Or what about if you had $5 billion? What would you do with $5 billion to improve American education? It’s about one percent of what we spend annually on public schools. Leave your ideas in the comments section below.
Most interesting idea, as judged by my completely arbitrary and due-process free decision, wins a free book. You can comment and even win anonymously (but if you win you’ll need to contact me to collect).
 Collective Bargaining in Education: Negotiating Change in Today's Schools Edited by Jane Hannaway and Andrew J. Rotherham
|  Better Benefits: Reforming Teacher Pensions for a Changing Work Force By Chad Aldeman and Andrew J. Rotherham |
 A Qualified Teacher in Every Classroom Edited by Frederick M. Hess, Andrew J. Rotherham, and Kate Walsh |
 Conflicting Missions and Unclear Results: Lessons from the Education Stimulus Funds By Sara Mead, Anand Vaishnav, William Porter, and Andrew J. Rotherham |
 Rethinking Special Education For A New Century Edited by Chester E. Finn, Jr., Andrew J. Rotherham & Charles R. Hokanson, Jr. |
 Location, Location, Location: How Would a High-Performing Charter School Network Fare in Different States? By Chris Lozier & Andrew J. Rotherham |
 Changing the Game: The Federal Role in Supporting 21st Century Educational Innovation By Andrew J. Rotherham and Sara Mead |
 Achieving Teacher and Principal Excellence: A Guidebook for Donors By Andrew J. Rotherham |
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June 3rd, 2008 at 7:17 pm
There is no feasible amount of money that’s going to improve education or fix the structural problems that plague education, so …
I’d keep 90% of it and spend the other 10% trying to get a law passed making it legal for me to keep it.
June 3rd, 2008 at 7:34 pm
I would:
Find the best method for training teachers, and then require that the exact curriculum be implemented in every Ed School in the nation. I would also begin to collect data on the efficacy of new teachers and then reward or penalize Ed Schools depending on whether their teacher graduates are successful or not.
I would require all teachers to take some form of advanced instruction or interning or something every three years in order to keep their teaching license. While I cannot get rid of tenure perhaps or change teacher contracts, I can certainly pull the licenses of teachers who are unwilling to do the work to be good at their professional practice.
I would put a good deal of money into a foundation that would fund educational research, and I would be incredibly demanding of ed researchers who apply for it. I want rigorous trials of teaching, I want lots of data about implementation. I want the research on teaching to be as rigorous as medical research, or psychological research.
I would somehow pay teachers in the most challenging schools the most money. Not sure how this would work exactly. I might also try to cut the pay of teachers in the least challenging districts.
I would allow for public funds to pay for kids who choose private schools, but teachers in those schools would be required to be licensed and to return to school every three years. I’d also encourage charter schools with the same rules.
I would spend some money designing national standardized tests, and I’d design really good tests of skills and content. I’d require the same testing as NCLB. I’d also have the tests norm-referenced from grade to grade to learn where the weaknesses are among kids and teachers. Schools that failed to maintain appropriate growth in student learning would face various challenges, such as more professional development, transfer of staff, etc.
OK, that’s a start.
June 3rd, 2008 at 7:36 pm
I’d buy NEA headquarters and turn it into a charter school.
June 3rd, 2008 at 8:43 pm
I would establish a competitive master-teacher career track open to candidates with five or more years of documented exceptional impact on student achievement.
Master teachers would earn a professor-level salary and could elect to spend between 25% and 75% of their time on instructional leadership: coaching new teachers, guiding curriculum development, anchoring turnaround teams in failing schools, consulting, leading professional development, etc.
Ideally, every new teacher in a high-need position would spend his or her first year collaborating with a master teacher — a huge predictor of retention and success.
Master teachers would themselves be expected to engage in extensive self and peer assessment and improve their own practice from year to year.
In the short term, the program would keep strong teachers in the classroom (that vital 25% minimum) and in the profession. In the medium term, it would foster a culture of high expectations and constant learning. (Sorry, slipped into KIPPisms, but they fit.) In the long term, it would recreate teaching as a serious profession with opportunities for advancement that don’t require not teaching anymore.
June 3rd, 2008 at 8:44 pm
Establish a equivalent of the medical residency “match” in the public schools. Each year, each aspiring, credentialed teacher would apply for school jobs through the same service. Schools would compete for top staff, and at the end of the selection process each teacher would receive a single school assignment where he/she would apprentice under master teachers for three years. Performance in the residency would determine future placement in more specialized positions.
In the interim, resurrect Paddy Chayevsky to write the last word on the current system, and buy every American principal a copy of Paul Tough’s forthcoming book “Whatever It Takes.”
June 3rd, 2008 at 9:09 pm
There are many, many things that could be done to work toward improving our education system in this country.
* Remove high stakes testing altogether. There are other forms of assessment that can provide more accurate reflections as to how our students are doing. Currently, we are working within a regurgitation program rather than a learning program.
* Teachers are professionals and should be viewed and treated as such. Teaching training programs should be more rigorous and provide strong support to university students prior to entering the profession. This includes more observation hours as well as lengthier student-teaching assignments.
* We should have teacher mentor programs for new teachers in the field. We should also encourage teachers to take sabbaticals every few years to prevent burnout. We should also require that teachers spend time abroad interacting with individuals from other countries and sharing those experiences with our students.
* Schools that are having difficulty should receive additional funding rather than have their funding cut. We need to ensure that schools have the resources that they need to function and teach our children.
* Rather than cutting programs from schools, we need to create more well-rounded individuals. Art, music, physical education, etc. should be a regular part of all students’ lives.
June 3rd, 2008 at 11:02 pm
1) With $3 billion, create a trust fund for education research that is entirely peer reviewed (but where all reviews eventually become public while retaining anonymity). Given current rules on charity, and assuming replacement of principal by long-term investments, 5% mandatory spending of $3 billion = $150 million per year. A little less than half of the annual spending would be reserved for applied programs, a little less than half for basic research in educational psychology and other areas that are often ignored when federal agencies know they have to emphasize how all research creates panaceas to get extra funding for anything, and a tiny bit left over carved out explicitly for skeptics of whatever else is funded, essentially as research Devil’s Advocates. No awardee gets to call itself a “National Center of” anything. (Th reasoning: One way to address the cyclical funding of education research is for Congress to create a chartered quango in which it can invest money in good times and let it float when either the economy or politics interferes with additional investment.)
2) A little less than $2 billion to create a trust fund entirely for technical assistance and local evaluation for projects funded by what survives the skeptics’ scrutiny above.
3) $50 million for a series of education “X Prize” equivalents for various important challenges, from efficient and appropriate assessments of English language learners to what-have-you.
4) $20 million for 4 different commercial efforts to create open educational resources, with different economic models. I can think of at least two viable models, but my specific ideas don’t matter. Testing out a few variants does.
June 3rd, 2008 at 11:07 pm
(I should note that $150 million is pretty pitiful compared to the total IES budget: e.g., FY2007 awards in math and science education were a little less than $27 million, I think. It’s more the concept of starting to endow a much more independent research funding agency.)
