Education

Here is the executive summary from ed.gov.

http://www2.ed.gov/programs/racetothetop/executive-summary.pdf

Reform is only needed when schools are failing to serve their students. We can't simply brush that off. Something has to be done. However, under the Obama plan, states can develop their own plans to increase college enrollment, close achievement gaps, and increase understanding of math and language arts etc.

Also, unfortunately teachers were fired prior to RTTT, and will be fired post RTTT legislation.

The President wants to lend financial support to top performing charter schools, and to help public schools better serve their students. He also wants Charter schools to be accountable to the same standards as their public school peers.

http://www2.ed.gov/news/pressreleases/2009/06/06082009a.html



Additionally, Obama is now allowing states to opt out of NCLB.

Regarding your priorities:

1) We agree on #1. More jobs. More good paying jobs, and more manufacturing jobs as well.

2) Agreed.

3) Agreed. As a person who grew up in some of the poorest neighborhoods, in my state, I know the challenges of poverty, first hand.

4) Agreed.

5) I don't want to end private schools. Ultimately I believe parents should have choices. That said, I'd like to see state sponsored charter schools, unionized.

6) Agreed. Sadly, the high stakes testing is part of the reason that charter schools and alternative education is considered by many parents.

7) Agree for the most part, though I don't wish to limit experimentation to public schools.

8) I think we need to experiment and find out what works best in given conditions. We need a scientific approach to addressing the needs of individual students. For example, what schools in high poverty areas are succeeding? Why are they succeeding? What schools have improved? How did they improve? ... The fact that many schools are not serving their students, has to be addressed somehow.