Education Advice for President-elect Obama

Better Philosophy

Andrew — Tue, 14 Apr 2009 19:34:52 +0000

What President Obama needs to hit on is a better overall philosophy of Education. America is falling behind in literacy rates, test scores, you name it. We spend more on Education than any other country, but we are not gaining any progress on the rest of the world. A lack of focus and an acceptance of mediocrity have led to poor performances and President Obama needs to shock the Educational system back to life. More students than ever seem to not be taking school or their education seriously and the scariest part are that some teachers seem to be ok with it. Going through the motions and not trying to improve are factors of a poor learning environment. With a better overall philosophy coming straight from the President and the Department of Education, I believe it will make many people take notice of what we’ve been doing wrong and what we need to do to fix it. Creating a better learning environment starts with the school and the curriculum. I believe schools and teachers have the right to go about how they want to best educate the students of the school, but we need a little guidance about how we should go about doing that which is where President Obama steps in. His philosophy should touch on the development of character, consistency in the classroom, better teacher/student relationships, and a more realistic approach of how our students learn. Students need guidance. They need to know teachers are there to help and not to hassle them or bog them down with meaningless homework. If teachers can explain the point of an assignment, the reasoning behind why it was assigned creates a link between education and assessment. Students knowing why they are writing a paper instead of just typing words up creates an autonomous learner, a better learning environment, and an overall more effective way to educate students.

This post was submitted by Andrew .

Evaluation for Merit Pay

Lissa Shafer — Tue, 14 Apr 2009 19:34:52 +0000

As a future educator, I believe merit pay is a good idea. However, as a future special educator, I am concerned about the methods by which a teacher will be evaluated for merit pay. If teachers are to be evaluated through the same process by which we evaluate schools and teachers for the No Child Left Behind Act, through standardized testing, I am concerned for the special educators. Prior to attending school at WIU, I worked with special education students as a program assistant in a junior high school. I assisted with the administration of the standardized tests. It was quite painful to see these students, most of who functioned academically at a primary level, struggle with these tests. As administrators of the exam, we read the exams to the students and they in turn selected what they felt was the right answer and filled in the corresponding bubble. Most of the content of the exam was much above the academic capability of these students. What resulted were simply guesses and not an actual indicator of the students’ knowledge of the content.

I believe merit pay is a great way to reward inspirational, hard-working, quality teachers. It is an ideal way to ensure teachers are participating in continuing education and working to be the most up-to-date, qualified teachers. However, I feel the system by which teachers are evaluated should somehow be based upon criteria that meet the needs of each individual teacher based on the students he or she is teaching. There cannot be a standardized evaluation process to evaluate all teachers the same for merit pay. It simply is not fair. The evaluator needs to examine the classroom setting and the specific needs of the students in order to see that the teacher is in deed working to best meet the needs of the children in the classroom. Perhaps the school administrators could look at the students’ IEPs to see that students are meeting the goals and objectives of their IEP as an indicator of the special educators’ success. Basing a teacher’s success off of a standardized test and not looking at each individual classroom and the individual abilities of those students seems unfair to teachers who are working with underprivileged or lower achieving students. I believe special educators are working just as hard, if not harder, to be the best teacher possible and to help their students succeed. I am in favor of merit pay, but let’s work towards finding a way to make it work for all educators.

This post was submitted by Lissa Shafer.

Merit Pay

Caitlin Scott — Tue, 14 Apr 2009 19:34:52 +0000

As a student who his currently getting my elementary education degree from Western Illinois University, I feel strongly on the issue of merit pay. There are many different opinions and feelings on merit pay and how it will truly benefit teachers and their students. As of right now, the concept of merit pay is flawed. Teachers are given a monetary bonus based on his or her students’ test scores. However, if teacher #1 has seven students with learning disabilities and teacher #2 only has one, whose students will receive better standardized test scores? Does this necessarily mean that teacher #2 is a better educator? The teacher with seven students with learning disabilities may have a difficult time raising their test scores, but that does not mean that those students have not improved greatly since the beginning of the academic school year. To my understanding, President Obama feels that these monetary bonuses should be given to teachers based on his or her own performance. Schools should create a form of assessment that is judged fairly and that also prevents any biased opinions or favoritism in within the schools. However, it is difficult to come up with an assessment plan that evaluates teachers performance without looking at the students test results as well. I feel that teachers who work to increase their knowledge and work to succeed in their profession are the ones that should be rewarded. Those who return to school, take extra classes, attend seminars, and overall seek extra help to improve should be the ones who receive the additional bonus pay. Through this plan, the rules are clear cut and the problem of favoritism will not play a role in who receives merit pay. Overall, my suggestion is that teachers who work to better themselves as teachers and model citizens for our students should be rewarded.

