Speaking at a roundtable for reporters recently, Arne Duncan, the US Education Secretary said that even though highly preoccupied with the current sensational topic, healthcare, President Obama never fails to bring up the issue of education month after month. He said that the President is highly passionate about this as is evident with the fact that all domestic spending has been flat-lined by him
As outlined in the 2011 Federal budget and the higher education bill that is pending in the Senate, the education agenda of the President is all about enhanced spending for community colleges and childhood education. Funds will also be used for making strategic structural changes in a bid to revamp the system.
Elaborating on some of the ideas Duncan pointed out a few areas that will be concentrated on. Teachers will be evaluated based on performance of students. Students will be evaluated on the basis of how much they improve every year and not on their test scores.
Test scores will essentially be used as a part of the evaluation. A host of other factors will be taken into consideration such as climate, graduation rate and also the kind of cultural backing the school provides to enable students to be successful.
President Obama thinks that education is the line that divides between those who have and those who do not. He also says that even though you are poor, if you are sufficiently educated and have college access, then there is no problem as you can do great. He criticised saying that America is a country where education is tied to aspects such as zip code, neighbourhood and race.
Another major aspect is the issue of black universities and colleges. The 2011 budget saw an increase of $98 million in HBCU funding. Statistics show that the number of Afro-American male teachers in the country is only 2%.
According to the President, this disconnect between what teachers look like and students around the country look like is not a healthy sign. It is very important to keep the HBCU strong in order to increase the population of African-American male teachers around the country. This is very important to enhance the talent of next generation students.
President Obama is also keen on focusing on charter schools. According to him, he is not a fan of charters. Rather, he is a fan of good charter schools. He says that a high bar for entry is required in order to enhance the quality of charter schools. Permission to open charter schools must be granted through a rigorous process. After choosing the educators, it is absolutely essential giving them autonomy. It is also necessary to give those with an innovative vision enough room and scope for development.
Charter schools must also be held accountable for performance and results. This is absolutely essential especially as they are given autonomy and flexibility to implement their vision. When all these aspects are taken care of, it becomes easy to expect good results and enhanced performance from students.