Refocusing on Education
by Samina Uddin, Features Editor on October 1, 2008 in Features
• A look at the education platforms of Obama and McCain
Eight years ago, George W. Bush ran on the promise that he would be the “education president.” His two terms produced only one major education initiative – the controversial No Child Left Behind Act – and American schoolchildren continue to slip behind their peers throughout the developed world. Despite the enormity of this quiet crisis, education has been all but invisible this campaign season, as Iraq, the economy, and the purported tenacity of hockey moms have collectively relegated it to a footnote.
Senators Barack Obama and John McCain do, however, have distinct education platforms and are seeking to reform education policy. Their proposals reflect a common commitment to improve America’s education system, but their approaches are different and carry disparate consequences.
On September 17, Harvard Kennedy School sought to re-focus attention on this crucial issue with a forum featuring surrogates for the Obama and McCain campaigns, who presented the candidates’ education platforms. Co-sponsored by HKS’ Education Professional Interest Council and the Harvard Business School Education Leadership Group, the event drew students from across the Harvard community.
Stephanie Robinson, Esq., a lecturer at Harvard Law School and former chief counsel to Senator Edward M. Kennedy, spoke on behalf of Obama. The McCain campaign was represented by Jane Swift, governor of Massachusetts from 2001 through 2003.
The surrogates presented the candidates’ policies on six issues: early childhood education, charter schools and choice, No Child Left Behind, funding, higher education, and teacher quality. Kathleen McCartney, Dean of the Harvard Graduate School of Education, moderated the event. (To watch clips of the surrogates presenting on an issue, click on the issues presented below.)
“Barack Obama and Joe Biden,” said Robinson at the outset, “will ensure that children . . . are prepared and ready with the skills necessary to compete in this global economy.” According to Robinson, Obama plans to invest $19 billion in comprehensive education reform.
Swift highlighted McCain’s plan to put “excellent teachers in every classroom,” to give parents better information and greater choice, and to increase opportunities for low-income students.
While the candidates profess similar goals for early childhood education (ECE), each has described a different plan for realizing them.
For McCain, Swift explained, educational excellence requires children to arrive on their first day of kindergarten with the skills needed to learn. Improving ECE, however, does not have to be expensive.
“There is no shortage…of state and federal funds that are directed at early care and learning,” said Swift. “In fact there’s about $25 billion spent each year on those programs. Yet, because there are complicated formulas, because there are large bureaucracies that are distant from the parents…and because, candidly, of budget constraints, not every low-income student is getting access to a high-quality care and education program on a consistent basis.”
The focus for the McCain campaign, therefore, is to “better leverage and coordinate” early childhood education to improve access and quality.
This includes establishing Centers of Excellence for Head Start to replicate best practices, measuring quality for all programs receiving federal funds, and allowing states to combine federal funds to expand access and improve their pre-K programs.
Obama, however, would increase funding for Head Start, and quadruple the number of children enrolled in Early Head Start. He wants to create early learning challenge grants for the purpose of funding “0 to 5” programs at the state level, and urge states to voluntarily take up a universal pre-K approach. Obama, Robinson added, would also increase funding and subsidies for childcare.
On the issue of school choice, said Swift, McCain has been “a real champion and a real voice.” A McCain administration would empower parents by removing barriers to school choice (affording unlimited access to charter schools), and would provide them meaningful data with which to assess the quality of their child’s education. The goal, for McCain, is equity.
“He believes that all parents should have the same choices that parents of means have and regularly exercise,” said Swift.
Swift took exception to Robinson’s assertion that McCain does not have a record on education. The former governor underscored McCain’s unwavering support of the D.C. Opportunity Scholarship Program, a voucher program that awards children up to $7,500 to attend any non-public school in the District, and his plan to expand it if elected.
Robinson pointed out, however, that McCain plans to spend a mere $7 million on school choice – less than half the current budget of the D.C. voucher program. Moreover, she countered, McCain’s proposal is limited to the District. “What happens to the other 50 states in our nation?” she asked. “There’s no proposal that’s out there that deals with that.”
“Senator Obama,” said Robinson, “is putting $1 billion to innovation and choice.
This includes choice among traditional public schools. “We are not here to run away from the public school system that is so crucial to these low-income, disadvantaged children that we are talking about,” said Robinson. Rather than limit choice to charter, not-for-profit, and Montessori schools, Obama would invest in the nation’s public schools, creating more choices for more parents.
No Child Left Behind (NCLB), established during President George W. Bush’s first term, will soon come up for reauthorization. Both surrogates said that, although well-intended, the program is in disrepair.
“What Senator Obama will say is that we have to fix it and we have to fund it,” said Robinson. She described two Obama proposals. The first is changing the way districts measure adequate yearly progress (AYP). Rather than providing an annual snapshot, said Robinson, AYP should be measured over a longer period of time.
