Obama's approach and other items of business

This week, I found a few articles that interested me. One article in particular was called "Obama says he worries about enthusiasm to learn." On his 100th day in office, Obama made a town-hall appearance in Missouri. There, he was asked about the challenges in education and how he'd make things better. He spoke again about having quality teachers in the classroom, a solution that I have already agreed with in the past. He also spoke about how he is worried that the country may be giving up on the idea that it's "cool to be smart." Obama shared his thoughts that its up to the parents and the community to help foster the idea that being smart is cool by giving as much attention to the science award winners, as they do to the star basketball players. I think that throughout his first 100 days, Obama has made many important strides in displaying the importance of education to this country. I think it is wonderful that such a figurehead is willing to tell parents to be active in their children's lives, even when he has such other important things to worry about.

The second article I found that interested me was entitled "High court looks at who pays for special education." This article discussed the fact that the Supreme Court is again trying to decide when taxpayers must foot the bill for private schooling for special education students. There is a case in Oregon where this became an issue:

In the Oregon case, the family of a teenage boy diagnosed with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder sued the school district, saying the school did not properly address the student's learning problems. The family is seeking reimbursement for the student's tuition, which cost $5,200-a-month. The family paid a total of $65,000 in private tuition.

I personally believe that students should try public education before sending their child straight to private institutions. However, I also believe that taxpayers are paying their good money to the government in order to supply adequate educations for all students, including those with special needs. Therefore, public schools should be held accountable for all of the services that they are supposed to be giving every child.

The third and last article of the week is one entitled "Stimulus Money May Fund Summer School, Teacher Pay." This article discussed how, my favorite man, Arne Duncan, is giving schools systems suggestions on how to spend the money that they receive from the Stimulus Package. The nation's schools will be receiving nearly $100 billion, which is double the amount of money spent on education under George W. Bush.

"You can identify your best teachers and pay them to coach their colleagues who are having trouble," Duncan said in prepared remarks. "You may have to scale this down after two years, but it can really help your younger teachers get up to speed."

His ideas included not only the mentoring program, but also recommended: adding afternoons, weekends, and summer days to the school calendar. He also mentioned many ideas that have been proven to actually help children learn. These included: sophisticated evaluation systems for teachers and principals, extra pay to reward excellence in teaching or to lure teachers and administrators into struggling schools, new charter schools, closing failing schools and reopening them with new staff, more technology for classrooms along with training for teachers, and modernized science labs and other facilities. All of these ideas are ones that I also greatly believe in. I am more and more impressed with Obama's education administration the more that I hear about their ideas and I look forward to seeing what they are capable of accomplishing over the next four years.

DC's Impact on Education

The first article I found this week was "Does Money Lead to Real Reforms? This article focused on what Arne Duncan has stated in the past about stimulus money going to individual states and how he hopes it will be spent. It repeated the fact that Duncan wants to use the economic stimulus aid for education to accelerate improvement in schools. The article was quoted as stating:

To keep states that want more federal funds on the school reform path, Duncan attached some conditions to the stimulus money released earlier this month. He even asked governors for data that could potentially embarrass them.

Duncan wants governors to pass over information that could show that few schools districts in the country use student achievement to evaluate teacher performance and that most teachers, even the least effective, are given great evaluations. Hopefully this information will all for better reform in school districts if they are held accountable by the federal government. The article even mentioned that Duncan could use the information to shame states with poor records into actual reform. However, there were others quoted within the article as believing that Duncan and the Education Department would have to demand more and more from the states in order for them not to manipulate the system by changing their data.

I believe that Duncan is doing a lot to ensure that the states spend the money that they receive from the stimulus package wisely. I hope that he can make sure that the schools that receive extra benefits, such as the $5 billion special fund for reform, do actually deserve this money more than other schools in our nation. However, I believe that with his background, that he will be smart with his decisions and has the opportunity to bring about a lot of change.

