Photo: Dean la Prairie
Faced with a underfunded educational effort called, "No Child Left Behind," Arne Dunkin has an opportunity to revitalize the federal effort for the USA. He developed a program called, "Race To the Top." It received $100 billion from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.
The commitment by the Obama Administration for transparency was carried out by Secretary Duncan in publishing the applications and scorecards for participating states in "Race to the Top." (click here)
The program is a reform standard that required participating states adoption minimum standards to all their schools. It has been mostly successful in bring a single American standard to the country.
...Forty-six states and the District of Columbia today will announce an effort to craft a single vision for what children should learn each year from kindergarten through high school graduation, an unprecedented step toward a uniform definition of success in American schools....
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/05/31/AR2009053102339.html
It provided an opportunity to unite the country under a standard of excellance. The states were scored on their efforts to achieve excellence in their school systems. There is currently a second round to "Race to the Top," but the first round proved to be interesting to most administrators. In trying to acheive excellence there were changes made to assessing the success of teachers and in some states it meant offering more opportunity for Charter Schools.
Common Education Standards will prevent corruption and promote democracy as a country that cares about all its children equally.
States should adopt common education standards
ON NATIONAL EDUCATION STANDARDS
March 15, 2010
As the world shrinks, few things have become more important than a flexible, portable education. Elementary school students in California may find themselves one day working in Rhode Island or Russia - and they'll need to start learning the skills that will take them anywhere right now.
That's the thinking behind the Common Core Standards for English and math, which were released in draft form last week. The standards, which were created by the Council of Chief State School Officers and the National Governors Association with encouragement from the Obama administration, may become national benchmarks for all K-12 students. The draft standards are the product of almost a year's worth of work, and they're open for public comment through April 2.
http://articles.sfgate.com/2010-03-15/opinion/18831644_1_standards-aim-common-core-standards-draft-standards
In his confirmation hearings, Duncan called education "the most pressing issue facing America," adding that "preparing young people for success in life is not just a moral obligation of society" but also an "economic imperative." "Education is also the civil rights issue of our generation," he said, "the only sure path out of poverty and the only way to achieve a more equal and just society." Duncan expressed his commitment to work under the leadership of President Obama and with all those involved in education "to enhance education in America, to lift our children and families out of poverty, to help our students learn to contribute to the civility of our great American democracy, and to strengthen our economy by producing a workforce that can make us as competitive as possible."
