Eliminating Education Inequality: Wendy Kopp

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Wendy Kopp: There's No Pipeline of Talented Teachers

03 min 51 sec

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Wendy Kopp Evaluates No Child Left Behind

01 min 59 sec

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01 hr 06 min 00 sec

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3 Comments

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SuperiorEd

Posts: 2

Posted: 05.30.09, 10:24 PM

Okay. I'm watching more of this video and Wendy mentions KIPP schools. KIPP schools work for precisely the reason I list in my last post. THEY SPEND MORE TIME IN CLASS!!! They say it right there on their web site. It's so simple. Why don't we just get down to the real issues in education.

I'll give you one more "real" problem that is solvable. Teachers and administrators have their hands timed when it comes to discipline. Fix this problem and you will have willing "Knowledge Seekers" in the classroom seats. As it is now, the students have control of most classrooms. It's no wonder that so many teachers leave the profession at a rate of one in three. Again, this goes back to my main point that the breakdown of the family unit and social decay is to blame. This is where we start. Nothing a government program will do is going to help the "real" problems. Fixing education with the NCLB act is like using aspirin to cure cancer. Not gonna work. The only cure for cancer is to prevent what caused the cancer. We need to be looking at the root causes of our problems in education and then work feverishly in every are of society to undo what we have allowed to happen.

One more. Take all the money you spend on NCLB and throw in a few hundred billion from the stealth bomber program, and pay teachers to work in the summer. We could plan our lessons, do professional development, collaborate, attend conferences, coach athletics, teach summer school and the list goes on. Now, teachers suddenly make 3 more months salary. WOW! We're now on par with other professionals that are required to take 6 years of college. Teaching is suddenly attractive to the "Best and Brightest." We've now solved another problem with education, which is quality teachers.

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SuperiorEd

Posts: 2

Posted: 05.30.09, 09:44 PM

We will never reach a solution to the true problems in American education until we pass the "No Need Left Behind Act." The needs I refer to are needs that are left behind by the family. The true problems in education are the result of social decay and the breakdown in the family. Testing will not cure this problem. States didn't lower their standards because of lack of commitment. If that were true, we would find that some states dropped while others didn't. States dropped their standards because NCLB allowed and encouraged them to do so. It's a numbers game to make it appear as though there is progress being made. In reality, we have done nothing to help the true problems in education. Wendy revealed her true concern when she said the word "Reauthorization." Money is the aim in all of this.

If you want to see real change in education, then for a start, keep students in the classroom during the school day. Pass a law that says that students cannot be taken out of the classroom for any reason from a scheduled class. The cost to this improvement is $0. As a matter of fact, it would save money by keeping buses at home instead of on the road for ball games in the middle of the school day. Another easy fix is this: Outlaw block scheduling. All studies on the spacing effect show that students learn much better when taught in even and short intervals. The only reason we love block scheduling is because we can allow time for homework and kids have more time to spend in athletics and other activities outside of the classroom. Most teachers under block scheduling will waste 20-30 minutes a day allowing students to work on homework. This is precious that would otherwise be spent on content. More content equals better scores. More time in class equals better scores and more content covered. Again, this is related to the my first improvement. These two factors alone would raise test scores by leaps over the NCLB act. Sorry to say, we don't want the obvious answers because they are too cheap and step on too many toes. I'm a educator of eighteen years and I'm sick of the State and Government telling us what we should be doing instead of asking us what we need to do. Teachers need to be writing education reform, not legislators. It's as simple as that. Wendy is correct when she says that the Government should not micro-manage. She is correct when she say it will take commitment and leadership from the local level. Right on Wendy. You can read more of my thoughts on education in my book, The Superior Educator available on Amazon. I don't touch on these issues, but I do cover the "No Needs Left Behind" issue.

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Brendett

Posts: 5

Posted: 05.29.09, 07:43 AM

The no child left behind act is a broking system,I have no idea what these people in the educational institution were thinking.
There is so much wasted money from taxpayers being spend on fancy buildings not enough focus on the education part.
This so call test they give these children today is a worthless test if a child goes to school for nine months and does make it to the next grade there is something very wrong with the teachers of our United States.Back in the day there were teachers who taught four and five grades at one time these children were smarter back in the day than present day children Why is that ? Because teachers back then were more concerned about there students teachers today are more worried about a pay check! No pride left in some teachers for teaching. The federal government has there hands in the schools system of each state way to much the teachers hands are tied to many rules on how a teacher is to teach there students... The southern people's environment is different Northern people's environment that will never change its a fact in our history! the old saying is if its not broken don't fix it well this is a broken school system now in the United States of America.
I don't think anyone in our government has enough commonsense to fix the broking school system today.
Fear has been placed in these students today because of an end of the year testing deal, throw it in the trash can and start over please come up with a new deal. I bet you money a politician could not past this ridiculous test, check it out for yourself.
I don't understand what George W. Bush was thinking when he signed this no child left behind act but it was very wrong...
Student are still being treated stupid and dumb,because of an off the wall test someone came up with!

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