In an article entitled, "Unemployed Seek Training for 'Green Collar' Jobs", describes the story of many community college students enrolling in courses which offer training for jobs for "green-collar" jobs. This large surge of students are learning how to install solar panels, repair wind turbines, produce bio fuels and do other work related to renewable energy. To meet the growing demand of courses in this line of work, two-year colleges are expanding or launching green job training with money from the federal stimulus package. The stimulus package set aside tens of billions of dollars to promote renewable energy and energy efficiency. According to the article, this will also create thousands of jobs retrofitting government buildings and public housing to make them more energy-efficient. Although the green energy industry has not been able to avoid cutting back during this recession, there is hope that once the economy rebounds there will be a strong demand for green-collar workers.

Personally, I hope that this will allow Obama's campaign for alternative energy to create millions of jobs that do not require a four-year degree. This could be great for our future economy and for the millions who cannot afford to attend a four-year university in our current economic situation.

The last article that I found about Washington's impact on schools was about D.C. schools in particular. In "White House Reaches Out to DC's Troubled Schools", the article lists the many things that the White House and especially First Lady Michelle Obama have done in order to make the White House more public to students within Washington. The article states that not only did the First Lady invite dozens of high-achieving local girls to the White House for a pep talk from herself and 21 other accomplished women, but that since Obama took the presidency on January 20, DC students have been invited to break ground for a new vegetable garden, celebrate Black History month, and received tickets to the Easter Egg Roll.

Education Secretary Arne Duncan said the White House is reaching out to support the efforts of Mayor Adrian M. Fenty and schools superintendent Michelle Rhee, who are taking aggressive steps to turn around Washington's struggling schools.

This article was intriguing to me because having visited some DC schools and hearing about the rest, I was astounded that a city's school system located within our nation's capitol which works so hard for educational reform, could produce such low student achievement. I am very happy to see that the President and his wife are working towards supporting the work of the new superintendent and the mayor who worked hard to be able to fire the old superintendent. This district is an example of won of the worst in the nation and it is uplifting to see the government take notice of the reform that is occurring there.

Week of April 9th

This week in schools remained to be another one for interesting stories. The first that I came across was entitled "The Profile Police". This article was found in the Washington Post.

As high school students flock to social networking sites, campus police are scanning their Facebook and MySpace pages for tips to help break up fights, monitor gangs and thwart crime in what amounts to a new cyberbeat.

The article is basically stating that it is not beyond students' first amendment rights for police to check their online public profiles in order to keep students safe at school. Although many students are arguing that this should not be legal, I feel as though the campus police are not infringing on any rights if these students are checking these profiles through the school's internet connection. These checks are allowing police to do everything from preventing fights from happening at school, helping find students who have run away from home, and even allow students who are having arguments online to come into an office and speak to a counselor.

The fact that these checks are aiding so much in one of the largest schools in Virginia, Robinson Secondary School in Fairfax County, proves that these checks could be useful in other high schools as well. Although I would not have enjoyed campus police checking over my profile while in high school, I can now see the benefits that this would provide to a school system. I feel as though students who set their profiles to private could block access to these police, but that with so many students leaving their profiles public, the police could still find information to keep other students safe at school. I feel as though this should be enacted in schools across the country.

Secondly, I found an article entitled "Kindergarten Tests and the Importance of Play". This article discussed the fact that kindergartners are now being tested more than any other generation. With principals and superintendents pushing reading and math curriculum into earlier grades to improve the odds that students will pass later standardized tests that gauge school performance, teachers are testing students at younger and younger ages.

Pushing children to perform at a level they aren't old enough to handle increases behavior problems and failure rates and takes away from a focus on the importance of play, which is what 5-year-olds really should be doing. Playing is the best way to learn social skills and self-control--which just might result in kids deciding that they really like going to school.

This article enforces the fact that testing students in kindergarten is counterproductive. Students who are tested under the age of 8 can only provide unreliable test results. I have learned in my college education courses, that students brains and academic ability to do not fully begin to develop until the age of 7. I have always agreed that testing students at young ages can do nothing but further students' hatred and or fear of standardized tests. Are our younger generations going to be so stressed by third grade that even showing them a bubble sheets throws them into a fit? I completely agree with this article that all students deserve time to play. Without play time, they have little time to develop social relationships with other students and therefore their own personalities.