June 4th, 2008 at 2:27 am
Ignore the systems and concentrate on individual teachers.
Create a teaching order, with training and sponsor regional and state level festivals, structured like academic conferences, where star students presented their research and writing.
http://www.montanaheritageproject.org/index.php/fieldnotes/2006-youth-heritage-festival/
Create a career-long relationship with teachers willing to prepare students to present high quality scholarly work at these conferences, including ongoing professional development, financial support for local projects, and travel.
Keep the stories of the good work rolling to the media.
Create great stories of what teachers and students and communities actually do and then tell those stories loudly and vividly.
Keep the conversation on teaching and learning without getting sidetracked into the usual “professional discourse” about budgets, schedules, programs, policies etc.
June 4th, 2008 at 2:45 am
I would invest in the creation of community organizations (virtual and non-virtual) that bring master teachers, new teachers, non-profits, and university education partners together. New teachers would receive services such as classroom visits from master teachers and education researchers, professional development courses on many different topics (meeting the needs of ELLs and students with special needs, grant writing, etc), and access to information networks. Master teachers would not only have access to professional development courses (some at the university level) but would have access to grants and the different services of the nonprofits. Universities could use their partnerships to conduct research and train teachers.
June 4th, 2008 at 2:47 am
Note – after visits, master teachers and education researchers would give the new teachers constructive criticism.
June 4th, 2008 at 6:57 am
You asked, so how’s this for starters:
* Launch a new SCANS effort in cooperation with ED and DOL in an attempt to ground the conversation in what skills students should know in contemporary workplace practices and better align school outcomes with economic workforce needs. The last SCANS works was completed, ummm, before this thing called the Web (1.0 that is) and there are these places – maybe you’ve heard them – called China and India – that are shaking the global economy up.
* Ensure the US participates in more international comparative work. Yes, the horse race-type, but also much, much more. Also, disaggregate the US: compare states performance vs. other countries. That’s a unit of analysis we can work with.
* Seriously figure out a way to include student voice in school operations and governance. Yes, they are just kids, but they are NOT widgets. Let’s pretend that what they think and their engagement matters. Ok, how about we don’t pretend.
* While we are at it, we need to become much better at transparency and communicating to the public about our schools. Real estate agents in many/most communities are driving choices. Work on and support better data, better communication, more clear communication to the public about what goes on in school buildings on a day to day basis and WHY it should matter. Attempt desperately to lose the jargon.
* The US Department of Education needs to become much more transparent. If they fund contract work, that work should become publicly available on the web. Grant-funded work should also be publicly available on the web. Recall that hullabaloo re: public medical research getting buried in proprietary journals. Same deal with education research. If it is going to make a difference, we all have to be able to see it – esp if we all paid for it. Yes, I know Rick Hess will have a field day regarding what it is that is actually getting studied, but that is part of the POINT.
* Create a PBS for educational software/online resources and/or a fund to do pre-competitive R&D on the potential of educational technology and media. We may not have hit a home run in this arena yet folks, but this is the way the world is heading and there are many, many affordances working in our favor over typical methods and materials. See: FAS and Digital Opportunity Trust and MacArthur Foundation, etc.
* Invest in assessment research and in capacity of assessment field. We need to get better at formative AND summative student assessment. We need to find low-cost, reliable, valid ways to do it – at scale and that don’t take eons to score. If we can’t agree on the outcome measures and don’t have a good way to measure them, we should just shake hands, shut the doors to ED and state departments, and let local school boards do what they want. BUT, we can’t fail. We have to expect more – much more – from the assessment community and policymakers and administrators need to get much smarter about the strengths and limits of what we are currently using.
* Fix the textbook mess. We spend a gazillion dollars a year on mediocre textbooks that both the left and the right regularly skewer and that contains scads of inaccuracies. Then, they get used for 10 years or more – if kids are lucky enough to have them. Oh, and they weigh too much. The web has completely changed the content distribution game in music (iTunes), books (Amazon), is changing it in the video space (YouTube/NetFlix), but we remain in an insanely expensive quasi-monopoly distribution system that is not working well. Yes, textbooks aren’t the standards and they aren’t the curriculum. Except where they are. Experiment here to save money, improve quality. Think digital, think licensing, think open source. See MIT Open Courseware, curriki, recent experiments (tried, at least) in FL, TX, etc. This is coming, so let’s get ahead of it to do what makes sense for the public good.
I could add probably a dozen more, but my fingers are tired…
June 4th, 2008 at 7:15 am
**Oh, and work on reciprocity of licensing of teachers across state lines. Shed more light on the process of establishing state teacher qualifications and licensure and work to normalize it (not to the middle, but upwards…). Eliminate requirements that no longer make sense. Help good teachers to teach where they want (and how they want – even if its online). Right now the pipeline is broken (some states produce too many teachers; others not enough; experienced teachers have to get re-certified when they move) and this could be an easy step in a productive direction. Ensure that retirement plans and benefits are portable for teachers and don’t lock them to schools/districts/states they’d rather not be in – just for the sake of benefits.
June 4th, 2008 at 7:28 am
I would create a program which would focus on the top 10-25% of the students. I believe that our schools/teachers are a lot better than people think, but that the focus on the bottom of the class has effectively dropped the overall outcomes of many schools
June 4th, 2008 at 8:53 am
Trying not to read the other comments, so I hope I’m not repetitive:
So much of teaching and theories of education is led by the gut. In ed school so much of what we were taught was fluff, and I at least rarely got anything in the way of data proving what the professor was telling us to do was actually valid. I’d put over half that money towards rigorous research conducted by scholars from across the political spectrum AND spend a lot of money and effort promoting the findings. Sort of like the What Works Clearinghouse on steroids. I don’t want anyone to promote things not borne out by really high-quality research, but if time and time again something is shown to work, then money needs to be spent to make sure ed schools, teachers, alternative programs, the guy down the street, everyone knows about it.
The leftover money would be a sort of public competition for people to come up with proposals for how to solve some of the problems that research can’t. The most promising proposals (as decided by some blue-ribbon panel) will be awarded with money to enact these. I’m thinking of problems like recruiting and keeping top teachers, attracting more students to go into teaching and STEM fields, increasing civic participation, etc. These ideas could be on a national scale or a local scale – maybe an LEA is awarded a grant to pay all their teachers an extra $20000 a year, and see how that affects their student achievement. Maybe some top university wins an award to provide full scholarships to students with stellar records to transfer to the ed school and become teachers, and then we assess how they do. Winning proposals should be ones that, if they are in fact successful, either dramatically impact these national education questions or provide an example of what an LEA, SEA, the USDOE, an ed school, or any other group could do.
