Reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act

[The Straight Story]

Reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act

On March 13, 2010, the Obama Administration released its blueprint for revising the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) to help states raise expectations of students and reward schools for producing dramatic gains in student achievement.

The blueprint provides incentives for states to adopt academic standards that prepare students to succeed in college and the workplace and create accountability systems that measure student growth toward meeting the goal that all children graduate and succeed in college.

http://www2.ed.gov/policy/elsec/leg/blueprint/index.html

The blueprint is 45 pages and is here in PDF format:

http://www2.ed.gov/policy/elsec/leg/blueprint/blueprint.pdf

snippets:

(3) Equity and Opportunity for All Students
Rigorous and fair accountability for all levels. All students will be included in an accountability system that builds on college- and career-ready standards, rewards progress and success, and requires rigorous interventions in the lowest-performing schools. We will celebrate the Reward states, districts, and schools that do the most to improve outcomes for their students and to close achievement gaps, as well as those who are on the path to have all students graduating or on track to graduate ready for college and a career by 2020. All schools will be aiming to do their part to help us reach that ambitious goal, and for most schools, leaders at the state, district, and school level will enjoy broad flexibility to determine how to get there.

But in the lowest-performing schools that have not made progress over time, we will ask for dramatic change. To ensure that responsibility for improving student outcomes no longer falls solely at the door of schools, we will also promote accountability for states and districts that are not providing their schools, principals, and teachers with the support they need to succeed.


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Supporting effective public school choice.
We will support the expansion of high-performing public charter schools and other autonomous public schools, and support local communities as they expand public school choice options for students within and across school districts.

Promoting a culture of college readiness and success. Access to a challenging high school curriculum has a greater impact on whether a student will earn a 4-year college degree than his or her high school test scores, class rank, or grades. We will increase access to college-level, dual credit, and other accelerated courses in high-need schools and support college-going strategies and models that will help students succeed.

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[msongs]

1. his kids aren't going so no skin off his knee is there? nt

[SoCalDem]

2. and then what?

graduate from college with 40K of debt, and a job maybe paying $20-30K (if you're lucky enough to FIND a job) a year?

you're 23-25, want to live on your own (finally!), and you face $1000.00 a month rent for a place in a safe area....need a car because there's no real public transportation..probably have no health care insurance...and you have to start re-paying those loans..

scary stuff..

[Catshrink]

3. Notice it's of the "all kids will go to college" mentality.

That isn't reality and as you point out, not financially practical for many.

[mzteris]

4. no it isn't!

It specifically targets "career ready" as well as "college ready".

Maybe you should actually READ it in it's entirety, eh?