Political Stances on Education

I thought it was interesting when I was looking at two of the front runners for the Presidential Election in 08. I looked at Hilary Clinton's stances on education and Barack Obama's. Although this is not an exact assessment tool, I think it is important to look at what these candidates have in mind for our schools as well as the NCLB act that was established during Bush's adminsitration.

1. Attracting and supporting more outstanding teachers and principals, and paying them like the professionals they are.
2. Reforming the No Child Left Behind Act. This law represented a promise -- more resources for schools in exchange for more accountability -- and that promise has not been kept.
3. Giving new parents support and training to promote healthy development for their children.
4. Increasing access to high-quality early education and helping to create Early Head Start.
   
   Innovating Teacher Pay and Teacher Support
   School districts across America face systemic barriers to attracting and putting the best teachers in schools where they are needed the most. Although the federal role in education is limited, one way the federal government can make the most of its scarce resources is by fostering innovation -- identifying the best programs and practices, and helping expand them around the country. Senator Obama introduced the Innovation Districts for School Improvement Act to award grants to school districts that try new methods to improve student achievement and reward effective teachers. Under this initiative, 20 districts across the country would get grants to develop innovative plans in consultation with their teacher unions. High-performing teachers would be eligible for pay increases of 10 to 20 percent of their base salary. These innovation districts would be required to implement systemic reforms and show convincing results. These best practices would provide models for other school systems to adopt.