Obama's Plan for Education of the Future

Now that the majority of the health-care reform debate that has dominated President Barack Obama’s agenda for the past year is largely over, the president seems ready to move forward on other pieces of his agenda — namely, a comprehensive reform of education in America — alongside Secretary of Education Arne Duncan.

Compared to the vast storm of media coverage regarding the many nuances of health-care reform, the president’s plans for changes to America’s education system are not nearly as well known, even though they will make a significant impact on all school-age children in America if they are instated.

These proposed changes to education are nothing but good, and they are severely needed because they target problematic issues with education today, including assessments; competition; teacher training; college access; and science, technology, engineering and math (STEM).

Different assessments

One educational issue that has always raised some controversy is the idea of and emphasis placed on standardized testing. This focus on standardized tests, and the issues that occurred as a result of it, was onereason many educators criticized the policy of No Child Left Behind. 

President Obama states that standardized tests often fail to provide valuable or timely feedback. They also drain creativity from classrooms and restrict teacher's freedoms because they feel significant pressure to merely teach to the tests. However, he does not state that he intends to eliminate standardized tests entirely; he would prefer to place much less emphasis on them.

The education reform seems to move toward a different type of testing rather than fill-in-the bubble standardized tests. States will be given funds to utilize a “broader range of assessments that can evaluate higher-order skills, including students’ abilities to use technology, conduct research, engage in scientific investigation, solve problems, and present and defend their ideas,” Obama said. This kind of testing could arguably challenge students more, give more freedom to teachers, while also providing a more accurate reflection of what exactly students have been receiving from their education. 

More competition

Another more publicized facet of the proposed plan is the focus on investing money in public schools to make them stronger and encourage charger schools to work among the public school system. The reason behind this is that theoretically, the presence of charter schools should improve “healthy competition” among public schools, therefore encouraging each school to be the best it can be for the ultimate benefit of their students. 

Effective teachers

We need the best, most qualified and dedicated teachers that we can get to give America’s students — and future — the strongest education possible.

President Obama’s stance on No Child Left Behind remains that the original program goals were right, but the previous administration implemented them incorrectly. He supports the need for better assessments while pushing for every student to have a highly qualified, successful teacher in their classroom.

This shortage of teachers is a national problem that does not receive nearly as much attention as it should. While attracting, supporting and keeping the great teachers that are so sorely needed sounds difficult, the current proposal believes that this might be possible. The plan would help teachers by “experimenting with alternative preparation,” adding and strengthening mentoring as well as professional development, and giving new incentives to teachers who work in needy schools.

Another idea related to this is the plan to provide funding for 200 new Teacher Residency Programs, in which people who are trying to become certified as a teacher could work alongside veteran teachers in their classrooms, as long as they agreed to work for at least three years in that district. 

Accessible colleges

The affordability of college is an issue that I know my classmates and I have been thinking a lot about throughout our senior year, and it can be a real, significant financial struggle for many families with college-age children. 

The fact is that college at a state university is really growing to the point where it is out of reach for many people. This problem is addressed through the American Opportunity Tax Credit, part of the education reform plan.

“This universal and fully refundable credit” will ensure that the first $4,000 of a college education is free of cost for most Americans, while also taking care of two-thirds of tuition fees at public colleges or universities. This tax credit is also completely refundable, so that it can “help low-income families that need it the most.”

The president also added that he planned to make more money for financial aid accessible by utilizing publicly funded loan providers instead of privately funded providers. The provisions of this American Opportunity Tax Credit could do a great deal and provide a wonderful opportunity to aid families with college-age children, therefore significantly lessening the impact of this sometimes crippling financial undertaking. 

With tuition costs growing higher and higher in most state universities with every year that passes, there needs to be some way to provide assistance to students who want to go to college. As time goes on, and the job force gets more competitive, a college degree will be necessary for a successful job. College should be accessible to all, not just higher-income families who can shoulder the financial burden with more ease.

Strong STEM

The last dominant point of the changes in American education that the president wishes to make is significant, strong improvements in STEM education. He says that math and science education should be a national priority.

In the news every few months, we see the fact repeated that around 80 percent of the fastest growing jobs with the most potential for future growth require a strong knowledge base in math and science. This can be problematic because most studies we have seen show that American students lag far behind students in other countries regarding math and science, and therefore do not graduate with the skills they need to compete in these fields.

An increased focus on STEM education will only be beneficial to students across the country as it helps us regain our ability to compete with students from other countries in these subjects.

The focus on science and math will be accomplished by recruiting high quality math and science teachers, working on further development of the science, math, and technology curriculums for all grade levels, and also testing skills, not merely facts, which goes along with the president’s thoughts on the testing that needs to be implemented rather than fill-in-the-bubble standardized testing.

Right now, it is unknown when exactly President Obama will get to work on instating these proposed changes to the United States’ education system, and I hope it will be sooner rather than later. These policies have the potential to affect the education of every child in the country in a positive way, but regardless of partisan beliefs and the controversy that has centered around the president’s past reform plans, it is unarguable that there needs to be more of a national focus and priority placed on education.

In my lifetime, I hope to see this type of sweeping education reform that will provide the best education possible to every student in America.

About the author: Anushka Mohideen is a senior at Empire High School.

Works Cited: Barack Obama on Education