Second, the Obama administration would ensure that teachers perform the “right kind” of assessments. While Obama supports standardized testing, said Robinson, “we want to make sure [teachers] are not spending the entire academic year, quite frankly, teaching kids how to fill bubbles on a piece of paper.” A fuller curriculum is needed, said Robinson, to enable students to be globally competitive.
Swift emphasized that NCLB has nevertheless created accountability and standards. “Before NCLB … there was a different standard applied to different children in the same classroom, in the same city, and in the same state. And that is wrong.”
In order to fix it, she advocated the need for better data systems to enable measurement of year-to-year progress and the creation of better growth models.
Funding
According to Swift, there is currently a lot of money in education. “What is lacking,” said Swift, “is consistency and quality.
“Where additional investment is necessary, we’ll support that. But we think in places, for example, like Head Start … until it’s working well, I wouldn’t quadruple the funding for it.”
On the other hand, said Swift, not enough resources are committed to research and development; to determining best practices in the classroom. If elected, McCain would make R&D a priority for education policy.
He would also transform the way in which Title II grants for state teacher-improvement programs are currently spent, “which does a lot of professional development without enhancing teacher quality in the classroom.”
Robinson echoed the need for more R&D. It’s an “abomination,” said Robinson, that only 1 percent of federal education dollars are spent on research. That said, Robinson believes there is not enough money in education to begin with.
Higher Education
College tuition rates in America are at an all-time high. For many middle- and low-income students, the cost of attending the college of their choice is prohibitive. In a country that places a premium on global competitiveness, universal access to college is crucial.
Obama not only seeks access for every American, explained Robinson, but also wants college to be affordable. His multi-pronged approach includes simplifying the financial application process. In its current form, said Robinson, “it’s a disaster.” Obama, she said, would eliminate the current financial aid application, using parents’ tax forms to determine eligibility.
Obama also proposes a $4,000 college tax credit and $25 million in matching funds for early assessment programs. Such programs would help prepare students in their sophomore and junior years, for college.
Swift highlighted the important role of community colleges, and the need to strengthen and more tightly align them with workforce training programs. She echoed the need to improve college-readiness, and to revisit the higher education tax credit.
A huge issue for McCain, Swift said, is eliminating earmarks. According to Swift, “earmarks within higher education are destroying the integrity of federally funded research.” Funding decisions, said Swift, should be made on a competitive basis, rather than on the basis of which state has the most powerful senator.
Swift criticized the effectiveness of Title II funds in improving teacher quality. A McCain-Palin administration, she said, will work with Congress to reform Title II funding, to ensure that all children have access to excellent teachers.
These reforms include using 5 percent of Title II dollars for recruitment bonuses, in order to attract teachers who graduate in the top 25 percent of their college class or participate in a high quality alternative teacher recruitment program, such as Teach for America. Swift said that 60 percent of Title II funds would be used to incentivize high-performing teachers to locate in the most challenging school districts.
McCain would also ensure that funding is tied to student achievement. “That has got to be the single most critical component of teacher effectiveness. That is, do your children show gains in learning over a year?”
Robinson outlined Obama’s four-pronged approach to improving teacher quality: recruit, prepare, retain, and reward.
Obama, said Robinson, hopes to recruit “a new army of teachers” with his new Teacher Service Scholarships.
The scholarships would cover college, graduate, and mid-career teacher training, in exchange for four years of teaching in challenging schools. Robinson also highlighted Obama’s desire to professionalize the teaching profession by preparing and supporting teachers with mentorship and teacher residency programs.
On the issue of rewarding existing teachers, Robinson agreed that rewards should be tied to student learning and performance. “I think that we actually have a lot more in common on the teacher quality issue than not.”
Conclusion
Robinson concluded with a call for a new vision for the 21st century, “one where we’re not just putting money at the problem, but demanding reform.” One in which parental responsibility, the achievement gap, and the dropout rate are also addressed. What we ultimately want, said Robinson, is to produce “smart, intelligent, and civic-minded people who are part of this great country that we all love so much.”
For Swift, the real problem is a lack of national will. “It’s incumbent on all of us, no matter what our differences are – we have got to do something to elevate this issue.”
Why is it our problem? For Obama, the reason is simple – these children are our children. He was led to believe this, said Robinson, after a conversation with a young Chicago teacher.
Obama said: “I was talking with a teacher there and I asked her, what does she see as the biggest challenge facing her students? She gave me an answer that I’d never heard before.
She spoke about what she called the ‘these kids’ syndrome and the tendency to explain away the shortcomings and failures of our education system by saying that ‘these kids can’t learn’…’these kids don’t want to learn’…’these kids are too far behind’… and after a while, ‘these kids’ become somebody else’s problem. She then said, when I hear that term, it drives me nuts. They’re not these kids. They’re our kids.
All of them are our kids. And all of the problems that impact them are our problems.”
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