Obama Echoes Bush on Education Ideas

Thanks to J. Becker for this:

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From Education Week [American Education's Newspaper of Record],
Wednesday, April 8, 2009, Volume 28, Issue 28, pp. 1,18-19. See
http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2009/04/08/28obama_ep.h28.html?tkn=WNOFyTIKk%2F2NxAxoeX6F4ULVU0SXJoKkGS82
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Obama Echoes Bush on Education Ideas

By Erik W. Robelen

President Barack Obama campaigned on a message of change, but when it
comes to K-12 education, he appears to be walking in the policy
footsteps of his recent predecessors, including George W. Bush.

Mr. Obama is sounding themes of accountability based on standards and
assessments. He's delivering tough talk on teacher quality, including
a call for performance-based pay. And he's promoting an expanded
charter school sector.

To be sure, his economic-stimulus package shows he is ready to pump
far more money into education than Mr. Bush did. And Mr. Obama says
he opposes private school vouchers, a consistent Bush agenda item.

Still, some observers see little difference between the two so
far-and aren't happy at the similarities.

"He is operating almost in a straight line from President Bush," said
Diane Ravitch, an education historian at New York University, who
co-writes a blog for edweek.org. She has criticized core elements of
Mr. Obama's K-12 agenda, such as his enthusiasm for the charter
sector and what she worries is an overreliance on standardized
testing to judge schools and teachers.
Sound Familiar?

The four most recent occupants of the White House have sounded
similar themes on education.

"Accountability, flexibility, tougher standards, a results-oriented
system-all of these have got to be out there on the table."
President George H.W. Bush
(Remarks at the education summit in Charlottesville, Va., Sept. 27, 1989)

"All successful schools have followed the same formula: higher
standards, more accountability, so all children can reach those
standards."
President Bill Clinton
(State of the Union Address, Jan. 27, 2000)

"We will insist on high standards and accountability because we
believe that every schools should teach and every child can learn."
President George W. Bush
(Presidential radio address, Jan. 3, 2004)

"We're seeing what children from all walks of life can and will
achieve when we set high standards, have high expectations, when we
do a good job preparing them. ... [W]e will cultivate a new culture
of accountability in schools."
President Barack Obama
(Address to the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, in Washington, March 10, 2009)

"Obama is, in effect, giving George W. Bush a third term in
education," said Ms. Ravitch, who served as an assistant secretary of
education under the first President Bush.

Alfie Kohn, an education author and longtime critic of standardized
testing, echoes that assessment.

"This is what passes for quote-unquote 'reform': an intensification
of the status quo that reflects the sensibility of politicians and
corporate executives rather than educators," Mr. Kohn said.

He warns that if Mr. Obama holds to that pattern, his agenda may pose
a challenge for some of his natural constituencies.

"A lot of liberals and those on the left desperately want to believe
that Obama represents a qualitative change, not just in education,
but in all kinds of domestic and foreign-policy issues," Mr. Kohn
said. "And even as many of them become slowly disenchanted, the
political issue becomes: How hard do we push?"

But Andrew J. Rotherham, a co-director of the Washington-based think
tank Education Sector, argues that the president is sending the right
signals, from promoting charter schools to pushing on teacher quality
and "improving accountability, not jettisoning it."

He said that even while he believes Mr. Obama's critics are wrong to
suggest there is little difference between him and Mr. Bush on
education, those hoping for a "radical departure" will be
disappointed.

"There was a lot of overlap between Bush I and Clinton, and between
Clinton and Bush II," said Mr. Rotherham, a former aide to President
Bill Clinton. "Not surprisingly, there's going to be a lot of overlap
between Bush II and Obama.

"That says less about any of them per se than the direction education
reform has been going for well over a decade."
Charting a Course

Analysts caution that it's still too soon to know exactly where
President Obama will come down on education. The key, they say, is
how the Obama administration translates its rhetoric into action and
detailed policy prescriptions.