This post was submitted by Caitlin Scott.

Teachers’ Exclusion from Policy-Making

Tara Gallagher — Tue, 14 Apr 2009 19:34:51 +0000

Whether it’s making a critical decision in everyday life or to employ a new policy, one needs to have truthful information provided by reliable sources. Why is that not the case when it comes to policy making in education? Teachers’ exclusion from policy making only works against the education system. Teachers are the professionals of education, the ones who have had the most experience dealing with the policies on a day to day basis.
I understand that because we live in a democratic society, the need for everyone to voice their opinion is valued and accepted. Educator’s should not believe that they should have the first and only say when creating policies. I do believe though that it would be more beneficial to the education system if there were experienced experts, or experienced teachers, included in the policy making process along with the legislators, interest groups, and public officials. These experts would add significant input and advice to the discussion, possibly changing the outlook the legislators originally had. For example, policymakers had a sincere vision when creating and implementing No Child Left Behind. They created it hoping that it would help all students succeed to reach their states’ set proficiency level when being tested. Unfortunately, policy makers did not have enough experienced teacher input. Today there is a zero percent chance that every child in the United States will be testing at a proficient level by 2014. Policy makers were unable to understand the complexity in getting every school to reach their set proficiency level. The failure of NCLB in telling schools to reach a proficient “high” level by 2014 could have been easily avoided if there were more opinions asked of teachers. NCLB has great goals and very optimistic “ends” they would like to meet but the policy needs more structure and focus in means, as to how the schools are going to get there. I think experienced educators would have helped create those guidelines.
Teachers live out the policies and therefore know which ones would work the best, and which ones would work the least. The frontlines of policymaking in education should consist of experienced teachers.

This post was submitted by Tara Gallagher.

Zero Tolerance

Ashley Hoch — Tue, 14 Apr 2009 19:34:51 +0000

I believe that the rules and policy of zero tolerance should be changed. This policy allows for some students that may be doing a good thing or something that they did not know the would get in trouble for to get suspended or expelled. For example, in my education class, we hard of a case where a five year old student found a razor blade at their bus stop and brought it to school to show the teacher. As a result, the students was expelled and had to transfer schools. I believe that there are instances where zero tolerance is appropriate but I also believe that they administration or principal should also be looking at the circumstances and situation of why the students brought into school what they did. There are going to be times when they circumstances are not in the students favor and they should be suspended or expelled for the many students that are being punished and having their lives changed forever they need to given a chance to share what they were doing and why they were doing it. The administration and principals need to give the time to hear what the problem was and why the student did what they did because otherwise you are, in some cases, punishing good deeds, which is not the image to be sending to students. For young elementary school children to be expelled an have to transfer to another school is a huge problem. The students should be in the school they have been planning to go to unless they do something drastically wrong. Having such strict rules effects the students that slip up once more than the students that actually need that type of guidance. Also, expelling or giving a student an out-of-school suspension simply gives the students more of an opportunity to get caught up in the wrong crowds with drugs and other bad influences. If you want to punish a student make it so that student has to cooperate in a community service and help others. This way they will be building themselves as a person and helping out their community.

This post was submitted by Ashley Hoch.

Music IS fundamental!