June 4th, 2008 at 9:28 am
Fun idea, Andy. I’ve posted your challenge over at the Core Knowledge blog. Here’s mine:
1. Scrap existing state tests in favor of a random testing arrangement. If schools only know that they will be tested twice a year, but don’t know which day, grade, or even the subject to be tested, the only way to guarantee good results would be to actually educate kids. Keep existing state reading and math tests, if you like, but use them for diagnostics, not to determine AYP. Until the laws of human nature are repealed, it’s naive to think the current prep-and-test regimen will do anything other than narrow the curriculum, and stress the heck out of teachers and kids. If you insist on testing (and there’s no reason not to; as public servants schools and teachers need to be held accountable) then you have to have a testing strategy that encourages the results you seek. Random testing would also give you a much clearer picture of what’s actually happening in schools. But prepare yourself, it’s worse than you think.
2. This one idea will make me unpopular in certain circles, but teaching in a struggling inner city school, and observing in lots of others has solidified my belief that nothing matters more to student achievement than a positive, productive school environment. In a good environment, virtually any curriculum or pedagogy will work. You could put Nobel prize winners in front of every classroom in a dysfunctional school to no good end. Use the money to hire teachers for one-on-one home tutoring for our most disruptive students. The vast majority of kids come to school, even in our most challenged schools ready to learn, but their education is sacrificed minute by minute by constant disruption and discipline problems. I don’t know of any data on this, but I’d bet that the achievement gap is really a time-on-task gap. It is hard to overstate just how profound this problem is. Vast amounts of learning time are sacrificed to discipline problems, and the need to organize classroom management around behavior issues changes the entire classroom dynamic. It turns the teacher into an entertainer, not an instructor. If a child chronically demonstrates that he or she is cannot participate in a classroom setting, that’s a terrible shame. But by allowing that child to completely dominate and alter the school and classroom environment to the detriment of others, we lose not just that child but damage 24 others. Educate that child at home on the school’s nickel, and you help establish the positive, productive, achievement-oriented environment that is a prerequisite of success. This by the way, is probably the real secret of KIPP’s success. Every kid is down with the program. If not, they’re not a KIPP student anymore. The best schools — public, private and charters, show they’re serious about learning. Struggling schools will not improve until we show the students who are ready to learn and fully invested in their education that they’re the most important people in the building.
June 4th, 2008 at 9:59 am
Astroturf for every high school and junior high field that wants it.
First things first!
June 4th, 2008 at 10:01 am
Winning football team = stability in school leadership.
June 4th, 2008 at 10:16 am
1) Hire about 3-5 good people (not “too many cooks”) to develop curriculum/assessment that focus on individual student improvement over the course of a school year. This would include addressing the challenges of getting accurate, comparable measurements at the beginning and end of the year, and would give strong consideration to letting the students monitor and effect their own progress.
2) Give the rest to Lawrence Lessig. I’ve seen how brilliantly he addressed copyright, and I believe he is honestly interested in making societal changes that will benefit everyone. I was going to say that I’d try to buy him into working on education (maybe separating education from politics?), but I think his Change Congress plan might be a better first step in that direction…so I’d just let him work.
June 4th, 2008 at 11:14 am
I would implement school vouchers in all states that do not have them. This would require repealing the Blaine Amendment in all states that have retained this impediment. Pell Grants for Kids on a scale much broader than GWB has proposed! Let’s see it happen and see what school choice can do.
June 4th, 2008 at 11:15 am
I would take $3 billion and spend it buying out as many education vendors as I could, so I could streamline product development and reduce the amount of time districts and schools spend being bombarded by salespeople. I would take all the programs, and develop one portfolio of a variety of products that are research-driven and can actually be implemented on at least a district-wide scale. I would spend the remaining $2billion piloting a new teacher education program that incorporates data use and general policy context for education, and has a more rigorous curriculum than your average school of education. Positioning teachers to teach, but also to understand where their kids are coming from, and the bigger picture in terms of where education could be going from a policy perspective – creates buy-in from teachers when districts and states want to reform. I would partner with Gates and Broad so that my $2billion would become more billions.
June 4th, 2008 at 11:31 am
1. Use $2 billion to create a scalable project-based assessment system to accurately judge student learning on a wide range of indicators including thinking, problem solving, and application of learning.
2. Use $2 billion to create and implement an effective and meaningful master teacher/new teacher mentoring program.
3. Use $1 billion to expand gifted learning programs for under-served kids.
June 4th, 2008 at 11:46 am
Replicate the Harlem Children’s Zone concept in every urban district, and keep schools small.
Re-distribute experienced teachers to struggling schools, with a salary to match their expertise.
Match new teachers with in-class mentor teachers for at least a year.
Abolish lunch duty, yard duty, potluck coordinating, and all other non-academic activities from teachers’ job descriptions, and allow them to focus on student learning.
Reform the schedule of the school day and school year to give students and their parents more options.
June 4th, 2008 at 12:08 pm
I’d spearhead a crusade/war/intitiative /whatever on childhood obesity. I’d start by reprinting last week’s series in the Washington Post and the New Yorker’s and NYT Magazine’s articles on the school lunch program. The repreints would serve two purposes:
1. Show that the greatest good for the greatest number would be accomplished by focusing on childhood health, and
2. Remind people of the complexity of this people issue. Its a far more “doable” goal for only $5 billion, and far less overwhelming than the goals of NCLB, but it would still be a formidable challenge.
I can hear some accountability hawks muttering counter-arguments using the phrase low expectations. Improving children’s health, however, would do much more to increase student performance than any instructional reforms. (people who think we can figure out the best instructional practices and replicate them are in Never Never Land, and if you think we can use technology and research to train a small cadre of teachers who wouldn’t need small class size, you are making the same mistake as the 1990s Defense Dept which tried to train a small army to “fight outnumbered and win.”)
The Gates’ started in public health and were slow in figuring out how challenging it would be to replicate the lessons they learned overseas to American schools. They would have had much more success if they had addressed public health (where they already had more relevent knowledge) within schools. As they learned more about the complexities of America’s educational systems, they could have been better consumers of educational research.
This is not to disrespect the academic or research side of change. The medical miracles of the last century have been wonderful. But it was clean water and sewage that created the greatest gains.
I play basketball with my students and give out $5 (now probably $10) per day of fruit to students. And in season I give out flowers and I sometimes raid dumpsters behing the Flower Market to give out cut flowers (its an old trick I learned from lobbying; I even told the secretaries that were cool where their flowers came from) These gifts work on a lot of levels. Now, if kids get to school early they can get fruit free, but the personal dynamic is worth it.
As my first principal said, “The Community doesn’t care how much you know, until it knows how much you care.” Raise test scores and some parents may vote for you, but show a real commitment to their childrens’ health, and you are laying a lasting foundation.
I’d have someone run some numbers on the effect of obesity-related premature death and illness on children being raised by grandparents. When the grandma who is raising you is hospitalized, the chances are your Standards-based alignment will go haywire. The grownups may say that you have to master the Reformation or the Renaissance in order to stay on track for competing in the global marketplace, but a student needs his or her basic needs met first. The prime need is love. And an organized battle for childrens health has to be conducted in a way that tells kids that they are loved.