For instance, how serious will the administration be in enforcing the
education accountability demands in the recently enacted stimulus
plan? How will it seek to define performance pay? And what specific
changes does Mr. Obama have in mind for the upcoming reauthorization
of the No Child Left Behind Act?

Leading teachers' union officials, at least publicly, sound receptive
to most of the president's ideas.

Randi Weingarten, the president of the 1.4 million-member American
Federation of Teachers, said Mr. Obama has laid out a "very broad,
comprehensive, and thoughtful agenda."

The president is wading into touchy territory for the unions with his
advocacy of expanding charter schools and promoting performance-based
pay, themes he sounded on the campaign trail.

"I know that these conversations sometimes are uncomfortable for us
to have, but we're willing to have them," Ms. Weingarten said when
asked about Mr. Obama's discussion of performance pay.

She and other union officials say that Mr. Obama's election brought
about a critical change that isn't about policy or money. It's a
belief-reinforced by the president's public statements-that teachers
and their unions will have a seat at the table in policy discussions.

"He's going to listen," said Anne T. Wass, the president of the
Massachusetts Teachers Association, an affiliate of the 3.2
million-member National Education Association. "There wasn't very
much trust in President Bush as far as our issues, and very little
access."
'The Same Old Debate'

The considerable attention President Obama has paid to education
since taking office has surprised many observers, especially given
the relatively minor role the issue played in the 2008 campaign and
the focus on the economic crisis.

The president and U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan have made
clear that they view the economic-stimulus law, the American Recovery
and Reinvestment Act-with some $115 billion in aid for precollegiate
and higher education-as a means to launch education plans from
improvements in standards and data-collection systems to performance
pay. The unprecedented, one-time infusion of federal aid is being
touted not only as a lifeline for schools but also a bargain of more
money in exchange for substantive changes. ("Stimulus Scale Seen as
Issue," Feb. 11, 2009, and "First Education Stimulus Aid Flows to
States," April 8, 2009.)

Last month, Mr. Obama outlined his education agenda in broad strokes
during an address to the U.S. Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, setting
the stage with a fairly stark portrait.

"[W]e've let our grades slip, our schools crumble, our teacher
quality fall short, and other nations outpace us," he said.

Some critics say Mr. Obama was unfairly negative and used flawed
information to make his case.

For instance, he said that U.S. 8th graders have "fallen to ninth
place" in math. Although the 2007 results for the Trends in
International Mathematics and Science Study, or TIMMS, do confirm
that ranking, it was an improvement from the 2003 U.S. ranking of
15th place. In 1999, the United States ranked 19th out of 38 nations.

The president appeared to be on solid statistical ground in some
other areas, however. He said that "just a third of our 13- and
14-year-olds can read as well as they should," which seems to refer
to the 31 percent of 8th graders rated "proficient" in the 2007
results for the National Assessment of Educational Progress.

He also lamented the "stubborn"-and widely recognized-achievement gap
between African-American and Hispanic students and their white peers.

Mr. Obama has been generally consistent in his stated education
agenda since taking office, reiterating much that he said during the
campaign. That includes improvement proposals touching on every
aspect of the U.S. education system, from early childhood to college
and the workplace.

He has trumpeted his goals repeatedly, from his address to Congress
in February to a virtual town-hall meeting on March 26. But he
articulated his vision most extensively in his March 10 speech in the
nation's capital to Hispanic business leaders.

"[W]hat we get here in Washington is the same old debate ... more
money versus more reform, vouchers versus the status quo," Mr. Obama
said. "What's required is not simply new investments, but new
reforms. It's time to expect more from our students. It's time to
start rewarding good teachers, stop making excuses for bad ones. It's
time to demand results from government at every level."

On the K-12 front, Mr. Obama called on states to develop stronger
academic standards and better student assessments, and urged a move
toward common standards across states-a point he did not make on the
campaign trail. He talked of extending the school day and year, and
increasing assistance for dropouts. He promoted efforts to recruit,
prepare, and reward teachers.

