Comparing the Presidential Candidates: Education

Florida has spent much of the past decade debating the best way to improve its public schools. Parents, teachers and students have grappled each year with the high-stakes Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test and then waited anxiously to find out their school grades. Meanwhile, in Tallahassee, groups have fought in the Legislature and in the Supreme Court about whether taxpayers should help pay for children to attend private schools.

Presidential candidates John McCain and Barack Obama take different approaches to reforming schools in Florida and other states. Tallahassee Bureau Chief Jim Saunders looks at the candidates' positions on issues in the third of a series appearing each Monday until the election.

Sen. John McCain

The Republican nominee supports expanding the use of school vouchers and charter schools.

He says parents should have more choices about where their children attend school and specifically calls for expanding a Washington, D.C., voucher program that serves low-income families.

McCain wants to offer bonuses to high-performing teachers who agree to work in troubled schools.

He also calls for more "alternative certification" -- which allows people with backgrounds in other fields to become teachers.

The Arizona senator also wants to use federal tax money to expand online courses for students.

QUOTE: "Education is the civil-rights issue of this century. Equal access to public education has been gained. But what is the value of access to a failing school?" (Sept. 4 in St. Paul, Minn.)

Sen. Barack Obama

The Democratic nominee calls for overhauling the federal No Child Left Behind Act. He says the education-reform effort has not received adequate funding, and he wants to improve tests used to evaluate students.

Obama proposes new college scholarships for people who agree to teach at least four years in high-demand fields, such as math and science, or in places that need teachers. He also wants extra pay for teachers who take on responsibilities such as mentoring new teachers.

The Illinois senator supports charter schools, but wants states to improve accountability for the schools' performances. Obama opposes vouchers.

The Redskins were about to lose to a previously winless opponent, as Avery's 43-yard reception put the Rams within range for a game-winning kick in the final minute of regulation yesterday, silencing 90,376 fans at FedEx Field and snapping Washington's four-game winning streak. The Redskins had just scored a touchdown to take the lead, seemingly overcoming a flurry of turnovers and mistakes; but this, the final breakdown of a sloppy outing, negated that.

All eyes were on Torrence (who left the locker room without speaking to reporters), his mistake impossible to miss, though in reality he was one of several defenders -- in particular, rookie safeties Kareem Moore and Chris Horton -- who did poorly on the sequence. Defensive coordinator Greg Blache, who called more blitzes Sunday than he had all season, had the team in a dime package (six defensive backs), wanting Moore and Horton to attack quarterback Marc Bulger on this third-and-13 play from the St. Louis 41. They never came close to reaching him, the one-time Pro Bowl passer had too much time to deliver the football and Avery had ample opportunity to slip free of Torrence long enough to haul it in.

"The bottom line in our business is you either make a play, or you don't make a play," Blache said. "There's no half-pregnants; you're either pregnant or you're not. . . . We didn't make the play, and it's not just Leigh. Leigh should have had help. The ball should have had to come out sooner."

For the first time all season, Blache called an aggressive game in the mold of Gregg Williams, his predecessor, regularly bringing corners and safeties. Washington has lacked a strong pass rush and this game plan involved heavy pressure, particularly on third down, with the Rams' offensive line in flux (tackle Orlando Pace was hurt during the game), and the Redskins believing they could overload the edges and hurry Bulger. They registered two sacks and stifled St. Louis for much of the day, but got burned on this exchange, the Rams' only play over 15 yards.

Concern for UK's education standing

A group of leading universities has warned that without increased investment, the UK could face losing its standing as a world leader for higher education.

It came as new Times Higher Education-QS World University Rankings revealed Cambridge and Oxford have slipped down the table to third and fourth place respectively.

The Russell Group, which represents 20 research-intensive universities, said there was increasing global competition from other nations who were investing more money in higher education than the UK.

Dr Wendy Piatt, director general of the Russell Group, said while they had reservations about the use and accuracy of "league tables" the group was pleased that their universities were continuing to perform well against major global competitors.

But she added: "We are very concerned about our ability to sustain this level of success in the face of fierce global competition.

"The table reflects the growing strength of our major competitors - particularly the US institutions - who benefit from much higher levels of investment than UK universities."

She added increased competition was not just from the US.

"As a result of huge investment in higher education and science in recent years, China already looks set to overtake the UK very soon in terms of total research publications, and its universities have been steadily climbing up international league tables," she said.

Funding is also increasing rapidly in India, the Middle East, Brazil and Australia while France and Germany are undertaking major programmes to pump millions of Euros into their leading research universities, with the aim of improving their international standing.

