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Education Unions reveal concerns over Obama´s school "Blueprint"

President Barack Obama's reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, an overhaul of George W. Bush's 2002 No Child Left Behind initiative,…

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President Barack Obama's reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, an overhaul of George W. Bush's 2002 No Child Left Behind initiative, is raising concern from the nation's powerful education unions.

Stressing that the United States now trails many developed countries in key areas of public schooling, Obama delivered his administration's broad vision March 13 with the message, "Our competitors understand that the nation that out-educates us today will out-compete us tomorrow."

This month he followed up with greater pedagogical and budget detail in his “Blueprint for Reform.” Both unions have provided prompt critiques.

In an interview with Hispanic Link News Service, National Education Association president Dennis Van Roekel stated that while the Administration is moving "in the right direction," the proposal needs to improve the way it deals with teachers before NEA, with its 3.2 million members, can fully support it.  

A successful education formula needs three components, he said:

(1) collaboration between management and school boards and the employees and their unions, (2) assessments that use growth models and multiple measures, and (3) all schools receive the resources needed to make them work.

Proposed high-stakes testing to determine which are the challenged schools, making them "winners and losers — we don't support this," he said.

American Federation of Teachers spokesperson John Cee called a system that gives teachers "zero authority" is a flawed strategy.  "The blueprint places 100% of the responsibility on teachers," he said. "It can't be just teachers, or just principals, or just parents. It has to be all of us working together to give our kids the schools they need and deserve."

AFT has 1.4 million members.

Meeting privately with Latino journalists March 26, Education Secretary Arne Duncan said academic growth has "flat-lined" the last two decades and the Obama plan places major emphasis on reaching the underserved.

Juan Sepúlveda, director of White House Initiatives on Educational Excellence for Hispanic Americans, said focusing on teachers and evaluating their performance is key to bridging the gap. College/career readiness is a key component in expanding that success, he said.

"There's one thing about NCLB that we want to continue, and that is a focus on equity — seeing how subgroups, not just schools in general, are doing, We want to take it a step further, however, by giving states a common set of standards while also allowing flexibility."

The transformation approach outlined in Obama's blueprint would require schools in the lowest five percent to choose one of four turnaround models. Some require dismissal of the principal and half of the staff should schools fail to improve. Critics see this as a disruption unfair to some good staff and their pupils and just add to the problem. 

The high school dropout rate for Hispanics and blacks is more than double that of the 30% for whites. A 2009 report by the Alliance for Excellent Education shows black and Hispanic rates to be 69% and 63%, respectively.

 

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