In addition, Mr. Obama called for more innovation in schools, and
pointed to some charter schools as exemplars. Going beyond his
campaign plan to increase federal aid for charters, he also urged
states with charter caps to lift them, provided those states ensure
"greater accountability" and have plans to "close charters that are
not working."

The president carefully couched his rhetoric in ways that make it
akin to a Rorschach test, with something for almost everyone.

He said he wants "tougher, clearer" standards, but also assessments
that "don't simply measure whether students can fill in a bubble." He
wants more "effective" charters, but also tougher action to close
those that fall short. He wants not only to hold teachers
accountable, he said, but also to treat them like professionals.
Political Balancing Act

"Obama has been very artful with this from the very beginning,"
Christopher T. Cross, a veteran education expert who was an assistant
education secretary under the first President Bush, said of his
ability to deliver multiple messages. "There's enough in there that,
depending on where you sit, you can see something you stand for."

As a result, his education vision has managed to appeal to a wide
range of education policymakers and analysts.

"He is saying a lot of things that sound all too familiar to me,"
said former U.S. Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings, pointing
to Mr. Obama's backing of teacher incentive pay, charter schools, and
high standards to help close achievement gaps. "I want to sing right
along."

John P. Bailey, a former aide to President George W. Bush on
education and labor issues, said that while he has been encouraged,
it shouldn't be surprising to hear familiar themes coming from the
new president.

"What it shows, to me, is there is an emerging consensus around some
real bipartisan, center-oriented reforms," Mr. Bailey said.

Indeed, leading congressional Democrats on education, including Sen.
Edward M. Kennedy of Massachusetts and Rep. George Miller of
California, were partners with the Bush administration in drafting
the bipartisan No Child Left Behind Act eight years ago, though they
later complained bitterly that Mr. Bush was not willing to fund it
adequately.

President Clinton-the previous Democrat to hold the office-was also a
champion of standards and accountability, and signed into law major
changes to federal policy that helped pave the way for NCLB. In
addition, he was an early and vocal proponent of charter schools, and
pushed for new demands on states and districts to improve teacher
quality.

For his part, President George H.W. Bush offered an agenda that
included advocating national goals and standards across states and
providing seed money for "break the mold" schools.

Still, the ideas Mr. Obama is embracing don't sit well with everyone.

Alex Molnar, an education professor at Arizona State University, said
that while he finds merit in some of Mr. Obama's plans for
early-childhood and higher education, he sees little to like in the
current administration's K-12 agenda, whether it's the "fascination
with standards and assessments" or the embrace of charter schools.

"He's just served up a plate of leftovers: leftover ideas, leftover
ideology, and I must say, he's serving leftovers of food that wasn't
very good to begin with," Mr. Molnar said.

Ms. Wass of the Massachusetts Teachers Association, said that while
she supports many of Mr. Obama's plans, she is "less enthusiastic"
about performance pay.

"If it means paying individual teachers based on student test scores,
... we would have a hard time ever compromising on that," she said.

Secretary Duncan has said test data would be one component of
performance-pay plans.

Bruce Reed, the president of the centrist Democratic Leadership
Council and formerly President Clinton's chief domestic-policy
adviser, argues that the vast sums President Obama has secured for
education through the stimulus package will help build the political
leverage he needs with unions and others to achieve his agenda. The
administration estimates that the stimulus money will help avert
hundreds of thousands of teacher layoffs. ("As Stimulus Tap Turns On,
Districts Can't Escape Cuts," April 8, 2009.)

"Don't underestimate the value of money, especially in these hard
times," Mr. Reed said. "A leader's job is to push the envelope and
bring everybody along, and that's what Obama's trying to do."

But Frederick M. Hess, the director of education policy studies at
the conservative-leaning American Enterprise Institute, a Washington
think tank, isn't so sure what the president will get for all the
money being committed.

"What I see is lots of new money," he said, "and I see a whole lot of
ambiguity when it comes to which of these changes are actually going
to be anything meaningful."
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