What are the Eu’s Education Issues?

This from the Netherlands. How’d you like if these were the education issues we faced?

Discriminatory Student Grants Land Netherlands in European Court of Justice

Source: European Commission
Published Thursday, 8 October, 2009 – 13:55

The European Commission is taking the Netherlands to the European Court of Justice over a student grant scheme which discriminates against workers from other EU countries and their families. Dutch legislation imposes a residence requirement for grants to study abroad which puts migrant and frontier workers – including those residing in neighbouring Belgium – at a disadvantage compared to nationals.

“Free movement is a founding principle of the EU which ensures people are not discriminated against on the basis of nationality. Grants to study abroad are a social advantage which should be allocated without discrimination to migrant and frontier workers and their children,” said Vladimír Špidla, EU Commissioner for Employment and Social Affairs. “The Netherlands has failed to modify its rules and respect the right to equal treatment so we are now bringing a case before the Court of Justice,” he added. (more)

‘Race to Top’ Said to Lack Key Science

If America needs anything more than health reform, it’s education reform. Obama’s Race to the Top replaces Bush’s No Child Left Behind. Read on.

Education Week: ‘Race to Top’ Said to Lack Key Science

Here’s Why People Don’t Stress over Education Anymore

A recent poll shows that Americans no longer rank education as one of the top three most important issues we face as a nation. It now ranks seventh.

Seventh. That’s right. Are you surprised? I’m not. Ranking education seventh is the logical consequence of human nature. For years–decades–we as an educated people committed ourselves to solving America’s education shortfalls. We poured money into improving our schools, wrote volumes about the causes and effects, changed policy after policy in the chase for the best way to Solve Our Problem. The result? America ranks worse now than ever–

The United States, we’re told, had the world’s best college-graduation rate as recently as 1995, but 10 years later ranked 15th.

American education ranks almost at the bottom of all developed nations.

“American children consume [nearly] 90 percent of Ritalin worldwide. Yet American education ranks way down the list when you compare us with other countries.”

It seems no matter our policies, our investment, or the blood of our hearts and souls, we are doomed to failure in the eyes of educators and the world. Since Those That Know will never tell us we are succeeding, why not give up? Will that be worse than failing?

Wait. Isn’t that someone’s definition of failure–giving up? Either way, education won’t get worse.

Here’s the article that started me on this tirade–He** yes,  we no longer prioritize education at the top. We’re giving that slot to some cause we believe we might succeed at:

Poll Reveals How Americans Prioritize Education

For as long as I can remember, we have always cited that “education” is a top three issue in the eyes of the American people. While we may debate whether it is a subject on which we cast our votes (and there is little to show that education policy has any effect on national campaigns), it is supposedly an issue that we hold near and dear. So much so that just last year the Gates and Broad Foundations used Ed in 08/Stronger American Schools to try and push education through the win/place/show list to make it THE major driver in the 2008 presidential elections.

Funny how quickly things can change. Education may have long been a top-three concern, but according to a recent national poll, it is now barely making the top 10. Rasmussen recently surveyed Americans on their priorities, asking the question, “How important is it for the nation to face these issues …” One could answer “very important” to any and all of the categories. Following are those issues that scored very important (and how many of those surveyed thought so):

Government ethics and corruption — 83 percent
Economy — 82 percent
Health care — 73 percent
National security — 67 percent
Social Security — 65 percent
Taxes — 62 percent
Education — 59 percent
War in Iraq — 49 percent
Immigration — 49 percent

(more)

National Education Standards? Can You Say Big Brother?

Big Brother or Saving Grace

One size fits all in the education field? Since when did all Americans agree on how children should be raised? Isn’t that why we have private schools, Christian schools, magnet schools–because rarely can a large group agree on what is critical to a child’s development.Would you want San Francisco (or you fill in the blank) making decisions about the books your child reads? Maybe you do. Maybe you don’t, but I’ll bet you want the choice.

National standards are a pivotal change from each state following local cultural morays. Wait till Iowa hears they have to teach transgender dress or Utah that it must teach evolution. Whether you agree with liberal or conservative, the three R’s or a more eclectic approach, there is no one rule that suits everyone. And that’s part of the beauty of American education.

