Education

DC's new mayor, Adrian Fenty, is turning DC into one of the nation's true centers of education reform. The Washington Post has an editorial today looking at a path-breaking proposal by schools Chancellor Michelle Rhee which would create a new and very different model for teacher pay and performance.

As a parent of 2 kids in DC public schools (and a third next year), I and my family have been following Fenty and Rhee's bold moves closely. My wife and I had lunch with Rhee a month or so ago, and found her smart, determined, prepared, impressive - and perhaps strong and savvy enough to actually pull off her and the mayors ambitious plans.

The battle to modernize, improve and reform DC's schools is turning into an effort with national significance. I will be following it all, and will be reporting back here on the NDN blog from time to time as things develop.

USA Today publicó un artículo hoy que habla sobre la nueva legislación en el Estado de Carolina del Sur, la cual prohíbe a inmigrantes ilegales estudiar en universidades y colegios públicos. Si bien otros estados han pasado legislación que limita de una u otra manera a inmigrantes ilegales, como por ejemplo eliminando su acceso a ciertas formas de ayuda financiera y a la reducción en costos de matriculación de la que gozan los residentes del estado, es la primera vez que se les prohíbe la oportunidad de registrarse para clases.

El DREAM Act- un Acta que llegó a manos del Congreso el año pasado- hubiese garantizado más claridad en cuanto a éste debate, así como también un sendero hacia la legalización que les hubiese dado a residentes ilegales (si es que calificaban) la oportunidad de obtener ayuda financiera para su educación. Lamentablemente ésta Acta nunca fue aprobada en el Senado, lo cual fue, desde mi punto de vista, una oportunidad perdida para progresar.

Ahora el asunto no es solo una falta de progreso sino un continuo retroceso, ya que estado tras estado ha comenzado a aplicar más restricciones para hijos de inmigrantes indocumentados. A menos que las cosas cambien paso por paso llegaremos completamente a negar acceso a educación universitaria a estudiantes indocumentados. ¿Cómo vamos a encontrar soluciones genuinas para el problema de inmigración, si sólo nos enfocamos en más censura y restricciones?

Sam Dillon of the New York Times reported today in his article: "States’ Data Obscure How Few Finish High School" how official graduation rates reported to the Federal government are often grossly inflated or inaccurate. Many educators, administrators and others attribute this as yet another negative effect of the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) act. NCLB does not measure completion rates appropriately and perversely awards school systems that push underperformers to drop out, thus leaving many children behind, the article reports. The Times had an interesting graphic of the discrepancies between the reported and actual graduation rates:

NDN has been advocating that we need to do more to prepare American students for a flatter, more globalized world, including our most recent, modest proposals: A Laptop in Every Backpack and Tapping the Resources of America's Community Colleges but this article reveals a deeper problem with our education system that was being masked by NCLB and will be surprising to some, but perhaps all too familiar to those students and workers who have been left behind.