National school plan suggested

[DesertFox]

Pat Kossan and Chip Scutari
The Arizona Republic
23 Aug 05


Arizona Gov. Janet Napolitano today will unveil a national plan for education reform that includes universal preschool for children across the country, a standardized curriculum for all 50 states, full-day kindergarten and year-round schools.

Napolitano is co-chairwoman of a task force with ties to the Democratic Party that researched new approaches for education in the 21st century. The group concluded that American students need substantially more time in the classroom to compete with children in other countries.

The governor, who will make her presentation at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C., said much of the plan is about getting children ready for the 21st-century job market.

More (http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/local/articles/0823governor23.html)

[CzechPrince]

What nonsense. All schools should be privatized.

[DesertFox]

Agreed. And nothing having to do with schools should ever go above state level.

[nene]

Public schools are good and necessary. They have been corrupted, but this can change. I agree, public education is a state function.

[medved]

Public schools are good and necessary...


What for?

[nene]

My wife and I are very pleased with the schools our sons attend. Sure, there are many schools that function poorly, but that is because the society that populates that school functions poorly. The parents in a community very often dictate the success of the school that services the community.

[CzechPrince]

Oh don't get me wrong, I went to a very good high school. I just think schools would be better run if they were privatized, all of them.

[Aric2000]

Pat Kossan and Chip Scutari
The Arizona Republic
23 Aug 05


Arizona Gov. Janet Napolitano today will unveil a national plan for education reform that includes universal preschool for children across the country, a standardized curriculum for all 50 states, full-day kindergarten and year-round schools.

Napolitano is co-chairwoman of a task force with ties to the Democratic Party that researched new approaches for education in the 21st century. The group concluded that American students need substantially more time in the classroom to compete with children in other countries.

The governor, who will make her presentation at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C., said much of the plan is about getting children ready for the 21st-century job market.

More (http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/local/articles/0823governor23.html)

The slowly turning wheels of socialism....

Incrementalism at it's best.

The woman is a died in the wool socialist, and actually backing such nonsense as this, PROVES it.

Oh, and remember, this is the SAME woman who has declared a state of emergency on her border....

Hmmm, socialist, serious about illegal immigration?

Yeah, right.

Privatize the ENTIRE school system, let the state, counties and Cities pay for it them with vouchers if they wish, otherwise, LOWER out property taxes and let then parents take care of their own Children in any way they wish to as far as education is concerned.

IT IS NOT THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENTS job, unless of course you are a socialist... But, Alas, I repeat myself.

/rant mode off

[DesertFox]

Not only would schools run better, but almost all the problems that plague public schools would just disappear. Why? Because when parents are paying out of their pockets (rather than thru taxes, where they never see the money and aren't aware that they're still paying) for a kid to attend a school, the parents will pay attention to what the kid's doing and what the school's doing. Right now they're unaware of how much school costs and think it's free. We all know how much you value something you got for nothing.

Nene has the right idea. Schools work when parents see to it that they work. It helps to have good administrators and teachers, of course; and if these were subject to dismissal by parents, we'd have schools listening very closely to what parents want of their local school.

[HomeschoolrsRUs]

Not only would schools run better, but almost all the problems that plague public schools would just disappear. Why? Because when parents are paying out of their pockets (rather than thru taxes, where they never see the money and aren't aware that they're still paying) for a kid to attend a school, the parents will pay attention to what the kid's doing and what the school's doing. Right now they're unaware of how much school costs and think it's free. We all know how much you value something you got for nothing.

Nene has the right idea. Schools work when parents see to it that they work. It helps to have good administrators and teachers, of course; and if these were subject to dismissal by parents, we'd have schools listening very closely to what parents want of their local school.

:claps:

[Beowulf]

The Government needs to get out of the Education business. Throwing money at it doesn't improve it unless it is managed right. Since neither party can do that, get out of the business.

Kids don't need more time in school, what they need is more time in Math, English and History and less time in electives.

[ConservativeYouthMovement]

The Government needs to get out of the Education business. Throwing money at it doesn't improve it unless it is managed right. Since neither party can do that, get out of the business.

Kids don't need more time in school, what they need is more time in Math, English and History and less time in electives.

People also need to know geography and especially politics, so probably social studies would be better than just history. Most people already do know how to operate a computer but that should definetly be high on the priority list.

Also you totally left out science. Math and science are the driving forces behind our economy and should collectively take up 50% of the curriculum (25% for each) english should be taught beyond grade 10 for those who need to learn to read proficiently (via testing, one group with high school reading levels or above go on to creative writing, below that level they learn to read first.) About 10% should consist of shop, art, PE, and the rest into social studies. A class schedule could look like this:

(1 hour classes, with 1 half hour class, 8 classes, 30 minute lunch.)
The elective classes like PE and art are during the 30 minute class. Shop and elective classes that take long periods of time are during the hour long class period but are only available to people who are going into mechanical career fields, and are not available to people who did not pass the ability to read test. (Once they pass the test, they would be allowed to do so however.) On fridays, school would end at 2 pm instead of 4 pm except the day is spent taking tests, with a 15 minute break at 10 am and a 30 minute lunch at 12 to ensure the tests are not too long. When tests are over, studying, reading, or leaving for home could be options as tests are very draining on a mind going home could be the best option.

Instead of the current grading system, class performance would be based upon how well understanding is shown. For missing class, you receive a 0. There are weekly tests of knowledge, and a uniform system of work to prove if knowledge has been learned. Teachers are not allowed to make their own class work, but are allowed to teach anyway they want to provided a score equal to or above the schools average grade was achieved every week. All tests would be taken on computers or on computer scannable sheets, then calculated into the database of the school showing records that include the teachers name, the tests number, the difficulty level etc. Taking the tests on computers rather than on the scannable sheets means that the tests can adapt to the person taking them, such as if you get the first one wrong it will give you an easier or a different question to find out which part of the subject is not being taught.

The system is hard on the teachers especially, because the students past records from the beginning would be in the computer and could easily calculate the teachers failure and automatically send them an email saying what needs to be improved. The system would not be very expensive considering the budget per person, and that most major school districts have city wider networking already, and large mainframes to compensate for internet and computer networks. The solution also compensates for the fact that buying each student a computer is very expensive, as the scannable sheets can be used instead (to lesser effect.)

The grading system is different because rather than saying A, B, C, D, F etc, it says what areas are difficult such as:
Reading Comprehension could be a 9 and writing would be a 4, this can be broken down even farther into types of reading comprehension and writing. This would be the ultimate tool for teachers, as different classes could have people struggling with certain aspects of a subject and have the most efficient learning experience available, rather than the hit and miss learning of today.

Technology has not been fully integrated into the classroom, and although a few teaching techniques have been developed it is virtually unchanged for 3000 years, however with this system I would hope that every student would be given a chance to learn, spending even less time with school than is spent now because homework would be unnecesary. (Except for studying, each teacher has 4 hours to prepare you for the test, studying would be essential for success preparing them for college and higher learning.)