Week 9 Blog: Obama Calls for Major Change in Education Law by Sam Dillon

The administration would replace the law’s pass-fail school grading system with one that would measure individual students’ academic growth and judge schools based not on test scores alone but also on indicators like pupil attendance, graduation rates and learning climate. And while the proposal calls for more vigorous interventions in failing schools, it would also reward top performers and lessen federal interference in tens of thousands of reasonably well-run schools in the middle

The above excerpt from the article sums it up pretty well. The Obama administration, while it has been discredited for many things unfairly, has sold me on the provisions to the No Child Left Behind Act. My initial issues with NCLB came when I first saw President Bush at my High School speaking on the plan. While the idea was a good one, it was poorly executed and was not well thought out. My biggest issue however was that the ways schools would be judged encouraged a "coldness" towards the students. Teachers have been concentratng so hard on making sure that students are getting proper scores (even if it means only memorizing the right answers and not remembering content) that they are also forgetting that their influence is bigger to children than many of them realize. I believe these provisions will help put the heart back into teachers, while still getting across the message that no child will be forgotten and that all children will be given all instruments necessary to be successful.

Week 8 Blog: "Darwin Foes Add Warming to Targets" by Leslie Kaufman

The debate between Conservatives and Liberals on the subject of Darwin theory of evolution has been well documented. However, with the influx of theories regarding Climate Change and Global Warming becoming increasingly debated along the same political lines, the debate on whether the newest scientific hot topic being taught in schools has been brought to the forefront. In Kaufman's article, bills in various states regarding how to approach teaching climate change and global warming in public schools. The debate for Conservatives is that while their is some scientific evidence or not, Climate Change and Global warming are just theories. Similar to the debate between Evolution and Creationism, both sides remain to be theories because they can not be proven true. The position of the Liberals is that keeping these theories from being taught violates the separation of Church and State. From my perspective, I like the idea of the bill presented in the state of Kentucky:

In Kentucky, a bill recently introduced in the Legislature would encourage teachers to discuss “the advantages and disadvantages of scientific theories,” including “evolution, the origins of life, global warming and human cloning.”

This gives students the opportunity to make their own decision and formulate their own opinion on the subject, as opposed to how the theory of evolution is taught in schools (both public and private) where evolution is taught in many cases as scientific truth and not a scientific theory.

Week 7 Blog Assignment - Plan to fire all its teachers roils poor RI city

"Central Falls High School has long been one of the worst-performing in Rhode Island. Just 7 percent of 11th graders tested in the fall were proficient in math. Only 33 percent were proficient in writing, and just 55 percent were proficient in reading. In 2008, just 52 percent of students graduated within four years and 30 percent dropped out."

A small paragraph that speaks volumes to the decision for Officials to fire all the teachers in Central Falls, RI. However, what stuck out to me most in the article was how the schools wanted teachers to work extra hours without paying them extra. As an aspiring teacher, I understand there is work that must take place on their own time to be an effective teacher. Grading homework and tests, Coming up with projects to help the students learn in multiple ways, devising new strategies to making teaching more effective are just a few of the things that teachers do during hours off the clock to be effective, or at least things they should be doing. Teachers are already under payed for a profession that is so essential to everyday life, asking them to do things such as provide tutoring, while understandable, warrants the request to be payed more money. On the opposite side of the issue, teachers whom are not doing what they should deserve the fate that awaits them. However, when an entire school system is failing, the question must be raised: Is the lack of progression of the students directly related to the performance of all the teachers, or is there something more that is inhibiting the teachers from doing the best job they possibly can? Only upon coming to the truthful conclusion of that question as opposed to having many scapegoats can a decision such as firing all the teachers of a school district be made justifiably.

Week 3 Assignment number 3: Texas school district turns away students from Mexico

The article "Texas school district turns away students from Mexico" reported by CNN highlights an issue that is prevalent in many border towns of the southwest United States. In the article mentioned, a district is forced to turn away students whom are attending the school because they don't live in the U.S. The article even makes a point to say that the school district went and checked the home addresses of many of the students only to find out that the address was a vacant lock. The issue addressed in the article is rooted in the issue of border patrol. However, I believe the place of a school is just to insure that children are being educated the best they can. While some of the students are not from the United States, the issue of border control is not an issue that the school district should concern itself with addressing, as opposed to worrying whether or not their students are learning everything they possibly can.

Week 3 Assignment number 2: Surge in Homeless Pupils Strains Schools

Upon Reading the article "Surge in Homeless Pupils Strains Schools" by Eric Eckholm I found myself in a state of wondering how outside factors affected the educational goals and endeavors of a child. In the article, examples of children faced with the strain of having to go to school and return to no home of their own has been addressed by local school administrations. The article is upsetting, but not only from an educational stand point, but also from the standpoint of not being able to understand the situation of the various families who are not able to find homes to place their children in. From an educational point of view, I now wonder how the children that belong to homeless families are doing in school; how does their living situation affect their ability to make the grades necessary to pass them on to the next grade and continue their education? As it is made note of in the article, the stress of not living in a home does affect the children, but it has to be in more ways than just affecting how they eat and sleep, which are two factors that have been documented in affecting the everyday learning of a child. I agree with the article to a certain extent. Pupils being homeless does put a strain on the schools, but I believe the true strain is put on the students more than anyone else.