Assessing President Obama’s Educational Reform Initiative
President Obama has proposed immediate educational reform. The reform will include the introduction of rigorous standards, curriculum innovation, along with greater accountability among both students and teachers. Can this reform initiative work in light of current educational policy?
Since becoming President earlier this year, President Obama has repeated the ideas first introduced during his campaign. In a recent speech, he outlined four key areas strategies of his educational reform initiative:
1. Invest in Early Childhood Education
Investment in early childhood indicatives such as Early Head Start, Head Start, and affordable child care is the cornerstone of Obama’s reform. The president has proposed a comprehensive “Zero to Five” plan that emphasizes early care and education for children under the age of five. The primary purpose of the Zero to Five plan is to help individual states initiate universal voluntary pre-school.
This initiative stems from for the realization that participation in early childhood education is essential in preparing children to enter kindergarten. However, a number of republicans oppose further investment in early childhood education. These opponents argue that the majority of responsibility for early childhood learning falls to the parents and not the school system. They also insist that investment in K-12 education should take precedence.
There is no telling at this early juncture whether this part of the Obama plan will be successful but significant monies have been allocated to this initiative. The President has budgeted $5 billion to be invested in Early Head Start and Head Start programs. His argument is that every dollar spent equals a potential ten-fold return as reading scores improve, delinquency rates drop, and welfare rolls decrease.
2. Encourage More Appropriate Standards and Assessments
Obama is calling on states to develop more appropriate standards and assessment measures. States that have traditionally set low standards to accommodate low test scores are being asked to incorporate more stringent standards and develop teaching methods to raise the performance of students. To encourage states to comply, the Obama administration has promised to restructure progress assessments of schools, as well as the No Child left Behind (NCLB) accountability system. This step will serve to ensure support rather than punishment of underperforming schools.
Reforming the faulty NCLB system is an important component of Obama’s educational initiative. Since this program was introduced, teachers have spent significant amounts of time in having students fill in standardized bubbles on answer sheets! And nothing of real value has been gained in terms of improving test scores. Indeed, studies have pointed to the fact that students subjected to the NCLB systems have, in fact, become less prepared for college-level studies and are further behind that in previous times.
NCLB has also created large gaps in standards from state-to-state, although this situation should be improved by improving and normalizing testing and assessment practices.
3. Recruit, Prepare and Reward Exceptional Teachers
To address the continuing decline in teacher quality and pay, Obama has created a four-part plan for recruiting, preparing, retaining, and rewarding exceptional teachers. The first part of the plan is the creation of new Teacher Scholarships that will pay for undergraduate and graduate-level study. School of Education will also be reformed with respect to new accreditation standards and teacher residency programs. To retain and reward excellent teachers, Obama’s plan includes offering promotional opportunities, merit-based pay increases, as well as other incentives.
This has been the most controversial part of Obama’s reform plan. While most people have no issue with the idea of scholarships and teacher preparation assistance, there are many (including educators) who oppose the idea of merit-based pay for teachers. These opponents argue that this strategy will not necessarily attract better teachers but will attract those whose primary motivation is the monetary rewards and incentives rather than education. There is also a concern that merit pay will inhibit and innovation collaboration and among teachers.
Others believe that merit pay, restructured assessments, and other incentive programs are long overdue. The key to this aspect of reform is that it creates a merit plan that assesses each teacher fairly and equitably, treats each teacher the same, and takes into account other factors aside from test scores alone. Should reform not meet these criteria, in could result in more harm than good.
4. Support Charter Schools and Promote Innovation
The fourth component of Obama’s plan for educational reform involves establishing a culture of excellence and innovation in America’s schools. The president wants to support the creation of additional charter schools and shut down chronically underperforming schools. He also wants to change the structure of the school calendar by lengthening the school year, as well as the school day. Other parts of his initiative include addressing the increase in drop-out rates and making math and science a priority of instruction throughout all schools.
This part of Obama’s reform plan has met with criticism from those who oppose charter schools. However, this initiative can also lead to more and better educational choice for students. More than half the states have a limit on the number of charter schools which can be opened. Removing this limit could lead to the development of quality education programs for greater numbers of children. Creating a system that calls for intervention in those schools which are not performing to state standards will also help improve accountability and increase the success of the charter school system.
5. Make Higher Education Affordable and Accessible
This is perhaps the most ambitious part of Obama’s reform plan as it calls for making college or technical training available to every American. The president’s goal is have the U.S. lead the world in college graduation rates by the year 2020. This would signify a tremendous leap for this country which is currently ranked number 10 in the world. Obama has proposed several ideas to make this happen, including an increase in the limits of Pell grants and streamlining the financial aid process.
Although the ideas are noble, and a step in the right direction in terms of ensuring that all Americans access to higher education, they don’t address the root cause of the problem. College costs have risen, on average, 40 percent over the last five years. At the same time, student debt has increased to a significant degree. Distributing small amounts of financial aid and eliminating some paperwork will likely do very little to directly affect these issues. If college costs continue to increase at the same rate, it is highly unlikely that most students—even those who qualify for Pell grants—will be able to afford more than an inexpensive community college. |
