-Outside+Readings-

Kylie -- Seven Reasons I Really Dislike Public Education Reform

I came across this article and I found it very interesting. I've always viewed Race to the Top (RTTT) as a positive thing that President Obama has done. But apparently other people don't agree. #5 really sticks out to me. It says that cheating is encouraged by RTTT. I don't really agree with this. What do you guys think? Do you agree with this guy or do you think that RTTT is a good thing?

Katie-[|We aren't the only ones] I know that we in Wisconsin are struggling with the changing coming about with the unions destroyed, but this blog opened my eyes that bad things are happening all around the nation to public education. It is amazing what some places are doing and I noticed a trend toward privatizing education. My favorite quote is "It is simply astonishing that the richest nation in the world can't or won't provide a good education to all its children".

Kayla-- U.S. Urged to Raise Teachers' Status I thought this was an interesting article because it talks about how teachers' status in the U.S. is very low compared to what it is in Korea and Finland. Being a teacher is not seen as a high status job. In the article it states that most see teaching as an easy job with short hours and summers off. It also talks about how America doesn't spend what we should on education. I liked the quote at the bottom of the article. " In an interview, Mr. Schleicher said the point was not that the United States spends too little on public education,but rather that American schools spend disproportionately on other areas, like bus transportation and sports facilities."

One of the big recent news stories with regard to NCLB is Arne Duncan's proclamation that 82 percent of schools will be deemed as failing in the coming year. This statistic really highlights one of the major complaints with regards to NCLB which is the fact that it sets unreachable goals that classify many schools as failing and does little to create improvements.

When searching for NCLB articles this week, what I found was several articles questioning the accuracy of Duncan's statistics. It kindof goes along with what we've mentioned several times throughout the semester. Politicians like to emphasize and twist facts and stats in order to push whatever agenda it is that they desire. So I wonder who we should believe. Should we believe that 82% of schools are really going to be failing, or is that an exaggeration by those who desire reform? And if 82% of schools are failing, is that an issue in the structure of the schools or just in the structure of NCLB? What is it that we should be looking to reform: our education system or just the broken law?

[|NCLB: 82 Percent Fail Rate Exaggerated & Meaningless] [|Duncan: 82 Percent of Schools Could Be 'Failing' This Year] [|Most schools could face 'failing' label under No Child Left Behind, Duncan says]

-Beth