As the Post explains, childhood obesity will be creating a medical and financial catastrophe. So the $5 billion would spearhead a effort that includes public health, social workers, community volunteers, and families.
As the Post article reported, childhood obesity is stealing childrens’ childhood. What price tag would we place on restoring the opportunity to runand play? Even if we just measure educational outcomes, nutrition and exercise play a huge role in classroom performance.
And we must emphasize the role of hope. As poor mothers across the world see that their children can survive, it allows for more opportunities to be their childrens’ first teacher. Similarly, poor American children need the hope for a longer healthier life. Hope + effective schooling is much much more powerful than effective school reforms alone.
I hope everyone will read the Post article, especially its new information on the generational dynamic. One reason why newcomers to educational policy were over-optimistic in seeking instructional cures is that they missed the overwhelming role of generational poverty and generations of educational dysfunction. The harm caused by generational obesity begins before birth.
The Post compares the threat of childhood obesity to global warming. What would the benefits been 100 years ago if the Progessives had gotten everything they wanted in terms of schooling? Contrast that with the benefits of a timely war on tobacco. We are already a generation too late, but as the Post reported, a lot of institutions have recognized the challenge. It is government that is AWOL. Five billion dollars strikes me as an appropriate investment in the school’s leadership in this public health goal.
June 4th, 2008 at 12:14 pm
1. Provide capacity (staff, skills, training) and incentives for top 100 urban schools districts to rigorously evaluate, using random control trials, their curriculum and intervention programs so as to identify those that work best in their individual environments. Then pay for the broader implemention of those that work. This will help districts select the right programs and can provide evidence for the broader applictaion of those programs with the stringest results. ($1 billion)
2. Build a market for the development of platform-based data dashboards AND standardized data inquiry processes so that districts have off-the-shelf solutions for data driven decision making that can be customized to their liking. Today districts either don’t have accesible data, have data and dont have a strong process for using it, or spend an inordinate amount of time and money custom designing such tools that cant be broadly replicated. ($1billion)
3. Shift the focus from measuring test scores to measuring life outcomes, specifcally: college going and persistence, entered employment, retention, and earnings gain over 1 year, and civic particpation. Provide support for developing the necessary tracking systems, provide huge incentives for districts to begin holding themselves to these broader goals, and reward those districts that make the biggest gains. ($1.25 billion)
4. Replicate succesful career and tech prep schools/models (call it ‘high tech’ if you need to get foundation and business buy-in). Most kids drop out due to lack of interest/inability to see value of traditional classroom style learning – so CTE can alleviate the drop out problem while preparing people for the world of work. These models can also provide better links between businesses and educators, which will strengthen the system. ($1.25 billion).
5. I might lose the book award on this one – but to ensure that high school diploma jobs are good jobs I would invest in a massive service union support campaign in the 50 biggest cities. Manufacturing jobs werent always good, middle class jobs – the unions turned them into that. The same can happen in the service industry. And, from Econ 101, we know that when companies cant compete on labor costs they are forced to innovate. So a successful campaign would create a wide swath of good jobs and then help to increase innovation – the holy grail of the American economy.
($0.5 billion).
June 4th, 2008 at 12:29 pm
As a former teacher of struggling students, I heartily agree with Robert Pondiscio’s proposal to focus on eliminating disruptive behavior in schools.
I also agree with Doug Levin’s great idea to allow teachers to move from state to state without losing their credentialing status or pension benefits. As a former teacher, I was discouraged from remaining in the profession by continually facing certification hurdles across state lines.
My next idea stems from my experience as a novice teacher in a private school: Teachers should have fewer classes each day, and more preparation time. In my teaching experience at the private school, rather than being given a full courseload, I was assigned three periods of English Lit, two prep periods, and two periods tutoring struggling students. The reduced courseload allowed me the time to focus on preparing my new lesson plans, without becoming overwhelmed.
Therefore, a portion of the $5 billion should be spent on reducing the courseload of teachers, especially new teachers or those teaching a new subject. More teachers would be hired to allow each teacher to have more prep time and fewer classes. Most teachers do not have enough time for all the paperwork, progress reports, grading, parent meetings, etc. – even when working substantially past the “contract hours.” This arrangement is closer to a college professor’s schedule (more prep and research time, less time teaching).
On a similar note, funds could be allocated to hire teaching assistants to handle the administrative tasks currently done by teachers. Perhaps one assistant could be assigned to each department (in a high school) or grade (in an elementary school). They could field parent phone call, run off copies, enter grades in the computer grade books, and grade simple assignments. Again, this is similar to a professor – who often has a secretary and/or graduate students handle much of the administrative work.
However, I think the biggest block to successful education these days is behavior problems / lack of motivation on the part of the students. This problem needs to be solved – but I’m not sure how the money ($5 billion) will accomplish it. The solution is perhaps more of an attitude change – schools will not tolerate this behavior, and stricter consequences are imposed on students who cannot follow the rules.
June 4th, 2008 at 12:34 pm
*I’d buy the Presidency for myself and then implement a Keynesian, Full Employment economic policy – so that education mattered little. Think WW2 and post WW2, massive increase in government works, poorly educated populace, great jobs.
June 4th, 2008 at 1:09 pm
Unionize students.
June 4th, 2008 at 1:15 pm
Another comment: Provide more equipment and technology for teachers to use in the schools. Teachers now often spend their own money for paper and pencils and art supplies – they should be provided with a debit card to use for school-related expenditures. Also, more copier machines should be installed in the schools: I can’t tell you how much time teachers waste walking from their rooms to the nearest copier room, and then standing in line behind all the other teachers using the same copier machine! Buy two machines for each floor – or better yet, hire the teaching assistants (mentioned above) to run off the copies.
Note: My suggestions for saving teachers time and reducing their administrative work is all toward the goal of allowing teachers to use their time for more critcal tasks. More preparation hours and a reduction of administrative duties would free teachers to do things similar to the following, which would in turn have the benefit of helping students and their families. These changes would also increase teacher retention by making their jobs more substantive and enjoyable, and reducing stress and burnout. These are some of the possible things teachers could do in the additional time created by my suggestions:
Create and improve high quality lesson plans, collaborate with colleagues, research their subject areas and teaching methods, keep tabs on individual student progress, thoroughly review student work and offer constructive feedback, communicate with parents and guardians, and meet with students for individual tutoring.
June 4th, 2008 at 1:34 pm
I would create the first ever international HS that would combine online, face to face with an emphasis on project based leanring to help counter global warming. The school would have a combo of intelligence and best practices from particapting countries as a showcase for what nations can accomplish
June 4th, 2008 at 1:49 pm
Hmm, I’ve read a number of good ideas so I’m not sure how much I’m contributing. I don’t think there’s any way to spend $5 billion nationally without it being a drop in the bucket. I’d pick a small to medium-size urban district and pour all the money into it. A $5 billion endowment would generate an additional $10K per kid for a district with 25,000 students. That’s enough to make big changes. Spend it on recruiting new teachers, shrinking schools and classes, providing extra tutoring, buying more computers, etc — the works. If spent wisely, at the end of the day we would know whether or not more money really can make a difference.
