Title:
Obama's 'Blueprint for Reform' in Education Goes to
Congress
Description: This is
a VOA Special English Education Report.
See text below
Text:
President Obama sent Congress a proposal in March to
rewrite the main federal education law. The current
version of the law, signed by George W. Bush eight
years ago, is known as the No Child Left Behind Act.
That name would go away.
The current policy calls for every student to be
able to pass state tests in reading and math by two
thousand fourteen. All schools must show yearly
progress toward this goal. But states decide how
much students need to know to show "proficiency."
President Obama's goal is that every student should
graduate from high school "ready for college and a
career." The target date for schools is twenty
twenty. The president described the plan in one of
his weekly radio and Internet addresses.
The president said: "What this plan recognizes is
that while the federal government can play a leading
role in encouraging the reforms and high standards
we need, the impetus for that change will come from
states and from local schools and school districts."
Under the new proposal, states and school systems
would compete for federal grants. The idea is
similar to the administration's four billion dollar
Race to the Top competition to reform schools.
Struggling schools could receive money for teacher
improvement and for developing plans for success.
The lowest performing schools would face changes
such as replacing teachers and the principal or
being closed.
The administration sent its general ideas to
Congress in what it called "A Blueprint for Reform"
to develop the next education law. Ann Bryant is
executive director of the National School Boards
Association. Her group worked with the Department of
Education on the plan. She says it is a good start
but still needs work.The plan would reward effective
schools and teachers with money and other
recognition. But leaders of the nation's largest
teachers unions criticized the administration's
"blueprint."
Dennis Van Roekel of the National Education
Association said it "still relies on standardized
tests to identify winners and losers." He also
expressed disappointment that states would have to
compete for money.
Randi Weingarten of the American Federation of
Teachers said the plan appears to place all the
responsibility on teachers, but gives them "zero
percent authority."
And that's the VOA Special English Education Report.
For more programs, go to voaspecialenglish.com.
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Hi. I
personally reviewed this video and found it appropriate for
the news section of English Global Group. This
is a Voice of America video which covers an interesting
topic in Special English. I would appreciate some feedback from both
students and teachers about this video. You can comment in
the window below using any of a number of different services
including Facebook, Yahoo, AOL, and Hotmail.