Education

Funding to add fellowship program for science and math teachers

Supplemental National Science Foundation funding will expand the already successful Robert Noyce Scholarship program at the IU School of Education at IUPUI to establish the Noyce Teaching Fellowship. Three Noyce Scholars will be named Noyce Fellows and will receive additional scholarship money to complete work toward an M.S. degree in secondary education.

Indiana Superintendent candidates facing off in two debates presented by IU School of Education organizations

The candidates for the Indiana State Superintendent of Public Instruction will face off twice in five days during debates presented by organizations of the Indiana University School of Education. Republican Tony Bennett and Democrat Richard Wood will answer questions from audience members and members of the media in each respective debate.

Collins receives 2008 IU School of Continuing Studies Distinguished Alumni Award

Lori Collins of Russiaville, Ind., has received the 2008 Distinguished Alumni Award from the Indiana University School of Continuing Studies Alumni Association. Full

Filmmaker behind documentary critically comparing U.S. and foreign education to appear at IU

Robert Compton, executive producer of "Two Million Minutes," a provocative documentary about global education, will show the film and participate in a discussion at Indiana University Bloomington's Willkie Auditorium on Monday, Sept. 15, at 5 p.m. Compton will discuss the film with Yong Zhao, Michigan State University Distinguished Professor and director of the U.S.-China Center for Research on Educational Excellence.

IU High School graduates surpass state, national averages on ACT, SAT

Indiana University High School's graduating seniors showed a strong edge over their peers in this year's ACT and SAT tests, surpassing both the state and national averages in all categories. IUHS is offered by the IU School of Continuing Studies.

Drinking age debate just one part of college alcohol problem

The call to consider reducing the legal drinking age from 21 to 18 could spur some valuable discussion, but alone won't solve the college student alcohol problem, according to Gerardo Gonzalez, University Dean of the IU School of Education. Gonzalez is an internationally recognized expert on alcohol and drug education.

Education

Recognizing our ignorance gives us a starting point for designing a human capital program for America. While the ultimate point of a human capital program is to educate children, the key feature in structuring that program must be that it also educates policy-makers, principals, and parents about education policy.

The genius of Google is that it is a self-teaching program where information from Web visits on the Google toolbar makes the Google search engine more effective. Google is a tool that makes us smarter, but it also makes itself smarter along the way. A Marshall Plan for education should start by acknowledging that we don't know all the answers and that we need to learn quickly if we are going to radically improve this nation's schools.

The need to educate ourselves about education means that the program should start with some good ideas and then charge forward with the great knowledge - generating a trinity of experimentation, randomization, and evaluation. Experimentation means trying out bold ideas, such as providing incentives for children and parents or paying large bonuses to successful teachers or using Web-based learning in ways that many of us over 40 will never understand. Sticking close to the status quo will generate less new information than something more radical.

None of these new approaches needs to be imposed on unwilling schools - it is enough if a small percentage of schools are willing to experiment. If a few schools are willing to participate, then randomization should determine which districts will get the new approach and which districts will sit it out. Throwing dice to allocate education reforms across schools may seem unfair, but randomization is critical for the evaluation that will make the human capital program self-educating. Without randomization, we won't know whether it is the new approach that is responsible for good results or whether those results reflected something else about the school.

Of course, what works in Brockton may not work in Brookline. As successful approaches get brought to scale, ongoing evaluation is needed to learn whether something that worked in an initial sample of schools will work everywhere.

The great difficulty in public education reform is that the education of a child depends significantly on people who aren't on the government's payroll, such as parents, peers, and the children themselves.

Some researchers, such as my colleague Roland Fryer, are using experimental approaches to figure out how to get more out of parents and students. In New York, Washington, and Chicago, Fryer has been conducting experiments where children get direct rewards - such as cash or cellphone minutes - for doing well on tests.

Call to make Indian Legal Education Global

THE Indian legal education system may witness big changes in the coming years. On one hand, while realising the importance of globalisation, law schools have called for making Indian legal education globally relevant. On the other, they are planning to introduce changes to the Common Law Admission Test (CLAT) to select students who have the skills to become international lawyers.

These plans were announced at seminars organised in Hyderabad and Delhi recently by US-based Institute of International Education (IIE), an international exchange organisation. The seminars brought together the US Law School Admission Council (LSAC) and the National Law Schools (NLS) of India. “Expansion in business across the world has generated a need for lawyers who are global in their approach. Legal education has to play a big role in creating such lawyers. We at our organisation believe in international exchange of ideas so we thought to facilitate exchange of ideas,” said Ajit Motwani, director, IIE India.