June 4th, 2008 at 2:01 pm
unionize parents
June 4th, 2008 at 3:25 pm
I would conduct a 13 year longitudinal study where:
We randomly assigned as many disadvantaged students as possible to an experimental condition where they and their families received: guaranteed health care, stable and safe housing, jobs for the parents, and sufficient food/nutrition. The other half of students would be a control and would remain in their usual state.
We’d track the students along various measures of well-being and student achievement over their K-12 schooling years and see if there are any differences in the trajectory and outcomes.
June 4th, 2008 at 3:40 pm
I would create a selection pool of small to mid-size cities like Wilmington, DE, Portland, OR, Austin, TX, etc… To enter the pool, the city districts would need to be willing to renounce all federal dollars and refuse to comply with all federal mandates. They would need to go on the record calling the Department of Education an unconsitutional entity that should have no providence over local schools. One district would ultimately be selected and would receive all the money.
Upon receipt of the money, the districts would need to develop vocational training centers that specialized in the development, planning, and construction of renewable energy sources. Science classes could focus on renewable energy experimentation. Design classes would focus on product development. Construction classes would focus on installing and building solar cells, windmills, etc.. and building green buildings.
Most of the focus would be on making the district a zero emissions entity as free from outside energy sources as possible. Green technologies would be used for renovation of old district buildings and the construction of new ones. Students would do most of the work learning vital job skills in the process. Partnerships would be established with local construction unions for work beyond the scope of students and to bridge skills into the next level. Partnerships could also be established with local housing groups to purchase and renovate urban housing around the district using green technologies to improve the quality of living in urban centers.
June 4th, 2008 at 5:26 pm
I would use it to teach brevity in writing.
June 4th, 2008 at 7:28 pm
You mean precis writing.
June 4th, 2008 at 10:11 pm
Had to respond to the person who suggested that KIPP’s success is due to disruptive students becoming nonstudents. Definitely not the case at my school; my guess is that we actually see a disproportionate number of difficult and ED kids because we have a good reputation for turning kids around, and we bust our butts for them. We’ll pour hours and hours, and intervention after intervention, and remediation after remediation, into kids who need it, whether or not they visibly buy in; physical violence is the only way I’ve seen kids get expelled. We also maybe get a disproportionate share of highly motivated kids, but on the whole, our refusal to let behavior interfere with learning means complicated systems, tons of work, and clear priorities — not the old “maybe this isn’t the school for you,” which I’ve seen at work in other charters.
We did have one student who eventually qualified for transfer to a much more restrictive and therapeutic environment, which I think will be better and safer for her. While she was with us, though, she got hours of one-on-one help every day, and the principal was on standby to come remove her from class and cool her down whenever necessary, so she wouldn’t interfere with other kids’ learning, and then teachers would sit with her and make up the work later on, and the counselor at our school essentially hounded her mom into getting a prescription for her and then drove her to get it filled whenever it ran out, and — I know I’m biased, but — that’s the difference.
June 4th, 2008 at 10:31 pm
I didn’t actually read all the comments, but will because the ones I read were interesting ideas… i apologize if my skimming means that I am being repetitive.
I would create schools in which both students and teachers spend half the day in a traditional classroom setting and the other half working within for profit organizations that allow them to capitalize on their strongest skills. Example: A creative writing teacher spends 4 hours teaching students the fundamentals of writing, and four hours working in an advertising agency writing scripts for commercials. For students I would change the number of hours to 6 regular school hours and 2 hands on internship type hours. I’d start this from middle school through high school.
This is just an idea I’ve been rolling around my mind recently, so its not all though out – is there anything like this out there right now? One of the reasons I left the classroom was I felt i wasn’t being intellectually pushed to my limits – I needed something else to support my own educational development, plus I was able to bring the experiences I had outside of the classroom to enhance my students learning. I think a dual job model could work…then people like me wouldnt take a break to work in a different field before coming back to the classroom
June 4th, 2008 at 11:28 pm
Create a new role for the classroom called an “Associate Teacher” that works with a teacher for 2 years before becoming a full-fledged teacher. Every classroom team would include a teacher, an associate teacher and a teacher assistant. It would cost a lot of money to run, but would help meet the needs of all children.
June 5th, 2008 at 8:54 am
Re: Big Kippster. I don’t wish to turn this excellent thread into yet another discussion about KIPP. Love KIPP. Spent years urging my students’ parents to enter the lottery. But to suggest that expulsion–or the threat of expulsion–has nothing to do with KIPP’s success is simply naive. And, I should hasten to add, it’s not something KIPP needs to apologize for. Saying students are rarely expelled is exactly the point. Meaningful consequences that are actually enforced change behavior. If the culture of a school demands a certain standard of behavior, and it’s backed up, that’s what counts. KIPP’s environment is one of academic achievement first and foremost, and that productive environment is zealously guarded. That’s the difference maker. KIPP and every other school talks about high expectations, but absent real accountabilty, it’s just talk. KIPP understands this. It’s not rocket science.
In a functional school, everyone is accountable for outcomes. In dysfunctional schools, high expectations is a homily, a bumper sticker. We say the words, but assume it is the teacher’s fault if the student doesn’t liveup to it. High expectations are not magic words that you recite like an incantation and expect a transformation. It is a pattern of performance that needs to be modeled, practiced and, yes, enforced when necessary.
For example, I somehow doubt the parent of an out of control student has ever said to a KIPP teacher or administrator what a parent of one of my students said to me once: “When he’s in my house, he’s my problem. When he’s in school he’s your problem.”
That’s the issue in a nutshell. Functional schools act like, well, schools. Dysfunctional schools act as day care centers and restaurants. Until we start aggressively insisting on high-achieving, broadly accountable school cultures, we will struggle to attain even mere mediocrity.
As I said in my previous comment, fix the school culture and you’ve fixed the school. Spend your $5 billion on other things, and you’re spinning your wheels.
June 5th, 2008 at 9:32 am
For a while my children attended an independent-study/classroom environment charter school in California. Parents were considered part of the teaching staff. Parents were not only allowed access to the classrooms, but were actively encouraged to attend classes with their student-children, since they were expected to follow through with teaching materials at home. There were no discipline problems. None. At all. Whatsoever. I would spend my five billion dollars creating more such hybrid schools.
June 5th, 2008 at 9:52 am
I’d like to second everthing that Robert Pondiscio just wrote. I also agree enthusiastically with his proposal to test twice a year at undisclosed times. Our present system is like a patient taking a double dose of medicine before having his blood pressure checked.
Pondiscio is correct that we’ll continue to spin our wheels until we fix the school culture. I didn’t bring that issue up because I want to win the book. It would take so much more than $5 billion dollars to get us moving towards safe and orderly schools for all. I’m afraid that that issue has to be fought out locally.
