Secretary of Education, Arne Duncan recently gave the American education system a "B" grade in an article ($5 Billion bet on education). An article that quotes Duncan, "A $5 billion bet on Education," points out that the United States' students fail to graduate on-time about 25% of the time and that the country ranks 18th out of 36 industrialized countries in education. Secretary Duncan thinks that with the backing of Obama's stimulus money, he said "With unprecedented resources and unprecedented reform, I think we have a fundamental and historic breakthrough." One has to wonder what planet Mr. Duncan is on.
The "reform" that Duncan has proposed: improving teacher quality; higher standards; overhauling low-performing schools; and better tracking of student performance were all part of the Bush education plan. How is Mr. Duncan's plan supposed to evoke a historic breakthrough when there are no fundamental new ideas to base change.
There are about 2.5 million teachers in the United States and we've just completed summer break. How is the improvement of teacher quality supposed to occur? Is education supposed to improve because teachers are getting better? How? Are teachers being taught better; are they smarter? What is the change among teachers that will bring about a "breakthrough." Higher standards is a stupid idea. Let's set the standard as "Every child must learn Calculus" before graduating." Is that a high enough standard? The problem is that is that it will not happen. Setting hihger standards does not mean that change what happens in the classroom. It's good to overhaul poor schools, but what is the "newer and better" system that replaces the poor school? Finally, a tracking system is good, but unless there is a plan to keep parents and students appraised of their progress, this too can be a moot point. What Duncan needs is a coherent plan to improve the system.
Fundamental changes in the classroom will occur when the quality of instruction in the classroom occurs. At present, there is no comprehensive vehicle for improving instruction in classrooms. What we have is a new Secretary of Education promising to escape the pull of gravity without a vehicle to escape. Education will not improve using the same methods. "Improving the Odds: raising the class" describes the fundamental flaw of the education system to be the system itself. We do not have effective ways to transfer information in a classroom setting. Until we do, it will be the same promises for education.
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