Here’re the national physical education standards, according to the National Association for Sport and Physical Education:

A physically educated person:

— Has learned skills necessary to perform a variety of physical activities
— Is physically fit
— Does participate regularly in physical activity
— Knows the implications of and the benefits from involvement in physical activities
— Values physical activity and its contribution to a healthful lifestyle

S, let’s see if I got this straight: A physically educated person is physically fit. Pretty wishy washy for most PE teachers I know. The lack of details sure keeps teachers from teaching to the test. Thanks, feds.

Read for yourself.

Education Week: National Subject-Matter Standards? Be Careful What You Wish For

By Marion Brady

“American education,” said Buckminster Fuller, “has evolved in such a way that it will be the undoing of the society.”

Fuller, the visionary thinker and inventor whose work spanned fields from architecture to philosophy, was about to address a 1988 conference of business executives at Rockford College in Illinois, but was first reacting to a speech just concluded by the college’s president.

Looking at the president, he continued: “What you fellows in the universities do is to make all the bright students into experts in something. That has some usefulness, but the trouble is it leaves the ones with mediocre minds and the dunderheads to become generalists who serve as college presidents. And presidents of the United States.”

Generalists—people concerned with the “big picture”—don’t get much respect in the modern world. There’s no “generalists” listing in the Yellow Pages, none are on school faculties, and no employment ads request applications from them.

What’s the big picture right now? Clashes on the fault lines between religions, societies, and civilizations. Terrorism. A widening gap between rich and poor. The confusing of national power with national greatness. Boardroom dishonesty. Violence promoted as entertainment. Lobbyist-dominated legislatures. Great confidence in the ability of force to improve the world. Tax evasion and other evidences of a lack of a sense of social responsibility. An education system in disarray from policies driven by ideology and simplistic conventional wisdom. (more)

Don’t Teach to the Test, But Tie Teacher Pay To Performance?

Race to the Top, NCLB’s replacement, is a $4.35 billion competitive grant program for states (and a part of the $100 billion in education aid in the $787 billion recovery act passed by Congress in February). Criteria include:

• Developing and adopting common standards
• Developing and implementing common, high-quality assessments
• Fully implementing a statewide longitudinal data system
• Providing alternative pathways for aspiring teachers and principals
• Intervening in the lowest-performing schools and LEAs
• Increasing the supply of high-quality charter schools
• Demonstrating significant progress (on standards, data, teaching quality, struggling schools, and achievement)
• Making education funding a priority
• Enlisting statewide support and commitment
• Supporting transition to enhanced standards and high-quality assessments
• Accessing and using state data
• Using data to improve instruction
• Differentiating teacher and principal effectiveness based on performance
• Ensuring equitable distribution of effective teachers and principals
• Reporting the effectiveness of teacher and principal preparation programs
• Providing effective support to teachers and principals
• Turning around struggling schools
• Raising achievement and closing gaps
• Building strong statewide capacity to implement, scale, and sustain proposed plans

The crux of Race to the Top is being able to link teacher and student data. U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan said in an interview. “We believe great teachers matter tremendously. When you’re reluctant or scared to make that link, you do a grave disservice to the teaching profession and to our nation’s children.” The National Education Association has withdrawn its support for Obama’s plan, saying it cannot support endorsing the use of test scores for evaluating teachers.

If you were your state’s Education Chief, would you invest the projected 650-hours required to complete the application? Here’s what you need to know.

Teacher Magazine: What Teachers Need to Know About Race to the Top

As states continue the scramble for education dollars this year, teachers may hear frequent references to a federal grant program called “Race to the Top.” What exactly does it mean for classroom educators?

