President Barack Obama announced his new Race to the Top initiative to reform America’s education system during a speech at a middle school in Madison yesterday.
Obama spoke at James C. Wright Middle School in front of 500 students, parents, teachers and local leaders.
“In the 21st century — when countries that out-educate us today will outcompete us tomorrow — there is nothing that will determine the quality of our future as a nation or the lives our children will lead more than the kind of education we provide them,” Obama said.
The initiative is a competition between states for one of the Race to the Top grants, which total $4 billion.
While competing for these grants, states are encouraged to create higher standards and better assessments of student success, attract and maintain skilled teachers, make it easy for teachers to use data on standardized tests to help them teach, and fix struggling schools.
Obama challenged states not to simply raise the bar, but to prepare students to rise up to the challenge.
“Understand, this isn’t about more tests, and it’s not about teaching to the test,” Obama said. “It’s about finally getting testing right. It’s about measuring not only whether our kids can master the basics, but whether they can solve challenging tasks, and possess skills like critical thinking, teamwork and entrepreneurship.”
Rebecca Bardwell, associate professor in the College of Education at Marquette, said standardized tests have always focused on making sure students have learned simplified concepts instead of problem solving skills.
“I think we have dumbed down our educational system by focusing on content instead of thinking skills,” she said.
Obama said schools need to do a better job of preparing new teachers, keeping good teachers and eliminating bad ones.
Bardwell agreed teachers need more support, but said before cutting bad teachers, schools should try applying a mentorship program. Teachers work alone and are not able to see and learn from great teachers in action, she said.
Before states can apply for a Race to the Top grant, they must eradicate laws preventing the factorization of students’ performance in evaluations of teachers, Obama said.
Wisconsin law currently forbids teacher evaluations from including students’ performance. Legislation that would remove this law and make the state eligible for a grant is currently working its way through the Wisconsin State Legislature.
Bardwell said she is interested to see how Wisconsin wrestles with this issue and whether legislators will be able to make the state eligible for one of these grants.
Obama’s audience for the speech included Gov. Jim Doyle, Madison Mayor Dave Cieslewicz and Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett.
Madison Metropolitan School District Superintendent Daniel Nerad said James C. Wright is a school that represents the challenges and opportunities for success that exist in education today.
“Wright is a great learning environment and they take each day to take students further in their learning,” he said.
Joe Quick, spokesman for the Madison Metropolitan School District, said because of Obama’s speech, the biggest departure from the school’s regular routine was having students eat lunch in their classrooms. Students usually eat in the multipurpose gym, where Obama’s speech was given.
When Wright parents and students first heard the president was coming, they were in disbelief. Their disbelief soon turned to incredible excitement, Quick said.
“These kids are going to be able to tell their kids and grandkids they heard a speech in their own school by the first African American president in the nation’s history,” Quick said.
