Voices - Margaret Spellings   Voices

 

I believe in that vision of a free and dynamic nation, but it only works if it’s coupled with fair opportunity.

Voices Margaret Spellings
Voices - Margaret Spellings

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I like that you suggest the purpose of education is to provide an equal shot at the American dream for everyone. However, I am not sure that is really accepted. Frankly, today’s public education system is fundamentally the same as that created by the Committee of Ten over a decade ago. The purpose then was really to screen people into different categories, where some would become white collar managers and other would become laborers. The way the system operates and teaches, including the basic curriculum, is essentially the same as it was then. It is frequently noted that schools are about the only place today that look pretty much the same as they did when we went to school, with a few polishes of technology added. Why do we expect that a system designed to judge and screen people would be effective at giving all an equal opportunity? If we want equal opportunity, we must redesign our education system in a way that meets the new goal. The system as practiced today is all about feeding accepted answers to kids because that met the old goal of screening. It makes little sense in a world where all known answers are readily available on a smartphone. We need kids who are confident in researching issues and finding new ways to address them, innovative problem solvers, collaborators, etc. Answers today are also much more complex. We can no longer prepare each student to meet some “standard average” criteria and expect them to be successful. We need to help each student identify their passions and strengths and develop those so each student is prepared to be the best he or she can be in today’s world.

I see very little commitment to making the kinds of changes that address that new goal. People talk about “21st Century” skills all the time, but they still try to hold schools accountable using simple exams that cannot possibly assess such skills. I am waiting for a national leadership effort to come up with clearly understood new goals for public education that fully address the needs of today. That effort should include things like a profile of a modern graduate and ways for assessing. They need to be clear enough that educators cannot just change a textbook or add some technology and say they are doing 21st Century skills when they have really just tweaked the old system. Then we need to encourage (pressure) and support all school districts to engage serious efforts to transform to meet the new goals.

A few bold pioneers have shown that education can meet the goal of giving everyone an equal shot at the American dream. They did it under all the constraints of policy and funding that others use as excuses. But they recognized that they had to unlearn almost everything they did before and make the fundamental change from “teaching” to “learning.” If there is any question, just read the recent book Timeless Learning, by Ira Socol, Pam Moran, and Chad Ratliff. When this country finally realizes the need for a fundamental transformation, and starts leading and supporting the kind of deep rethinking of education that is needed, we will finally realize that promise of equal opportunity on which our country is based. If we do not, we will become a second class country. And we don’t have decades to do it because others have figured this out and are already moving.

You can’t aspire to equality of opportunity if education remains a disconnected patchwork of standards and goals

Best argument for a national standard for school performance that I've ever heard.

And they delved into differences in how students are disciplined across the country, with low-income and minority students far more likely to be suspended from school.

The school-to-prison pipeline is such an important issue that needs to be addressed.

If we close our eyes to the disparities in our classrooms, if we resign ourselves to different standards for children of different backgrounds, then we give fuel to every cynic who sees our institutions as broken and the promise of the American dream as out of reach.

This quote makes a very good point in that it reminds readers of the importance of owning the disparities in the education system today and being aware and cognizant of inequities. Before real change can be made, issues must be acknowledged.

national concern would mean adopting shared goals and standard measurements. “The first step in restructuring our education system is to build a broad-based consensus around a defined set of national education goals,” read the group’s statement. “We must establish clear measures of performance and then issue annual report cards on the progress of students, schools, the states, and the federal government.”

This is an example of congress working together with the president, in a unified manner, to bring about significant positive change in the school system. Politics were put aside, and the future of the American people were at the forefront of the summit. This is how a successful federal government should operate.

Without strong national leadership to nurture the broad-based consensus that past administrations have forged, it becomes too easy for state and local policymakers to bow to pressure to loosen standards and turn a blind eye to disparitie

Lack of national standards are what allow students in certain areas to go uneducated and others to be overeducated. It also allows some schools to have updated books while others don't.

Reliable, publicly available information on student performance, school funding, and long-range outcomes is crucial in spotlighting and addressing our deepest educational challenges.

I could not agree more strongly that the need for transparency is more important than ever before. However, I am slightly skeptical that there is a significant "demand" for this by the general public. In other words, while it is imperative for local administrators and city/county officials to supply this information, I am convinced that parents would tend to rely on personal experiences that their family/children have gone through. I believe the emotional experiences of a child's education can be much more influential than any dataset.

If education stands for anything, it’s the ideal that knowledge and information are the baseline requirements for a free society and individual prosperity.

A healthy democracy needs people who have the capacity to read, write and think critically, these are skill not only for the benefit of the person but its benefits those around him/her, society.

The fundamental calling of public education is to provide a fair shot at the American dream for every person in this vast country.

This is quite a lie, especially when we realize that public schools are also increasingly becoming more expensive, even for in-state students.

If education stands for anything, it’s the ideal that knowledge and information are the baseline requirements for a free society and individual prosperity.

Absolutely. If more people could recognize the value in this, our country/education system would be making a step towards progress.

aking education a national concern would mean adopting shared goals and standard measurements. “The first step in restructuring our education system is to build a broad-based consensus around a defined set of national education goals,” read the group’s statement. “We must establish clear measures of performance and then issue annual report cards on the progress of students, schools, the states, and the federal government.”

Sometimes I wonder why it is that were not already working on this or why we havent already done this- especially because we do this in every other area that requires government funding. I think that we need to go beyond just looking at test scores or performance scores.

When we see persistent patterns of inequity — one group of students systematically falling behind another or one group of students granted opportunities denied to another — it threatens not just our schools but the whole promise of America.

This statement is very well-put. If our American education system was working properly, it would act as an equalizer for all students, setting them up for success. Instead, we are seeing a concerning gap in education between our highest achievers and those struggling the most.