Friday November 07, 2008
CTE and the 21st Century Student
- All
- 21st Century Skills and Barack Obama
- CTE and RBT
- Critical Thinking Skills
- Is The World Truly Flat?
- Gaming
- Emerging Technologies
Friday November 07, 2008
No Child Left Behind
I thought it might be interesting to start a blog entry about how President-elect Barack Obama's education plan will affect students in the 21st century. According to his website, one objective of his education plan is:
"Barack Obama will reform No Child Left Behind:
Obama and Biden believe teachers should not be forced to spend the academic year preparing students to fill in bubbles on standardized tests and he will improve the assessments used to track student progress to measure readiness for college."
According to the goals of the 21st century, assessment need improvement. I think it will interesting to see if and how No Child Left Behind will be reformed and if it will incorporate the 21st century skills framework. I totally agree that No Child Left Behind has taken away a lot of the freedom teachers need. It has taken away a lot of the creativity of teachers. Has anyone heard any more specifics as to the president-elect's education plan? If so, I would love to hear them.
Posted at 01:47PM Nov 07, 2008 by Jennifer Cable in 21st Century Skills and Barack Obama | Comments[6]
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I'm really interested in hearing specifics about Obama's plans for education. I don't want to defend NCLB, but I know Perkins, which is similar legislation that relates to Career and Technical Education, has driven a lot of improvement over the last 20 years through its increased focus on accountability. I hope we don't throw away the good with the bad.
Posted by Rhonda on November 09, 2008 at 11:36 PM EST #
I have not found any specifics as of yet but do agree that NCLB needs some serious reform. I have witnessed students graduate over the years that have no right to leave high school. It is a great disservice to allow a child into the world who is grossly ill-prepared. Anytime we have the opportunity to voice our opinion about CTE, which is the greatest curriculum in the world, we should do so. (shameless plug)
Posted by Veronica Lewis on November 11, 2008 at 11:00 AM EST #
Great comments. I do think there are some good things about NCLB but there are also some bad things. I do believe that a lot of teachers "teach the test". This is not a good thing. Since I teach at CTE course, I teach concepts and real-world applications. My students always do well on the state test. I think if teachers would realize that teaching the concepts and objectives in real-world application the students will not have to be just taught the test. I wonder if some of our dislike about NCLB is from our own creation. I do agree that CTE courses are the greatest. You are given everything you need to be successful. Thanks, Rhonda for all you do in CTE.
Posted by Jennifer Cable on November 14, 2008 at 08:22 AM EST #
I will be happy to take credit for the things you like although my part is small. It takes a lot of work to create the materials we produce in CTE. I think a real strength of our system is how our accountability and instruction are aligned. We can't escape from accountability, but we can work to make it as meaningful as possible. We have been fortunate in CTE to have the freedom to do that. The areas more directly affected by NCLB don't necessarily have that same luxury.
Posted by Rhonda on November 16, 2008 at 10:06 PM EST #
I don't teach but am considering a career change so to see what he does do with NCLB will be interesting. I did hear or read that education is not in his top 3 priorities however.
Posted by Natalie on November 21, 2008 at 02:15 PM EST #
While reading the news online while waiting for the turkey to be done, I found an interesting article by Newsweek about what kind of education secretary Barack Obama will choose. The article is very interesting and talkes briefly about NCLB. The names being mentioned for education secretary even include Jim Hunt, former governor of North Carolina. Anyone in education should read this article and keep up with who is chosen. It can have an affect on our future. Please find the link below to the article.
http://blog.newsweek.com/blogs/poweringup/archive/2008/11/25/what-kind-of-education-secretary-will-obama-pick.aspx
Posted by Jennifer Cable on November 27, 2008 at 12:55 PM EST #