The third article that I came across this week and found interesting was another one about something the education secretary, our favorite guy Arne Duncan said this past week. Entitled "US schools chief says kids need more class time,"the article discussed Duncan's speech to about 400 middle and high school students in Denver, Colorado on Tuesday. He stated that American schoolchildren need to be spending much more time in school, attending nearly 6 days a week and at least 11 or 12 months a year. He thinks this should be enacted in order for students to be able to compete with students abroad.

"You're competing for jobs with kids from India and China. I think schools should be open six, seven days a week; eleven, twelve months a year," he said.

I agree that students should be in class for longer periods of time, however, this class time should be spent wisely, or there would be no point in sending students to longer classes or an extra day of classes. I also do not think this could happen without teachers being reimbursed. I loved that Duncan praised Denver's pay-for-performance system for educators. This allows teachers to be paid based on their performance in order to receive raises. I think rewarding better teachers allows for good teachers to remain in the education system, instead of leaving to make better money. This is something more school systems should try and pass for their educators. I feel that this is the only way that teachers would ever actually stay longer to help students even if they wanted to.

The other part of this article that I found to be very interesting was the fact that Duncan is opposing many of the policies that the Democrats been siding. He has publically stated that he thinks poor students who receive vouchers in the system in the District of Columbia should be allowed to stay. This placed the Obama administration at odds with the Democrats who have been vying to get rid of school choice. It will be interesting to see if Duncan further places the Obama administration at odds with the Democratic party throughout the rest of this adminstration's time in Washington.

Money, money, money!

To begin with, I read one of the most exciting articles about the stimulus plan in reference to education that I have in a while today. Found in the Associated Press, the article is called "Schools to begin receiving economic stimulus money." As if the title doesn't give away why my excitement level rose when I read this article, there is even more to be excited about.

Education Secretary Arne Duncan on Wednesday released the first $44 billion in economic stimulus money directed to schools, but said strings will be attached to the next round of aid. The Obama administration views the stimulus as a chance not only to save thousands of teachers' jobs but to overhaul the nation's failing schools.

I am very happy that the Obama administration is viewing this opportunity with such an optimistic eye. The fact that my future employment will also be safe is a selfish pleasure. The amount of education reform that can occur from this money, I believe will help the country's education system tremendously. Today, the administration made available half of the dollars for federal programs that pay for kindergarten through 12th grade and special education. Duncan is also going to providing applications for states to get even more money from the special fund that I mentioned in a blog a couple of weeks ago. I just hope that the plans to use this money can actually be used to create and fix schools that are struggling. At this point, all we can do is hope.

The second article that I found to be most interesting this week was entitled "School chief: Mayors need control of urban schools." This article was also about Arne Duncan. This article, published on Tuesday discusses the fact that Duncan believes that mayors should take control of big-city school districts where academic performance is suffering.

Mayors run the schools in fewer than a dozen big cities; only seven have full control over management and operations. That includes Chicago, where Duncan headed the school system until joining the Obama administration.

With superintendents changing so frequently, especially in larger cities, it does make much more sense for the mayor to have full control of a school system. I agree with this, especially for the fact that the mayors are elected by the public and therefore should be involved in their cities school system. The fact that so many are not, does make their involvement look limited to a point. With larger cities containing so many struggling schools, it would appear that having an overall controller could only aid in the process of reforming these schools. Especially with all of the money that the larger cities in states could be receiving, it is time for these cities to take action in reform. The use of this money is going to be crucial and if someone overlooking an entire city can help, then I believe that they should.

Finally, the third article that caught my interest was entitled "7 students punished at Winfrey's school for girls". This article was interesting, not only because it was Oprah's school where these students were punished for trying to force students into relationships and to engage in sexual contact, but because this is not the first time that Oprah has been disappointed in the way that things were being run at the school since it opened. I have loved the fact that Oprah opened this school in South Africa, since I first heard of it in 2007. She spent over $40 million in building the 28-building campus at which each girl that attends lives in a two-bedroom suite.

It's the fulfillment of a promise she made to former South African President Nelson Mandela and aims to give poor girls a quality education and prepare them for leadership positions in a country where schools are struggling to overcome the legacy of white-minority rule.