I was really impressed with Trixie’s comment about developing associate teachers. Jesse Jackson said that you back out of a blind alley the way you drove in. It was the lack of adult contributions to the lives of kids that drove us down this alley, and we need to recruit as many different types of people as possible into our schools. And having two adults in every class would cut both ways, with peer pressure being placed on teachers to treat their students with more respect.
Another %5 billion solution would be a fund/program to train and provide a building manager for every high challenge school so that the principal could become an instructional leader. And perhaps peer pressure would work here also. We need more outsiders in our schools to witness the “catch and release” process by which we assess disciplinary consequences. With more peer pressure maybe we can have more administrators look in the mirror and ask how can they tolerate the behavior that seems normal to educators, but which the outside world would never tolerate.
June 5th, 2008 at 4:59 pm
Alright, I’m making the assumption that I have lots of money, not necessarily superhero powers that will allow me to change public policy without lobbying for it.
1. Remove everything that takes teachers away from planning inspiring lessons and forming meaningful relationships with students. That is to say: eliminate all state certification processes. If teachers want to take and pass Praxis exams in order to make themselves better job candidates, fine. If teachers want to do X years of student teaching in order to make themselves better job candidates, fine. If teachers want to graduate summa cum laude from reputable schools of education, fine, go for it. These are qualifications that show up on resumes. Formal licensing is a money drain for taxpayers, a time drain for teachers currently in the classroom who need to keep their certificates updated, and a paperwork nightmare that prevents many intelligent mid-career and retired adults from entering the teaching profession in the first place. Let districts judge which candidates are qualified to teach at their schools. Keep excess bureaucracy out of it (200 million dollars—lobbying costs, campaigns to raise popular support, etc.)
2. Free professional development summer seminars for currently employed teachers, with preference given to teachers at free lunch schools. These seminars should be run by veteran educators and should focus on concrete classroom practices. The idea is that a free-flowing exchange of ideas will revitalize the classrooms of the teachers who attend. They will be more likely to adopt innovative and creative practices if they are able to do so by choice instead of being forced to by mandate. (600 million dollars—trainer recruitment, operating costs, etc.)
3. Universal day care at no charge to parents—locations determined by county governments, the number of centers based on population. Recruit and train local residents to run day care centers. (By “run” I mean: create a stimulating environment where even two-year-olds are exposed to numbers and basic literacy every day, as well as given the opportunity for meaningful and imaginative play.) State governments should provide matching funds to keep the day care up-to-date with materials, books, etc. They can use the money they save by abolishing teacher licensure. (Two billion dollars—facility costs, operating costs, training, etc.)
4. Participation in the education conversation shouldn’t be limited to stay at home moms and school board officials. Make education an issue for everybody. People talk when they have to make a choice. Start the conversation by creating a situation where a choice has to be made. More concretely, elect (yes, elect) the federal secretary of education through popular vote. Prospective secretaries of education will have a campaign platform, and since we, the voting public, will judge the candidate on the basis of this platform, we will discuss the candidates’ stances, values, and educational philosophy, and in this discussion, refine and debate our own stances, values, and educational philosophies. People will be more vested in the outcome of education in this country if they are thinking critically about educational policy (and the individuals associated with it) each and every election cycle. (200 million dollars—lobbying costs for necessary legislation, campaigns to raise popular support, etc.)
5. Once upon a time, a guy named Plato talked about the centrality of a flourishing education system to a flourishing society. How to create and sustain a flourishing education system? Plato knew that the education of a child is a first and foremost affected by the teachers charged with her education, and that the teachers had to have received an excellent education in order to transmit one. How to ensure that teachers receive an excellent education? Reform the system in which they’re educated by ensuring that their teachers have had an excellent education… and we’re face-to-face with Catch-22.
I say, intervene at age eighteen. At this point, many would-be teachers enter schools of education with a miserable assemblage of oddball facts and skills, not knowing what it means love learning, having never received the kind of education that makes loving learning possible. They’re entering a school of education not because they love learning, but because they love kids.
The solution? Found a university where anyone who is accepted receives a full five-year scholarship if he/she agrees to teach for five years after graduating. The course of study would be as follows. Years 1 and 2—A core curriculum in the liberal arts and sciences. Humanities courses would include close readings of the classic texts of the Western canon, literature of import neglected by this canon (multicultural texts, etc.), and a meta-course where the concept of a canon is put to critical scrutiny. (Goal: Future teachers are exposed to college-level math, science, history, etc.; future teachers learn to appreciate texts that raise the big human questions; future teachers begin thinking about the process of curricular decision-making.) Years 3 and 4—Elective courses towards a particular major. These teachers are not going to have an undergraduate major in education. Instead, each will have to pick a subject matter—biology or astronomy or political science or math. (Goal: Even if they wind up at the elementary level, exposure to difficult academic content will give future teachers an appreciation of the rigor that will be expected of their students someday.) Year 5—Teacher training. Courses will fall into three categories: (1) the political context of education—Plato and Aristotle, Rousseau, Dewey, contemporary educational theorists who understand the relationship between education and democracy; (2) concrete classroom methods and practices; (3) student teaching. The student teaching experience should include time at school in a high income, high property tax area, and time at a low income, low property tax area. (Goal: Future teachers gain an appreciation of the importance of excellent schools to democracy, future teachers learn how to teach.) Students who come out of this university will have a BA or BS in an academic subject, as well as an MA in education. This model will be so dazzlingly successful that it will be replicated by universities of education everywhere, and the modern American school of education will become obsolete. Top-performing high schoolers will no longer think that becoming a teacher means sacrificing the opportunity to pursue an interest in marine biology, and will so be more inclined to enter the profession. They’ll be motivated by the five-year scholarship, and the prestige that comes with it, as well. (Two billion dollars—facility costs, operating costs, publicity, etc.)
Thanks for the five billion, Andrew. It was fun
June 5th, 2008 at 8:14 pm
well, lots of good stuff up here but my gut feeling goes in this direction, let me know when the money runs out:
1) Drastically increase early interventions. Pay social workers more, raise the profile and competitiveness of that job, have mandatory (but gentle & caring) home visits to help new parents, with follow-up as needed/wanted. Get young and poor moms prenatal care and excellent early childhood ed for the kids. Once the babies are old enough to be in high quality childcare settings, help the moms return to their education and enter the workforce. Support families in every way possible and at the highest level, and do it before there is any sign of trouble. Nip physical, emotional, and behavioral problems in the bud by ensuring that children grow up with enough (nutritional) food, a clean, safe environment, as little exposure to violence as possible, and with parents who have enough emotional reserves to properly parent them. Increase services within schools and do this proportionally to the needs of the school’s population. Kids (and parents!) who need counseling should get it, immediately. Other health services should be available initially through schools and eventually through high quality local clinics. Ok, I think the money is already gone…
2) Have classes of about 24-30 kids but (at least) two teachers in the room at all times… done right, this could definitely, but not primarily, serve as a mentor-mentee relationship for newcomers, but my goal is to increase the student-teacher ratio. While you’re at it, build a LOT more collaborative planning time into the school day. Consider *significant* increases in pay tied to specific kinds of school service and/or demonstrated success (measured in complex ways).
