Monday, February 28, 2005

Governors Meet On Education

Governors from across the nation met in Washington Saturday and Sunday for the National Education Summit on High Schools, producing a coalition of 13 states that plan to improve high schools "by adopting higher standards, more rigorous courses and tougher examinations." Keynote speaker Bill Gates made headlines with his comments and challenge to the nation's governors, but many of his statements appear out of context. In part, Gates said:

America’s high schools are obsolete.

By obsolete, I don’t just mean that our high schools are broken, flawed, and under-funded – though a case could be made for every one of those points.

By obsolete, I mean that our high schools – even when they’re working exactly as designed – cannot teach our kids what they need to know today.

Later, Gates said:

Let’s be clear. Thanks to dedicated teachers and principals around the country, the best-educated kids in the United States are the best-educated kids in the world. We should be proud of that. But only a fraction of our kids are getting the best education.

The overall theme of his remarks were a frequent Gates theme of pointing out the inequities in American education for poor and minority students:

Today, only one-third of our students graduate from high school ready for college, work, and citizenship.

The other two-thirds, most of them low-income and minority students, are tracked into courses that won’t ever get them ready for college or prepare them for a family-wage job – no matter how well the students learn or the teachers teach.

This isn’t an accident or a flaw in the system; it is the system.

In district after district, wealthy white kids are taught Algebra II while low-income minority kids are taught to balance a check book!

The first group goes on to college and careers; the second group will struggle to make a living wage.

The full text of the speech, Rising to the Challenge, is available for download in .doc format.

Other related items:

• Miami Herald - Governors work to improve H.S. education by Ben Feller (AP Education Writer)
• New York Times - Governors of 13 States Plan to Raise Standards in High Schools by Robert Pear
• New York Times - Microsoft Chairman Challenges Governors to Improve High Schools by Robert Pear
• Richmond Times-Dispatch - Warner touts Va. education by Gil Klein

Virginia Considers Cost of Dumping NCLB

Washington Post staff writer Rosalind S. Helderman reports that Virginia legislators "want to know how much the state is paying to implement the No Child Left Behind education law, and how much Virginia would lose in federal funds if it left the law behind. In Cost Analysis Of 'No Child' Law Backed Helderman writes, "They need the information, they said, before they can consider the dramatic step of withdrawing from the federal program next year."

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