As Part of the White House "Race to the Top" education plan, billions of dollars from the government's stimulus package are about to become available to state school systems who best meet the Department of Education's standards for improvement.
States will be judged on how ready and able they are to enact certain areas of reform prioritized by the federal government - from keeping better track of student growth to tying teacher pay to student performance.
At a school in Falls Church, Virginia, President Obama said that he believes that competition between states will make the program effective. "We laid out a few key criteria and said, 'If you meet these tests, we'll reward you by helping you reform your schools,'" Obama said.
But some are critical of the "Race to the Top" education plan, saying that the federal government should not be too involved in local education decisions.
Quotes
"It's the competitive nature of this initiative that we believe helps make it so effective. We laid out a few key criteria and said, "If you meet these tests, we'll reward you by helping you reform your schools." - President Obama
"This program is a competitive program. The states that win Race to the Top, we're hoping that what they do is show the way to the rest of the country for what could and should happen out there." - Joanne Weiss, Director of Race to the Top
"We're not telling people in the Race to the Top program how to accomplish these things. We're just saying, great teachers matter, so how are you going to get more great teachers in front of kids?" - Joanne Weiss, Director of Race to the Top
Warm Up Questions
1. What does the U.S. Department of Education do? What is its role?
2. How can schools assess if students are learning?
3. Who holds a student responsible for doing a good job? Who holds a school responsible for doing a good job?
Discussion Questions
1. What did you learn from this video? Did you know that there was so much money for education in the federal stimulus package?
2. Why do different states have different standards?
3. Why would the U.S. government be so interested in making sure that its citizens are well educated? What is the purpose?
4. Do you believe that making state school systems compete for money is the best way to get them to meet standards or requirements? Do you see a problem with competition like that?
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