US News
Obama dangles 4 billion dollars to improve school standards
Jul 25, 2009, 5:14 GMT
Washington - US President Barack Obama took a hands-on approach to education reform on Friday, challenging schools across the country to improve their teaching standards if they wanted to get their hands on more than 4 billion dollars in federal funds.
The government funds are part of a 787-billion-dollar stimulus package approved in February to help pull the US economy out of recession. About 100 billion dollars from the stimulus is devoted to education, much of it going directly to state budgets.
But Obama said he refused to simply hand out all the funds to schools unconditionally. He said 4.35 billion dollars would be offered in a 'race to the top' competition designed to encourage specific reforms.
'This is one of the largest investments in education reform in American history. And rather than divvying it up and handing it out, we are letting states and school districts compete for it,' he said in a speech from the White House.
'That's how we can incentivize excellence and spur reform,' he said. Declining education standards in the United States were 'a recipe for economic decline.'
In doling out the grants, Obama said the government would use a variety of benchmarks for schools to measure higher standards. For example, states will be encouraged to ease laws that restrict the number of charter schools.
The government will also only reward schools that use student results to evaluate the performances of teachers - a move that could bar states like New York and California from participating.
The idea of linking students performance to that of their teachers - especially their salaries - has been a contentious debate in the United States. Some teachers, especially in poorer districts or those with large minority populations, argue it is unfair to hold them accountable for their students' skills.
Obama insisted he was not taking sides and said teachers would have to be included in the discussion. The grants would be based on data of schools' performance, not on 'politics or ideology.'
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Older Talkback
page: 1
It's about time that teachers are held to a higher standard and weed out the bad ones. Granted, there are a lot of good, dedicated ones, but there are also those who are not qualified to teach others and I've personally experienced that in our family. Just being able to graduate with top honors doesn't mean a person has the personality or quality to get lessons across.
and here's your stimulus: (_*_) Feel better?
the more SP posts, the more Obama gets his name out there and keeps him foremost in everyone's mind - thanks, SP!
'Obama insisted he was not taking sides and said teachers would have to be included in the discussion. The grants would be based on data of schools' performance, not on 'politics or ideology.''
What part of this paragraph is it that you did not understand, or are you just stupid?
Also, these funds save jobs and create more jobs for teachers. The teachers that taught you should be ashamed. Your teachers like your hero GWF are considered complete and total failures.
...GWF?
'SP4: who isJ...GWF?'
Inform yourself, EssPee. Don't expect to get everything spoonfed to you, on this site. Leave that up to your truck-stop skank of a mommy to do that for you, seeing as how you can't do it yourself. Still drooling pablum down your chin SP? Or is that doggy yogurt.
GWG.....George W. Failure........
GWG? George W. Goofball? GW Gomer?
..spell check wasn't working again...right?.....
Hey stupid, 'spell check' would not have caught that. It would however catch most of your stupid mistakes. Might even make you look like you made it to the 5th grade....
...you f--ked up...
By the way monkey boy...are you three?...or four?...
Sounds like you are all the products of poor teachers!!!!! Lord only knows we need some major improvements in the educational system.
For someone who cannot express themselves without using profanity, I don't think you should be pointing fingers at anyone else for making a mistake. Did your parents not teach you anything? Swearing only shows you cannot defend yourself in an intelligent manner. I guess that is normal for you on the right, when you cannot defend your position you start to yell and use profanity.
You like Palin are a loser.
Sounds like you should f*ck off, with your Holier-than-thou attitude rammed right up your backside. Do you think that you could find your backside on a good day, with both hands? Or is that too great a challenge for you? If you need help locating it, just call on SP4. Being a toe-tapping Republicvnt, he's well versed in finding them.
...please tell me who the heck GWF is!? I asked monkey boy, but I really do think he does not know...
one simple question....and all these little girls above can't even get me a straight answer. One other thing..if he tells you, ask him what 'lvack' is, too.
Be sure to get back to us.
SP4 does no tire of getting his as* handed to him. It happens at least twice a day. He must like it.
And every post just keeps re-enforcing my previous statement bigtime! Reminds me of what grandma used to say 'if the shoe fits, wear it', and it looks like the shoe is fitting pretty well. I don't particularly agree with SP and his caustic remarks, but the responses to him are getting to be more like coming from the 'decrepit old trailer down by the river' variety.
page: 1
SP4: and here we areJul 25th, 2009 - 14:16:28
...looking into the boy kings adopted premise that anything qualifies as stimulus. Never mind, that not a single job will be generated, or that a major financial concern will be strengthened his only goal is to prop up the poor performance enabling education lobby with a reward poorly disguised as some kind of help for education all while the mayor of Washington DC tries, in vain to convince comrade Obama that vouchers and charter schools have done more for DC ed than all the money ever thrown at it. Yes folks, here is your stimulus. Feel better?
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