Heather Pieper — Tue, 14 Apr 2009 19:34:51 +0000

I am a senior music education major at Western Illinois University. Throughout my time at this institution, I have taken numerous classes on how to become a good teacher. One thing I have noticed is how frequently music will be cut from school programs. Music has been proven to help students gain academic and critical life skills, like working together and building social skills. Music is also an important part of each country’s culture. Due to the constant immigration, we as a nation are blessed to have many styles and genres of music to appreciate. Students are given an opportunity to explore these genres and become better in tune with their own personal history.
Everyone in the world experiences some form of music, which is why it is so important to have it stay in our schools. By having music in the classrooms as well as outside school, a student can learn at a higher level and develop more in depth relationships with their peers and teachers. As a parent, they can open the door to many opportunities for their child, just by allowing them to listen to music or take private lessons. Students are still able to learn effectively without music, but by immersing them into it, their development will be greatly enhanced.
With the implications of the standardized testing, music educators are left out of the test completely. By NCLB being in use, some schools are convinced to decide how budgeting should occur based on test results. Since the Fine Arts are not included in testing, they are often the first programs to be cut from the schools. Not only are good teachers put out of a job, but students are losing an opportunity to benefit from such a fundamental aspect of the curriculum. As we are looking to find ways to be supportive of our music programs, we should be reminded that music is not an entity unto itself. It is a compilation of math, reading, literature, language, and history. Music also incorporates many different learning styles through movement, visualizing, and listening.
What I’m asking Mr. President, is that we be reminded of how vital music and the arts are to every child’s education. Music IS fundamental.

This post was submitted by Heather Pieper.

Teacher Salary

Christine Stocker — Tue, 14 Apr 2009 19:34:51 +0000

I am a senior at Western Illinois University and Elementary Education major. After reading over some of the other suggestions it got me thinking. Some suggestions were about funding and paying the teachers more. That is what got my attention. Personally I think that teachers should all start out at a certain pay. This would be depending on the state and or district. I know not every school in the country can be the same. Now teachers would start on this scale but they could always move up on the pay scale. They are able to move up by taking professional development courses/seminars, and furthering their degree. I don’t necessarily agree with merit pay. We have discussed this in a class of mine and I don’t see rewarding teachers for grades is fair. As a teacher you know from year to year the dynamics of your classroom change dramatically. As a teacher you would be focusing more on the test rather than having your students master those skills. You also have to think about the area the school is in. If for example you have a lower income area where the school has had constant trouble getting high enough grades on the test, you will not attract good teachers because they know they will not be getting a high enough salary. That is sad, because we should want to teach those struggling students, but the reality is we also need to be paid fairly too. Merit pay is not the best decision. I think if we were able to come up with a plan where teachers get paid more when they work towards furthering their education, you would see the scores go up. Learning is a lifelong process and I think even teachers who have been teaching 10 years can still learn something to further their education.

This post was submitted by Christine Stocker.

Merit Pay

Emily Calkins — Tue, 14 Apr 2009 19:34:51 +0000

I am currently a student at Western Illinois University enrolled in the education program. I am studying to be a special education teacher with teaching certificates in both special education and elementary education. I have taken many classes that have prepared me to be a teacher and have taught over 100 hours in both the special education classroom and general education classroom. Merit pay is an issue that has come up in many discussions in the classroom and during field work that I have done with other teachers. I like the idea of merit pay, but am concerned with how it will be implemented. It is important for people who have the power to control how educators will be paid to surround themselves with people who are currently educators. Merit pay would be a great way to reward teachers who go above and beyond to ensure that every student is getting the best education possible. However, everyone has their own opinions on what a “great teacher” is and how to ensure that those teachers would be rewarded with merit pay. I am concerned that if merit pay was mandated that the people who would judge who gets the money and who does not qualify will be biased. I am also concerned that they will judge a teacher with more testing of students and pressure being put on student success rates that are not possible. In special education students each have individual goals; these goals are set up to create the most achievement possible for that student. Teachers work hard to help students reach these goals, but what if the student’s goals do not meet the expectations of merit pay. I am concerned that teachers will be overlooked for the hard work that they put in if the student’s are not as successful as another person thinks he/she should be. Everyone learns differently and everyone has different expectations for teachers. How would merit pay make sure that all of these expectations are met? It wouldn’t. Merit pay would not solve any of the problems with “bad teachers” it would only increase stress for teachers who already work hard! Teachers are not respected, taken seriously, and are taken for granted every day; merit pay is a nice idea to solve some of these problems, but what needs to happen is an increase in teachers’ salaries all together! People need incentives to become teachers, going to college for 4+ years to start out at a teacher’s salary takes a lot of dedication, and bad teachers are a result. People in businesses and other jobs that make more than teachers need the degree because they are going to be competing against other people for a profit, teachers are expected to compete at the same level for jobs that pay next to nothing, and this is the problem that needs to be solved.

