TeacherKen begins a movement

Early today, teacherken posted a diary at dailykos calling for the dailykos community to come together and propose dramatic education reform by YearlyKos 2007.

This diary is intended to ask for your help with the impossible. At the request of several regular posters, including DevilsTower, and the organizers of Yearlykos, we are attempting to do for education what Jerome and the others did for energy, which is complete [sic] reinvent our national policy. ... This diary will not offer solutions. Instead I will herein layout the scope of the task before us. I will then ask for your thoughts. ... I believe that we must totally redesign our entire approach to education in this nation. If we do not do so, we will not survive as a democratic republic. We will continue to move in the direction of stratification by class, by wealth, by social mobility or the lack thereof. Some of the questions we must address include the following: What does it mean to be educated? How do we measure learning? What are the purposes of schools? How do we balance the real conflict between efficiency and meeting the needs of unique individuals? How should schools and colleges be structured? How should we fund education at all level? What if any minimal common knowledge should we expect as an outcome of our educational processes? How can we have some assurance of common knowledge and still ensure that there is sufficient diversity of educational choices to meet the needs and the preferences of Americans that we provide the greatest opportunity to learn for ALL of our residents? How much of education should be a discrete and separate process and how much should be more broadly integrated with life outside of formal educational structures? Should some level of education be a Constitutionally guaranteed right a the national level? What should be the role of the different levels of government with respect to education, and to one another? How will we determine whether our efforts are working, or need to be modified?

The discussion heated up almost immediately in the comments, and many great suggestions were added. I will do my best to keep abreast of teacherken's progress in this undertaking as the EECD Subcommittee is the logical place to take such a proposal.

Schools Slow in Closing Gaps Between Races

The New York Times reports that the achievement gap is (unfortunately) alive and well, inspite of NCLB legislation. From the article,

When President Bush signed his sweeping education law a year into his presidency, it set 2014 as the deadline by which schools were to close the test-score gaps between minority and white students that have persisted since standardized testing began. Now, as Congress prepares to consider reauthorizing the law next year, researchers and a half-dozen recent studies, including three issued last week, are reporting little progress toward that goal. ... The findings pose a challenge not only for Mr. Bush but also for the Democratic lawmakers who joined him in negotiating the original law, known as No Child Left Behind, and who will control education policy in Congress next year. Senator Edward M. Kennedy of Massachusetts and Representative George Miller of California, who are expected to be the chairmen of the Senate and House education committees, will promote giving more resources to schools and researching strategies to improve minority performance, according to aides. “Closing the achievement gap is at the heart of No Child Left Behind and must continue to be our focus in renewing the act next year,” Mr. Kennedy said in a statement.

The suggestions for improvement in the article consist mainly of ensuring and rewarding quality teachers in minority schools, and extending early childhood education to more children.

Personally, I'm a strong supporter of Brown vs. Board of Ed -- which is to say, I don't believe that there should be any minority schools to begin with.

Unfortunately, integration doesn't appear to be on the table anymore. In which case, I do strongly agree with these suggestions. I would add, well trained, motivated administrators would be a boon to low-income schools as well.

It will be interesting to see how Democrats (and Senator Kennedy in particular) approach this problem through NLCB over the next few months.

Senator Kennedy Announces HELP Committee Priorities for 110th Congress

On November 16th, Senator Kennedy, ranking member of the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee, announced a slew of new policy initiatives for the 110th congress. Included in the announcement were the following initiatives relevant to the Subcommittee on Education and Early Childhood Development:

1) Enacting a higher education reauthorization that makes college affordable. Senator Kennedy’s proposals to help students and families include the STAR Act, Debt Relief Act and the Contract for Educational Opportunity Grants in the Right TRACK Act. Senator Kennedy’s top priorities for reauthorization are increasing student aid, making student loan debt more manageable and making sure our student loan programs work for students, not banks. He also will be looking to expand support for and improve teacher preparation programs. 2) Funding and reauthorizing the No Child Left Behind Act. Democrats will make education funding a priority so NCLB can fulfill its promise. As Chairman, Senator Kennedy will advance an NCLB reauthorization agenda that seeks to strengthen key reforms, ensure the law’s effectiveness, and promote solutions and strategies for schools to improve. Senator Kennedy’s priorities for reauthorization include ensuring that tests are used to improve instruction, not just labeling schools, and ensuring that students struggling to meet high standards have the best teachers and expanded learning opportunities. He also has a proposal to ensure that parents are given the information that they need to navigate the education system and help their children succeed. 3) Ensuring that our students are competitive in the 21st-Century global economy. Many of Senator Kennedy’s proposals on this theme are in the Right Track Act. They include increasing college student aid, greater support for math and science education, and creating incentives for high quality teachers -- especially in high demand subjects such as math and science -- to teach in high poverty schools, as well as assistance to states to raise standards and ensure that schools are internationally competitive. 4) Reauthorizing the Head Start federal preschool program and enacting Senator Kennedy’s Early Care and Education Act (ECEA), so that all children can have access to high quality early childhood programs. ECEA would provide support to states to create a more cohesive system of early childhood education programs and improve standards for programs and educators in the early childhood arena. 5) Reauthorizing the Workforce Investment Act and provide additional funding for job training programs so workers can obtain the skills they need to succeed in today’s global economy. 6) Fully funding IDEA.

The complete announcement is available (pdf) through the Senate HELP Committee website.