The Race to the Top Fund, part of the Obama administration’s economic stimulus package, is a $4.35 billion competitive grant program for states, administered by the U.S. Department of Education. It is designed to encourage states to make coordinated, large-scale education improvement efforts across a number of policy areas that the Education Department sees as key. (more)

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How Obama Is Changing Education

I wanted to discuss the results of NCLB, now that we’re leaving it behind and moving on to what Obama calls ‘Race to the Top’. I started with a Google search for stories, data, apocryphal results. By the time I read the heading and the first few sentences, I could tell if it would be pro or con. Whatever stories were available or data out there, it would end up proving the author’s purpose in their article. See if you agree:

Words like:

abysmal, ‘the realities left behind’, crucial, –these are all hyperbolic words, emotional statements, intended to insight feelings in lieu of necessary data

Words like:

released the data’, ‘accountability system’, ‘we have a lot more work to do’, –these are denotative words (not intended to draw on emotion), fact-based, good-with-the-bad approach

The following two stories draw dramatically different conclusions from President Bush’s No Child Left Behind Act. See which word grouping you think they belong to:

How Communities, Parents and Students Assess the Impact of the NCLB Act 2004 – 07: The Realities Left Behind

• NCLB has been imposed on a public school system that remains unequal. From one end of the country to another, witnesses described inequities in resources that made the federal mandates not only onerous but also exceedingly unfair. Moreover, the failure of policymakers to increase the capacity of state education agencies and districts to carry out reforms has allowed them to avoid responsibility and accountability. While these inequities stem from state and district policymaking, the federal government can leverage incentives or Title I formulas to encourage the reduction of disparities in resources between districts and schools.
• NCLB rests on a faulty measurement capacity. The quality and reliability of tests need improvement. In addition, the public wants a broader purpose for assessment systems. Beyond the acquisition of basic skills, assessment systems should measure student and school achievement in other areas, including fostering of citizenship, preparation in “soft skills” valued by employers and colleges alike, and the development of all talents, from technical to artistic. Admittedly, some of these aspects are not easily measured, but that should not be an excuse for ignoring them or minimizing their importance to student success.

More schools earning As, state report cards show

By Lori Higgins
Free Press Education Writer

Fewer schools are failing to meet state and federal academic goals, more are earning As, and more are pulling themselves out of trouble. That’s the story behind the release today of state report cards for every public school in Michigan.

• The number of schools that met the academic goals rose from 3,003 last year to 3,147 this year.
• The number of schools receiving As on their state report cards rose from 1,526 to 1,680.
• More than 35 schools that have been consistent failures managed to show enough improvement in the last two years that they are safe from sanctions. Sixteen of those schools are located in Macomb, Oakland and Wayne counties.
• The number of schools that fail to meet the standards because of the performance of minority, economically disadvantaged, special education and limited English speaking students is on the decline.
• Of the 524 schools statewide that didn’t meet the academic goals, about 100 are located in Detroit Public Schools and another 142 are in the tri-county area.

It’s a tale of two debate techniques, one inductive and one deductive. Read the data and draw your conclusions or read the accept the reviewer’s early-stated conclusion and see how they arrived at their end point. If you’re pro NCLB, you’d say those against didn’t look at the data. If you’re against NCLB, you’d say the reporting agencies ‘taught to the test’–twisted the data to fit your needs.

How do we know if the program worked or not? It comes down to us, as citizens soldiers of the American political system, just trying to give our kids a better life than we had. We believe education will do that. Most of us like our schools, but think the rest of them suck.

New administration. New ideas. Here comes Obama’s Race to the Top:

California Actions on ‘Race to Top’ Scrutinized

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger signs an order in Sacramento last month calling for a special session of the legislature to consider a basket of education improvement proposals.
— Rich Pedroncelli/AP

By Alyson Klein

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s decision to call a special session to better position California for Race to the Top funds may be the highest-profile test yet of whether proposed federal requirements for the coveted grants are likely to significantly reshape state policy.

The Republican governor last month directed the Democratic-controlled California legislature to consider enacting a package of education redesign measures—including scrapping a law blocking the state from linking student and teacher data—in hopes of improving the state’s competitive posture.

Under draft criteria for the Race to the Top Fund, released July 23, states that have such a data “firewall” on the books would be automatically disqualified from getting a portion of the $4.35 billion fund, which was created under the American…

642 Hours to Complete Race to the Top Application

Wow. Is this normal? Anyone know?

Education Week: Heavy Lifting Ahead for ‘Race to Top’ Applications

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