A Race for our FutureBy Sharon L. Bonner

MenuSlides

• Model School: 3-5

• Race to the Top: 6-9

• Educators : 10-11

• Connection: 12

• Reflection: 13

• Citation: 14

•

What country has the best educational system in the world?

• A) China

• B) Finland

• C) The United States of America

Hints• Spends the most money per

student worldwide. • School lunches, health care,

most class materials and university tuition are all free.

• 2/3 of high school grades go onto college

Answer B: Finland • When looking for the best school systems in the world I came

across an article by (Steffen, Alex 2004) on worldchanging.com. In the article Steffen shares the facts to why this may be true. There is a great sense of community and fostering that is given to the students and educators. In Finland we see that education is more of community based system. Children spend 9 years in the same school. They build a community and a relationship with peers and teachers. There are no economic worries when it comes to education . Through taxes ,citizens are firmly invested in the education of their nation. Children are expected to take languages and math and science are held in very high regard. What is even more amazing is that the students days in school are shorter then our school days in America.

Reflections: What can be learned?• What really amazes me about countries

like Finland, Copenhagen and Japan is the investment they put in the education of their population. In America we rank 18th in education. The biggest difference I see is that in these countries taxes pay for everything from health care to education etc., but at the benefit of its citizens. This is something that American citizens would never consider and with that our educational system fails. There is no achievement gaps within these countries, everyone gets the same opportunities to succeed. I really feel that we can learn a copious amount from countries that have a higher ranking and better design of how an educational system should work.

Race To the Top

What our current administration doing for educational reform

Race to the Top

What is this new reform?• Obama’s Education Reform

Initiative Race to the Top is an Obama

administration initiative to award money to states that show that t have a plan for school reforms in four main areas: turning around low performing schools, adopting college and career ready standards, effective teachers and principals, and using data systems to support student achievement.

Details and Winners

Obama’s engine of reform, Race to the Top, has been

phenomenally successful in using a relatively small pot of money, $4.4 billion from the

2009 stimulus package, to leverage a huge amount of

change in education.

Has made more progress in the last year than in the

previous 10 years. Jonathan Alter September 13,

2010

The Race to the Top state competition is designed to

reward states that are leading the way in comprehensive,

coherent, statewide education reform across four key areas.

The District of Columbia, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Maryland, Massachusetts, New York, North Carolina,

Ohio, and Rhode Island are all to receive a portion of the

$3.4 billion remaining in the "Race to the Top" fund for education in those states.

“When we look up in the sky, Superman isn’t coming. But a social movement “more powerful than a locomotive” is headed down the tracks, if only we’ll hop aboard.”

Newsweek Jonathan Alter September 13, 2010

Obama's Class ProjectU.S. education reform has made more progress in the last year than in the previous 10. How the president is driving the effort.

• I absolutely loved the quote by Atler. I felt it to be very true and powerful . What I found most shocking or my aha moment, was the fact that there is an actual collective called “The Blob” that are hindering the actual change in our educational system. In the article he states this, “Some conclude that this is due to what is known as The Blob”—the collection of bureaucracies, school boards, and teachers’ unions committed to protecting the failed status quo”. There is a battle within our educational system those who want to change and those who want to continue to failure for a buck.

• A push for reform has occurred more than twice in my life time and both initiative s have failed. The achievement gap and the educational injustice that is occurring in our country is, the new civil rights war. Now is the time to take action. Race to the Top may not solve all of the problems within our education but it’s a start and a change that we desperately need.

Educators

Reform starts with appreciating good teachersIndianapolis Star October 29,2010

Written bySarah Zuckerman and Fatima Rich

• Sarah Zuckerman and Fatima Rich of Greenbriar Elementary received an opportunity to go to New York, and found their urgency matched by some of the leaders making the biggest impact in education reform today, such as Secretary of Education Arne Duncan; former Washington, D.C., chancellor of schools Michelle Rhee; and Geoffrey Canada of the Harlem Children's Zone. “The common denominator of their education reform priorities was the need for every student to have a highly effective teacher, regardless of where they attend school”.

Reflection• When a child or a school fails the finger is usually pointed at the

teacher. Teachers are the easiest to blame. What I see in this article is a group of teachers from Indiana who want to make a significant difference and have a fierce concern with how children are being educated. The beginning of reform is to have great teachers who are invested in themselves and the education of the students. In August 2010 the Secretary of Education, Anne Duncan released: Built for Teacher’s, How the Blueprint for Reform Empowers Educators. In this blueprint she speaks on the issue of teachers being scape goated and the importance of good educators often times going unnoticed. What was really powerful was that under the new reform teachers are taken into account and empowered.

Connection• Education Reform and the American educational system is a

very important challenge to me and that is the obvious connection that these articles have in common. The underlying similarity is that within these articles hope and solutions are seen. The article about Finland shows how a proficient systems work and what it entails, Race to the top shows the reader what is being done in our own country to stifle failure with new ideas and initiatives and the last article reports on the educators who are on the front lines of the civil rights war are wanting to see within their schools and how they are being treated. This was an amazing chance to investigate and reflect upon what is really going on in education.

Citations

Steffen, , Alex Finland: The World's Best School System?22 Dec 2004 WorldChanging.com http://www.worldchanging.com/about/

Alter, Johnathan, September 13, 2010Newsweek: Obama's Class ProjectU.S. education reform has made more progress in the last year than in the

previous 10. How the president is driving the effort. Race to the Top!August 24 2010 CNN.com by sally Holland CNN producer 

Race to the Top ReleaseEd.gov Press Release March 2010

Zuckerman, Sara and Rich, FatimaReform starts with appreciating good teachersIndianapolis Star October 29,2010 Built for Teacher’s, How the Blueprint for Reform Empowering Educators

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