school in Rhode Island in a very impoverished district. Here, the status quo won't do, and parents probably aren't often capable of providing the impetus. I don't know if these drastic restructurings will solve anything. But I do know that what we're talking about is whole schools and communities in crisis. I'm willing to listen to new ideas for improving the situation.

I met a young man the other day. He is coordinating the volunteers for a back-to-school picnic to be held at the end of the summer in the neighboring ward to us--extremely poor and almost exclusively African American. I am coordinating volunteers from our neighborhood association to help out with this annual event, where school supplies are handed out to the kids. This bright young black man started to pour out to me statistics about the public schools in this city--"we are 49th in the country, it's terrible, something has to be done." I want to talk to him more about what HE--a product of these schools and apparently of these challenged neighborhoods--sees as the way out. I'm ready to listen to anyone.

[Larkspur]

14. How about holding parents accountable if they don't prep their kids for school?

My mother was the daughter of Lithuanian peasant immigrants and they instilled in her the importance of education. My mother went to a public school and she got a very good education. She eventually became a teacher and she would tell me often that the kids who fail in school are the ones who have either no or very little support from their parents. It's the parent's duty to prepare their kids for school and to instill in them the importance of education.

[vaberella]

21. And in the age we're living in that's almost bloody impossible.

Why? What you would be doing is penalizing low-income families, especially those in of minority background and single parent homes. Many parents, especially in New York don't have the luxury to spend a good amount of time with their children. They send the kids to babysitting who don't push that sort of mentality since they're paid to watch the kid not teach the kid. Many of them are working 2 sometimes more jobs in order to provide for their children. It's hard. I worked in a part of Astoria in Queens----mainly Hispanic community but with a strong small Black community. There was a little boy who always came to school in the same clothing and barely bathed. When I touched on this problem with the mother I came to find out that she's not his mother but his aunt and that she was the mother (single mother---no dad's in the picture for either boy) of the other boy who was close to him in age and that was it (the other boy was 2 years older), she was working 3 jobs to make ends meet because she's feeding three people and she has medical bills because the little boy that's her nephew----his mother was a drug addict and left her bills to combat.

So this holding parents accountable, I'd like to know in what way? Not when living in the United States is so bloody expensive. There would need to be something in place in order not to hurt the people who are in placed in a horrible position not of their own making.

[Larkspur]

34. Mandatory parental education

I believe that every parent and prospective parent regardless of income level, should be required to attend a parental education course so they learn how to raise their kids without abusing them.

I don't think it's fair to hold teacher's accountable when the parents aren't held accountable.

[Clio the Leo]

15. Those of you who are poo pooing this are missing a barn-burner...

... ah well .... your loss.

He's already called out Fox over the Sherrod mess.

[jefferson_dem]

16. That was sheer, pointed eloquence on such a critical issue...

Thanks Mr. President. :patriot:

[impik]

19. It was magnificently brilliant. People here are so deaf

They might hear him, but they never listen. Never.

[impik]

20. Yep. As fanatics as the far right. Not even listening.

[LittleBlue]

23. When are we going to hold banks accountable?

They share a major responsibility for this recession. So, when do we begin?

[vaberella]

24. Were you absent from the US when financial reform was passed? n/t

[mopinko]

25. a pile of money gone awry is pretty easily set straight.

a future gone awry, not so much.

[jefferson_dem]

29. Reality calls.

Yoo hoo --> http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/07/15/AR2010071500464.html