I can only hope that this promise can continually be fulfilled for years, and that events just like this one do not cause the school any harm. Spreading quality education to places that often lack it for all of their children is something that I am a strong believer in. I think more Americans should look abroad to focus their interests in helping out the rest of the world. I believe that the world would be a better place if this occurred.

What's happening in education this week?

In an article entitled "Duncan: Schools must improve to get stimulus money", a writer for the Associated Press wrote about how Education Secretary Arne Duncan plans to spend the $5 billion special fund in the economic stimulus bill. He said that schools must make drastic changes to get money from this special fund.

"We're going to reward those states and those districts that are willing to challenge the status quo and get dramatically better," Duncan said Monday at the White House.

With the tens of billions more dollars that schools will be getting through regular funds in the stimulus, Duncan wants the extra $5 billion to award the schools that actually do make change and spend their money wisely. I think that forcing schools to come up with innovative ways to close the achievement gap between black and Latino children is very important. I have always thought that schools should be held accountable with how they spend their money, especially from a federal level. Duncan specifically wants to see states improve teacher quality and get good teachers into high-poverty schools, set up sophisticated data systems to track student learning, boost the quality of academic standards and tests, and intervene to help struggling schools. These standards for receiving money, will ensure that the money is well spent on schools that are setting great examples. I also think these standards will encourage schools to work towards change in order to get the money that they want for their schools. I like that this article portrayed how the money from the federal government would have to be trickled down then to the states, school districts, administrators, and finally to teachers and students.

The second article that stood out to me this week was "FBI confirms probe into fights at Texas school." Although concise, this article did not need to say much in order to get the point across. The FBI is investigating allegations of civil rights violations at a Texas school for mentally disabled people where workers allegedly videotaped watching fights between residents. The six workers are accused of organizing a "fight club" where mentally and developmentally disabled residents of the facility fought each other for the staff's entertainment. This utterly disgusts me and I am very happy that the FBI is stepping in to make it a civil rights case. As of last Friday, arrest warrants for the six workers on charges of injury to a disabled person were issued. I hope that these workers receive the punishment that they deserve for taking advantage of people the way that they did. They were in complete violation of these students individual rights, and therefore should be punished.

The third article I found this week was that actually uplifting was "Turning on to Reading, High School." Found in the Washington Post, this article wrote about the new program that Highland Elementary School in Silver Spring has created. They have high school athletes coming to the 5th grade classes to read to students. Not only does this show students a great example of who to look up to, but also students become more familiar with everything that high school is. The specific high school senior and football team captain Kelson Patterson loved working with the class. He was able to ask them questions and get tested himself when they came back at him with many questions.

"Patterson, recently awarded a full football scholarship to the University of Rhode Island, told the students that his success would not have come without good grades and character to match."

I think it is wonderful that newspapers such as the Washington Post are writing articles about good programs that schools are instilling in their classrooms. Often, the media only shares stories of what is wrong with our schools and I believe, especially in a town as influencial at Washington, that it is good for everyday citizens and politicians to hear these great changes in schools that are highly encouraging for the future of our schools.

What is going on in our schools?

The first article that I want to write about this week is one entitled "School Lunches Too Fatty and Sugary, Critics Say." I found this article in the Yahoo News today. I think it sends an important message. The article is discussing how recent studies have found that our nation's school cafeterias are not doing everything that they can to improve the health of students. The lunches still contain too many fats, saturated fats, and sodium. Even the new president's chef, Sam Kass from Chicago, has stated that "the national shortcomings in school lunches are due in part to the use of donated surplus agricultural commodities that result from government subsidies." Mary Ford, a registered dietitian and professor in the School of Public Health at the University of Minnesota, and author of the journal editorial, urged another action.

"We need to explore other ways of making change, which could include items such as providing more training and technical assistance to schools, providing more funding for nutrition education," she said. "It also may be worth considering more laws or regulations to limit the availability of certain types of food, such as whole or 2 percent milk."