This post was submitted by Emily Calkins.

How Much Tolerance for Zero Tolerance?

Justin Heinekamp — Tue, 14 Apr 2009 19:34:51 +0000

The current system of Zero Tolerance in America’s schools needs to be discussed and redesigned. This policy has been held firmly in place for years without any substantial amount of empirical evidence to support its implementation. In the research and discussion in my current educational law and policy class, we have determined that the negative effectives of zero tolerance currently outweigh the positives. It is of utmost importance to keep students safe at school and the zero tolerance policy was clearly designed in order to do this, however at what cost and is it effective in achieving this goal?
Since the implementation of zero tolerance expulsions and suspensions for students have consistently increased rather than decreased (Henault 2001). Often, the use of expulsion is becoming absurd in many situations. More and more students are being removed from the classroom for reasons that are farther and farther from causing real threat to other students and when a student is removed from a classroom, it becomes increasingly difficult to have them come back. The current implementation of zero tolerance often removes administrators and teachers ability to use discrimination. According to the current state of the policy, there is an extremely limited spectrum of punishment being taken against a very large spectrum of infractions. The unintended consequences of this policy are far reaching. Schools are becoming more like prisons with security guards, dogs, metal detectors etc. When does a school feel safe because of these precautions and when do students begin to feel like prisoners? Students are often stripped of the right to due process. Many administrators have a policy of punish immediately and don’t ask questions, resulting in the loss of the right of due process to students and they are, in their minds, right to do so because they have a policy to follow. Often, excellent students are being expelled or suspended over misunderstandings or mistakes.
The school is a place where students learn much more than what is being taught from a book, lecture or course. What are the students of today learning about zero tolerance? Will students, the leaders of the future, become increasingly less tolerant? It is difficult, and I do not wish, to imagine a society built on the concept of zero tolerance. Currently, this is the future that is being created for students.
I strongly suggest that the zero tolerance system be re-evaluated. There are many alternatives to this form of policy such as a system which attempts to match infractions with proper punishment or that allows administrators the ability to design a punishment system for their school and students. Under a policy of zero tolerance, mistakes are simply not allowed or tolerated and there have clearly been mistakes made because of zero tolerance. How much tolerance should we have for zero tolerance?

Henault, C. (2001), “Zero tolerance in schools”, Journal of Law and Education, Vol. 30 No. 3, pp. 547-53.

This post was submitted by Justin Heinekamp.

It’s not money, it is time

Nick McCauley — Tue, 14 Apr 2009 19:34:51 +0000

During my sixteen years of education, I have found that it does not matter how much money you give schools. The most important part of education is the amount of instructional time students have. Throwing money at schools will only cause them to find ways to spend the money, but I have never seen a school spend the money in any way that has much of a positive impact on the amount of knowledge students are learning. Along with the amount of time that students are instructed in school it is extremely important for students to have support from home. This positive influence at home is proven to be an extremely benefit for students performances.
Instead of giving schools money, we need to put requirements on the schools to increase instructional time to get more funds. This extra money will allow schools to offer extra classes or services to students to improve their performance and knowledge. I would even suggest compensation for families whose students improve their performance by a certain percentage. This will help to persuade parents of the importance of modeling and helping of students outside of school because it will help their child’s future and will help to keep food on the table at the same time. I know that this may be difficult to provide money to families for their child’s grade improvement, But I feel that this will not just help families but it will help the entire community.
I know that in the past school districts have tried to reward students for success without much success. The fault in this is that students do not know the value of money, but for the most part, parents do have a better idea of the value. This will also help to build connections between parents and students that will help the student to be more successful. This may even create a situation that allows parents the opportunity to get their student into a better situation than they are already in. This situation is an extremely benefit for both the parents and the student because parents could get some more money and be closer to their student. Also the student gets a closer relationship to their parent or parents and possibly learns more and has a better education.

This post was submitted by Nick McCauley.