What's New?
The Ed World seems quiet at the moment. Policymakers, talking heads, etc. seemed consumed with the war, the election, other things. Am I wrong? Is there a burning education issue out there that I'm missing?
My daughter is taking a course called "Picking the President" that culminates with a trip to New Hampshire to work for the candidate of her choice. Given that we live in a university town, most students are aligned with Democratic candidates, while my daughter is enough of an independent thinker to be able to consider all candidates. That means she'll likely be able to choose a candidate to work for who no one else chooses, and then get the opportunity to actually meet the candidate. Four years ago, the lone student who chose a conservative candidate picked Joe Lieberman and actually traveled with him personally for several days throughout NH.
Tonight her class is discussing educational issues, and I'm going to spend some time today trying to figure out which candidates have what positions on education. Here's what I have so far:
Giuliani: Seems he's all about school choice, according to this USA Today piece. But I don' trust USA Today entirely. Ahh, the NYT has another article where he emphasizes school choice. And here's a Giuliani MySpace that also mentions choice. This MySpace thing is really weird.
Romney: He's got a broader view of educational issues. USA Today notes that while he supports NCLB, but think the federal government should get out of education and that the US Dept of Ed should be abolished. He also seems to lean toward school choice.
McCain: Supports NCLB, but says it needs improvement. Also supports school choice, according to USA Today.
Thompson: More support for choice. Also he thinks states and communities should control education, not the feds. And he supported NCLB as a senator.
Clinton: She supported NCLB in 2001, but now she's calling for a complete overhaul of the law, according to USA Today. She also talks about expanding preschool and Head Start.
Edwards: Supported NCLB but now wants a complete overhaul. Also wants to look more closely at the test kids take and what the tests measure (which I actually think is a good idea but probably for different reasons that Edwards'). He also supports universal preschool and wants to tackle the drop out problem.
Obama: Supports NCLB in theory but criticizes that the Bush Admin. implemented without any flexibility. Also wants to increase teacher pay and improve teacher quality.
So, this little adventure in candidate research has led me to think that I need to do more to figure out where these guys stand on issues. I'm thinking about contacting campaigns directly with questions and reporting them here. Seems like the time is right for this.
My daughter is taking a course called "Picking the President" that culminates with a trip to New Hampshire to work for the candidate of her choice. Given that we live in a university town, most students are aligned with Democratic candidates, while my daughter is enough of an independent thinker to be able to consider all candidates. That means she'll likely be able to choose a candidate to work for who no one else chooses, and then get the opportunity to actually meet the candidate. Four years ago, the lone student who chose a conservative candidate picked Joe Lieberman and actually traveled with him personally for several days throughout NH.
Tonight her class is discussing educational issues, and I'm going to spend some time today trying to figure out which candidates have what positions on education. Here's what I have so far:
Giuliani: Seems he's all about school choice, according to this USA Today piece. But I don' trust USA Today entirely. Ahh, the NYT has another article where he emphasizes school choice. And here's a Giuliani MySpace that also mentions choice. This MySpace thing is really weird.
Romney: He's got a broader view of educational issues. USA Today notes that while he supports NCLB, but think the federal government should get out of education and that the US Dept of Ed should be abolished. He also seems to lean toward school choice.
McCain: Supports NCLB, but says it needs improvement. Also supports school choice, according to USA Today.
Thompson: More support for choice. Also he thinks states and communities should control education, not the feds. And he supported NCLB as a senator.
Clinton: She supported NCLB in 2001, but now she's calling for a complete overhaul of the law, according to USA Today. She also talks about expanding preschool and Head Start.
Edwards: Supported NCLB but now wants a complete overhaul. Also wants to look more closely at the test kids take and what the tests measure (which I actually think is a good idea but probably for different reasons that Edwards'). He also supports universal preschool and wants to tackle the drop out problem.
Obama: Supports NCLB in theory but criticizes that the Bush Admin. implemented without any flexibility. Also wants to increase teacher pay and improve teacher quality.
So, this little adventure in candidate research has led me to think that I need to do more to figure out where these guys stand on issues. I'm thinking about contacting campaigns directly with questions and reporting them here. Seems like the time is right for this.
posted by Jenny D. at 6:37 AM
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