I completely agree with Mary Ford on this fact. Providing more funding for better food in schools could help as well. Basically, our schools have the standards that they need, they just have to implement actions to meet those standards, otherwise the standards are pointless. I believe that President Obama has the right agenda in regard to our nation's youth. He has spoken many times about children needing to be more active and I hope that he and his cabinet will follow through with this agenda.

The second article that I found interesting was an article about the mixed reviews that Obama received from his speech about education last week. This article listed that:

President Barack Obama said he wants the United States to have the highest proportion of college graduates in the world by 2020 and asked every American to complete a year or more of college or career training.

It also stated that Obama said that federal stimulus dollars will expand educational opportunities for preschoolers and college students who need financial help. Many were disappointed that Obama did not mention the fact that so many of our nation's schools are failing, while others commended him highly for acknowledging the importance of everyone attending college or training school in order for our country to succeed. I personally think that these expectations are a little high, but am excited that he is not limiting his goals. Setting high goals only means that success has to be made in some way or another.

Finally, I found an article that interested me was one that stated that the Environmental Protection Agency will be testing the air in schools across the nation. They are testing the air for toxic chemicals because questions on the air quality around some school have been raised, and the EPA has implemented a $2.25 million program. This program will set up monitors will focus on toxic chemicals that are known to cause cancer, respiratory and neurological problems — especially in children, who are more susceptible than adults because they are still growing. They are still unsure what can be done once they or if they find any toxic chemicals in the air, but the fact that they are spending so much time and money to keep students safe is important to me.

Education this week

In keeping with my education focus thus far, I have opted to yet again find articles that focused on the politics of education. The first article that I have found is related to the governor of Maryland, Martin O'Malley laying out a plan of action for the State Boardof Education on Tuesday. The article, that can be found in the Washington Post, discusses how he proposed to the Board that they completely change their teaching focus and methods of tracking students' results in order to keep up with the global competition. He thinks that Maryland, already a top-ranking state in education, can not afford to simply sit back and watch the world's educational systems get progressively better than ours.

In his first visit to the school board since becoming governor in 2007, O'Malley
(D) outlined a seven-point plan that included a greater focus on science,
technology, engineering and math courses; more emphasis on teacher and principal
recruitment and retention; and a new program for tracking student performance
from pre-kindergarten through the end of college.

I completely agree with his ideas. It is refreshing to hear that a governor wants to take such initiative in his state's educational system and is thinking on a global scale and not merely an educational scale, following only our nation's laws such as No Child Left Behind.

The second article that I found to be interesting this week was written today by the Associated Press and on YahooNews. The article discussed how a South Carolina school has gained a lot of public interest through politicians. Obama himself was able to visit J.V. Martin Junior High on one of his campaign trips. He has since mentioned it in many speeches and did so again last night. The school is falling apart because of peeling walls and piercing cries from a nearby train passing throughout the day. Some have even called the school "a hodgepodge of decrepit, decaying and unsafe facilities." While the article does comment that a congressional representative has consistently asked Obama for money for this school and no money has yet to be seen, the fact that the school was mentioned again gives me hope for Obama's goals to improve education. He actually read part of a letter one of the students had sent him about the school in his speech and she was invited to the White House. He stated that:

"When a child goes to a school that's crumbling, is it any wonder that she gets
a sense her education is not important?"

I think it is very important for a man such as the president who holds so much influence over our country whether we like it or not, to be so passionate about something as important as our children's education. I just hope that this school and others like it, that are often used by politicians to gain notability, do receive the funding that they so desperately need and are not merely left as deterirating examples.

The final article that caught my eye this week was again about part of Obama's speech last night. This article focused on Obama's call for 'competitive education'. He mentioned that he his education goals are linked to his effort to fix the economy. He stated that knowledge is the 'most valuable skill you can sell'. Again, I agree with Obama in this statement and not merely because I am a future teacher. Everyone understands just how important education has become, especially in these tough economic time. It is becoming increasingly more important to graduate college and even to go through and receive a master's degree to gain a decent job in today's society. This is proving just how important it is for every child at a very young age to realize and be taught the power of a good education. It is the job of the people in that child's society to provide that good education. I believe that Obama is working towards this and I desperately hope that America listens to him and works towards this goal as much as he is.