Subscribe to Dollars & Sense magazine. Recent articles related to the financial crisis. Obama's Neoliberal and Elitist Educational PolicyFrom Danny Weil, who's writing a book on elite-led educational reform, at Counterpunch. Not to disrespect the dead, but it must be remembered that No Child Left Behind was endorsed by the late Senator Kennedy...Neoliberalism, Charter Schools and the Chicago ModelObama and Duncan's Education Policy: Like Bush's, Only Worse By DANNY WEIL In his first major speech on education since his election and swearing in as President, a speech made to an unscheduled meeting of the Council of Chief State School officers, held on March 10, 2009 in Washington D.C., Barrack Obama repeated the claims heard from many quarters that the United States must drastically improve student achievement to regain lost international standing in the world. He called for tying teachers' pay to student performance (merit pay) and for expanding charter schools throughout the nation. In calling for merit pay for teachers, Obama argued: "Too many supporters of my party have resisted the idea of rewarding excellence in teaching with extra pay, even though we know it can make a difference in the classroom." The president of the 3.2 million-member National Education Association (NEA), Dennis Van Roekel, weakly insisted that Obama's call for teacher performance pay did not necessarily signify raises or bonuses would be tied to student test scores under No Child Left behind, as merit pay proponents have consistently called for. According to the NEA president, it could mean more pay for board-certified teachers or for those who work in high-poverty, hard-to-staff schools. However, much to the chagrin of the NEA president, administration officials later clarified the issue, saying that among other things, they most certainly do mean to tie higher teacher pay to student achievement on standardized tests. This clearly seems to signal that the No Child Left Behind standardized testing regime will continue unabated and the 'average yearly progress' will continue to serve as the metaphorical educational Dow Jones of 'measureable outcomes', not only for teachers and students, but as we discussed in previous chapters, eventually as benchmarks for the 'charter school providers' or EMOs themselves. Read the rest of the article Labels: Arne Duncan, Barack Obama, charter schools, Counterpunch, Danny Weil, education, NEA, no child left behind act Please consider donating to Dollars & Sense and/or subscribing to the magazine (both print and e-subscriptions now available!). |