3) This sounds really basic, but make all school buildings pleasant, modern, spacious, technologically cutting-edge places where kids and teachers actively want to be. Perhaps it is the fact that we are on day FOUR without internet (and no explanation) and that my classroom smells like dead animal (really – the custodian thinks it’s a dead baby pigeon) that brings this one up. I just visited a non-education workplace that was gorgeous, comfortable, a place to settle in and spend time. Kids and the adults who work with them deserve that, too.
4) I agree with those who want to research what works – in various forms of research studies – and then replicate it, as far as both pedagogy and teacher preparation are concerned.
June 5th, 2008 at 9:16 pm
Total elementary and secondary expenditures are about $500 Billion per year. $5 billion spent on salaries, programs, teachers would never be noticed. That’s because education gets too much money already, but there’s not enough learning. So maybe we should spend the money on learning instead.
No solution will serve every student or every type of student. My choice is to spur the effort of top students.
Students are the one group in the whole education mix who have to defer gratification for all the effort they put into learning for a loooong time. Everybody else gets their reward now. And don’t tell me grades are a reward. Teachers and administrators get paid, no matter how poorly they perform. Parents are absolved of the responsibility for imparting basic knowledge to their children as parents have always done, until the last 150 years. So let’s put some real, significant, tangible incentive out there for the ones who have to actually do the work of learning.
I would invest the $5 billion to yield conservatively 5%, after reinvestment to preserve principal, or $250 million annually. There are about 20,000 high schools in the US. Give $250 to nine of the third through twelfth highest GPAs and to the tenth randomly selected student in that group $10,000.
June 5th, 2008 at 9:17 pm
Jennifer: Loved the comments (especially the abolishment of teacher licensing – what a waste of time and money!).
Regarding your idea of the education school… my undergrad college (University of VA) had a five year BA/MA program for teachers that incorporated many of the elements you wanted. Unfortunately, it wasn’t free, and student had to enroll by second semester of sophomore year.
When I taught in California there were definitely programs that would forgive student loan debt up to a certain amount if the teacher worked in low-income schools for five years after graduation. Personally I think five years is too long – if you do four years, I think 4/5 of your debt should be forgiven, etc. But just a thought.
If you make any progress on eliminating teacher certification requirements, let us know!
June 5th, 2008 at 9:58 pm
Award it to Ezra Koenig of Vampire Weekend, who as a TFA alum will use the grant to host a version of Live Aid. He will rechristen himself the Bob Geldof of the achievement gap and marshal these plans above. His aesthetic will lead all America’s children to aspire to attend Ivy League colleges, and they shall all know the proper use of an Oxford comma.
http://www.examiner.com/a-1286996~From_teacher_to_rock_star.html
June 6th, 2008 at 9:08 am
First off, a comment–
Schools need to learn to tell their own stories better, not just on a local level, but on a state and national level. There are so many great things going on in our schools, but the stories we hear are too often the negative ones.
Schools need to not only share their data, but share positive classroom achievements, examples of excellent teaching, examples of creativity in the classroom, and individual stories. When you go to a school’s website, you should see photos and stories of what that school is about. When you go to the state’s website, you should see stories of what that state’s schools are about, not just data. That doesn’t take much money–but it takes re-orienting the focus.
Now to the suggestions:
1. $1 billion dollar innovation and incentive fund to schools for reform. No dictates or strings attached.
“One size” does not fit all, and individual schools or districts often know what is needed. Encourage innovation, creativity and risk-taking to rethink “what works” through this program.
2. A federal push for a master teacher program. Teachers can work 20-30 years in the field with no room for advancement. A first year teacher and a 25 year teacher are basically at the same “level”–which doesn’t create incentive to stay in the field. Create a tiered teaching system–with beginning teachers, mid-range, and master teachers. Beginning teachers apprentice with master teachers, and have more support (rather than being put in the worst classes with the most students or the most difficult schools). Scaffold their entry into the profession so that we retain more teachers.
3. Require student teachers to study with more than one teacher at more than one school. In most states, student teachers work with one teacher for a semester. By having them experience different schools and working with different lead teachers, they will have a much more practical and varied set of skills upon which to draw for their own teaching. This would create more realistic expectations for student teachers also, before they enter the field.
4. $1 billion to support innovative principal leadership programs around the country. School leaders have an incredible power to lead change on their campuses. The money should go to already existing programs to support their efforts.
5. $1 billion towards incentives for schools to reduce the teaching load. High school and middle school are often where you begin to see the disconnect for students–yet teachers have loads of 150 students and up. How can you personalize what you do, and offer individual support to each student with that many students passing through the classroom each day?
Teachers need more time within the work day for professional learning.
5. 1/2 billion –Incentives to encourage schools to hire trained paraprofessionals, not just for administrative staff, but to “groups” of teachers as well, to assist with tasks like copying, entering grades into the computer, bulletin boards, making appointments, and clerical tasks, so that teacher’s time can be spent on teaching or preparing lessons or observing other teachers or keeping up with information in their field.
6. $1/2 billion Start a federal campaign to include students in school reform. They are the end users but are rarely included. Encourage states to include students on their State Boards of education, school boards to include a student representative on their school board, principals to include students on their planning committees, and federally, include student panels and ask for student feedback as policies are reviewed.
7. A focus on globalization and global projects that is open-minded, uses technology to bridge differences and build relationships, and that isn’t fear-based. (Less restrictive policies at the federal level on internet use, for example). Again, this could be more of a federal and state priority, rather than something that required funding. Students exist in a very different world than we did. Their classrooms should look and feel different than ours did because the world is a much more connected place.
I see many similar things mentioned throughout the comments, and the irony is–we know many things that “work” with students. And yet we don’t elevate those things or focus priority on them.
And I think so many of the changes needed begin with respect — respect for students and respect for teachers. If we don’t have that respect, then no amount of money poured into education will make any difference.
June 6th, 2008 at 3:45 pm
Stem the tide of the drop-out crisis by intervening strategically on the middle school level. Today at a panel discussion, David Osher (American Institutes for Research) noted that a study in Philadelphia showed that there are several key characteristics of students in the sixth grade that are associated with ultimately dropping out of high school. One of those is attendance that drops below 80%.
Pick middle schools in neighborhoods with the worst high school dropout rates and place counselors at those schools to specifically focus on students with low attendance. I envision these counselors as connectors to community services and a hub for family outreach. Yes, they won’t be able to solve all of the issues confronting students, but by intervening early and advocating for services for this group of high-risk students, I believe they would be able to provide many with the extra support or guidance they need to get into the classroom more often, learn more, and stick with education at least through high school, if not beyond.
