I spent a lot of time figuring out what was perhaps the most important topic of the day and of course with education being attacked from every quarter, there isn't a most. The education situation is like a pipe with small holes and no amount of epoxy will close all of them so the pipe keeps leaking. However, I persist and this time I will join the crowd and talk about President Obama's Race to the Top (RTT) for higher education.
* Setting Responsible Tuition Policy: Colleges have to keep their costs down, provide a quality education,
prepare graduates for jobs to pay back their loans and enroll higher numbers of low income students. Or else!
Tall order when states are in budget crisis, jobs are non existent and low income students can't afford to go to college without federal aid that will be lowered at the institutions they attend because lower income students, particularly students of color graduate at lower rates. Huh?
* RTT for higher education. Colleges get rewarded if the states create "systemic reforms" and compete for
funds that help "kids" graduate on time. And besides, RTT for schools has already worked so well that 19
states now better educate 22 million students for less than one percent of the total education spending.
The states that received the RTT money so far needed to bribe the Teacher Unions, create (buy more standardized tests) and start talking about evaluation of teachers with tests based on standardized test scores of their students some of whom some teachers never teach! There's more to come tomorrow, but join PEST (Put an End to Standardized Testing), speak out, and read the marvelous "Letter to the President" by psychologist Robert Sternberg http://www.insidehighered.com/views/2012/01/30/open-letter-president-obama-his-plans-deal-tuition-increases
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