CHANGES IN CLAT

Entrance examinations are an important parameter to select the right candidate. And while CLAT is only a year old, LSAC has the experience of holding Law School Admission Test (LSAT) across US, Australia and Canada for nearly 60 years.

Veer Singh, vice-chancellor of NALSAR University of Law, Hyderabad, will be the convenor of CLAT 2009. Singh, while elaborating on the plans to introduce changes in the exam, said, “Approximately 1.5 lakh aspirants from three different countries take LSAT. They have proved their credibility in terms of fairness of content, testing candidate on logical and verbal reasoning and language comprehension. So, we want to learn from them the things that can make CLAT more reliable.”

When asked about the feasibility of applying a US testing method in India, Singh said, “We will not be replicating the LSAT, since CLAT 2008 had its own peculiar problems like local, gender and caste reservations. Besides, some take it online and some don't. So, we will consider all these factors before reaching any conclusion.”
Source:http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Education/Call_to_make_Indian_Legal_Education_Global/articleshow/3540121.cms

Education urged to stem new wave of sectarianism

THE NORTHERN Irish public must look to the future and prevent a new wave of sectarianism among young people from becoming the legacy of the Troubles, a cross-Border parliamentary committee heard yesterday.

Seymour Crawford, Fine Gael TD for Cavan-Monaghan, told the committee that education initiatives and support services should be established to ease sectarian tensions growing among the youth of Northern Ireland.

Mr Crawford said enormous sectarian problems existed in both nationalist and unionist communities, which was an issue that must be rapidly addressed.

"I was quite frightened by some of the things I found in my own county recently," he said. "Many of these young people involved never witnessed the murder and mayhem and they don't realise what they're getting themselves into."

Mr Crawford was addressing a Joint Committee on Implementation of the Belfast Agreement in Leinster House, which was attended by TDs, Senators, MPs and the Commissioners for Victims and Survivors.

The commissioners, Patricia MacBride, Bertha McDougall and Mike Nesbitt, were appointed by the Northern Ireland Assembly to study the legacy of the Troubles.

Mr Nesbitt said the commissioners had identified education as a key area in attempting to repair damage caused by the Troubles.

The case for science education

WITH THE RELEASE of this year's troubling MCAS scores in science, it is obvious that the state must try harder to engage students in science education if it hopes to fill future life sciences jobs.

Last year, 20 percent of high school students taking the SAT in Massachusetts indicated that they planned on STEM (science, technology, engineering, or math) majors in college. That translates to roughly 12,400 students. But in 2006, there were more than 86,000 job vacancies in key life sciences occupations in the state, according to the Center for Labor Market Studies at Northeastern University.

If Massachusetts high school students hope to fill this gap, consider the newly released 2008 science MCAS scores. Seventeen percent of high school sophomores failed. While that is better than the 25 percent who failed last year, it indicates that there is a long way to go to increase the scientific literacy of students.

The employment gap and the MCAS results leave the Commonwealth at a crucial juncture. The industry is growing and the demand for qualified employees will continue to rise. According to a new study by the University of Massachusetts' Donohue Institute - "Growing Talent" - 88 percent of Massachusetts life sciences companies expect modest or substantial growth in their Massachusetts workforce over the next two years, and no employers project a decline.

The New England Economic Partnership predicts that employment opportunities in the life sciences cluster will increase twice as fast as Massachusetts' overall employment growth. If students continue to lag behind in science comprehension, it puts the state's future economic viability at stake and will force companies to look outside the state lines to fill those jobs.

Educators know that students can learn only so much from a book. Hands-on situations drawn from the "real world" give science tangible context for students. For example, the BioTeach program, which provides schools with financial, professional, and educational resources to teach interactive biotechnology labs, brings the same lab equipment found at a biotech company into classrooms. A three-year evaluation of the program, conducted by the education research organization TERC, indicates that BioTeach helped teachers increase their knowledge of biotechnology and had a significant impact on student interest in the life sciences.

Research shows that the best time to recruit students to pursue education and careers in the STEM fields is before they enter middle school. That means before they hit their teens. How can young students decide they want to work in the life sciences if they don't know what that means or what those jobs look like?

To introduce life sciences to students at a younger age, the governor and Legislature introduced a promising program in the Life Sciences Bill. The plan is to develop a statewide system of mobile labs to provide interactive biotechnology experiences to schools that do not have access to needed scientific resources. The hope is to engage them, capture their imaginations, expand their knowledge of biotech career opportunities, and, ultimately, seed interest in pursuing a career in the STEM fields.