June 6th, 2008 at 8:00 pm
$5 billion dollars is a seemingly large amount of money that in reality can disappear in a second. I have lots of ideas that range from improving school libraries, technology grants, and additional funding for in school therapies (especially OT), but I think when looking at large sum of money like this it would be most effectively spent by focusing the money into a specific area of education.
I have always been a fan of building from the bottom up. Without a strong and sturdy base a house, a statue, and more importantly an education will crack and fall before it can reach its glory. I don’t think I can stress this enough, preK, pre-K, PreK. When I say pre-K I refer to programs where the teachers have been trained the same way elementary school teachers are, four year colleges, student teaching, and a whole lot of experience before they leap into the role of lead teaching. I’m talking about classrooms that have the materials to engage students in important fine motor, gross motor, and emergent literacy activities. I’m talking about the right early interventions for all students…at the appropriate cost (and the appropriate opportunity cost). Teachers must be trained in education, psychology, and how to interact with parents and guide parents to extending the lessons from classroom to home.
So what about the 5 billion? That goes into teacher training, paying teachers, resources for the classroom, and adjunct therapies. I know it’s not enough to fix every problem, but it should sure help prevent a lot of problems that might be encountered down the road. Instead of working to close that gap later the money can help prevent the gap.
Free pre-K can have so many hidden benefits. In a world without free pre-K for all the lucky can pay their way into a strong base for the children…and many of those still have the luxury of a stay at home parent or an excellent nanny and team of babysitters. What about those who can’t afford either? Well chances are the parents have to work, and without a quality day care or babysitter the children end up at the hands of someone who lets the child watch tv all day, doesn’t stimulate vocabulary, and worst of all a situation where neglect and abuse can filter in to a child’s life way to young. Pre-K can fix that. The parent who must work to feed the child can work guild free knowing that his or her baby is being taken care of emotionally, physically, and educationally.
I know I’m biased by my experiences in the world of pre-K, I don’t claim otherwise. But I truly believe with my heart and soul that $5 billion can help impact the lives of children all over America and end a vicious cycle, starting at the beginning with pre-K.
June 7th, 2008 at 9:43 am
When do we find out the winner?
June 9th, 2008 at 1:01 pm
I agree that I would change it so that all the teachers in the country were to be trained and teach the exact curriculum.
June 9th, 2008 at 10:46 pm
new york schools–if you take drugs, then I suggest you stop and go on a long walk west until you reach…say Missoula and check to see if your mind has cleared. If you don’t take drugs, I suggest that you get high, read the Federalist Paper 84, and see if that helps. It was once very helpful to past citizens in New York.
June 10th, 2008 at 11:28 am
Given that $5 billion on a national program isn’t a lot of money, I will say this:
Have a program to create teacher’s assistants. Not teaching assistants, but Teacher’s Assistants, that is administrative professionals who can perform all that paperwork and documentation that teachers spend hours upon hours doing.
One of the complaints that I see and hear all the time is that NCLB, other federal laws, state laws, local regulations, etc. create a huge mountain of paperwork that requires teachers to devote probably 3-5 hours a week of paperwork and even more at grade times.
So like lawyers have paralegals and executives have executive assistants, have a classification of job where professionals can help teachers with all the paperwork, allowing the teachers to focus on teaching. Some of hte jobs a Teacher’s Assistant would do include:
Recording grades from exams/homework/quizzes into the appropriate software.
Read, organize, classify and prioritize communications and where possible and appropriate, respond to communications from parents. For example, routine matters like “Please excuse my daughter early because she has a doctor’s appointment” don’t need to be handled by the teacher themselves.
Schedule volunteers who want to come to help in class.
Manage equipment/technology and resource needs for teachers based on lesson plans, i.e. calling the library or media center to get videos, etc.
Data compliance matters required by federal, state and local authorities–i.e. filling out reports, etc.
In most schools, you could have a Teacher Assistant for a group of 3-4 teachers, perhaps more, who could handle the administrative needs of teachers allowing the teachers to do what they should be doing–teaching.
June 10th, 2008 at 9:46 pm
When I met my husband, I was teaching at an innercity middle school and he was teaching at a technical college preparing adult high school graduates to become aircraft mechanics. Guess which one of us got a full day each week for planning and evaluation?
Right.
I would use the $5 billion to kickstart a year-round school model that would give teachers a full planning day every Wednesday. If the realities of the cash wouldn’t go far enough, I could see starting with an early dismissal day every week.
The program on a large scale would cost quite a bit more than $5 billion, but private dollars to enrich the non-core Wednesday curricula with art, music, physical education and other activities would come. It would likely also be easier to use volunteers and other types of “not highly qualified” personnel (who are cheaper) during this time.
I choose Wednesdays because of research and anecdotal evidence that show that kids retain more at the beginning and end of study sessions and that shorter periods with some time to reflect lead to greater retention of material. I also think Wednesdays would force teachers and administrators to think of the planning days as work days rather than opportunities for long weekends, etc.
I think we can make great gains toward professionalizing teaching by acknowledging and valuing the importance of planning and evaluation and the time these activities necessitate. At present, attorneys bill hundreds of dollars an hour to prepare a case they will present in court, while effective teachers give up their unpaid personal time with their families to grade papers and plan lessons. We have to stop pretending that effective teaching can happen off-the-cuff.
June 11th, 2008 at 2:42 pm
I know you already announced, but reading through more suggestions gave me more to say.
I was really attracted to the idea of trying to shift the role of education in American culture, but how to do that? That money could create some schools here and there and buy small changes, but a culture shift is huge.
My idea is to use the $5 billion to create a prime-time reality show based on the importance of education. Not exactly sure what the premise would be, but I’d hire some big name reality show creators to figure that out.
My thinking is that TV is, right now, the way to enact swift cultural change. Reality shows like Trading Spaces, Queer Eye, Biggest Loser and fictional shows like Sex and the City have had subtle, permanent effects on how the nation sees their homes, their bodies, the people around them, and their lives in general. We talk about all kinds of things on blogs, and news media stories spread like wild fire, but they don’t have the lasting impact needed to change the nation.
June 27th, 2008 at 8:12 pm
I would use three billion dollars to invest in 100+ “Invention” schools. Each school would be given several authentic problems to solve. Within each school would be several classes that would become a team of working inventors. Every team would be responsible for going through the design process of researching, investigating many ideas, narrowing options and constructing a solution. They would be solving a problem together- just as in real life. Relevant curricula that worked towards the solution would be designed to include math, science, writing, reading, theater, music and visual arts. The team of students would have to creatively present a working model or viable product within a set time period. Results could be published via UTube or other popular methods to showcase the inventive thinking power of our youth. Only committed, outstanding teachers would be allowed to participate. I would also require that all staff and students participate in at least 1/2 hour of physical activity before each school day to get everyone mentally and physically fit to take on the challenge. Dan Pink’s recognition that we need to foster creative thinking in our students may also provide the answer for our nation’s economic progress. Am I dreaming? You bet.