Education
"A world-class
education is the single most important factor in determining not just whether
our kids can compete for the best jobs but whether America can out-compete
countries around the world. America's business leaders understand that when it
comes to education, we need to up our game. That's why we’re working together
to put an outstanding education within reach for every child"
-PRESIDENT
BARACK OBAMA, JULY 18, 2011
Guiding
Principles
Providing a high-quality education
for all children is critical to America’s economic future. Our nation’s
economic competitiveness and the path to the American Dream depend on providing
every child with an education that will enable them to succeed in a global
economy that is predicated on knowledge and innovation. President Obama is
committed to providing every child access to a complete and competitive
education, from cradle through career.
Progress
·
On May 29, 2012 the Obama
Administration announced that eight more states have agreed to implement bold reforms around standards and
accountability, and will receive flexibility from the most
burdensome mandates of No Child Left Behind, bringing to 18 the total
number of states who have been granted waivers. In exchange for this
flexibility, these states have agreed to raise standards, improve
accountability, and undertake essential reforms to improve teacher
effectiveness.
·
On December 16, 2011 the Obama
Administration announced that nine states -- California, Delaware, Maryland,
Massachusetts, Minnesota, North Carolina, Ohio, Rhode Island and Washington --
would receive grant awards from the $500 million Race to the Top-Early Learning
Challenge fund. The grants will support states in creating systems of
high-quality early learning and development programs, developing new approaches
to raising the bar across early learning centers, and closing the school
readiness gap.
·
On October 25, 2011, the Obama
Administration announced a proposal to make managing student loan debt easier.
“Pay As You Earn” will allow about 1.6 million borrowers the ability to cap
their monthly payments at 10 percent of their discretionary income starting in
2012. The plan will also forgive the balance of borrowers’ debt after 20 years
of payments.
·
On September 23, 2011, President
Obama announced that his administration would provide relief from the No Child Left Behind Act.
The flexibility will help states move forward with education reforms that are
based on rigorous college- and career-ready standards, state-developed
accountability systems that reward progress and address achievement gaps, and
meaningful educator evaluation systems that support increase student
achievement.
·
On August 8, 2011 President Obama directed Secretary Duncan to
move forward with plans to provide flexibility to states who are looking for
greater relief under the No Child Left Behind law. In September, 2011 President
Obama announced the final package providing states the flexibility to make sure
that every single child is getting an excellent education, making sure that
they are ready for college and career, and that they are going to be
competitive in a global economy.
·
On July 18, 2011, President Barack
Obama announced four major commitments to education that
take advantage of leading industry leaders' areas of expertise and the
skills of their employees. President Obama’s “Educate to Innovate” campaign is designed to
improve the participation and performance of America’s students in science,
technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) and includes efforts from the
federal government and from leading companies, foundations, non-profits, and
science and engineering societies to work with young people across America to
excel in science and math.“
·
On May 25, 2011 the Obama
Administration announced a $500 million state level grant competition, the Race to the Top-Early Learning Challenge.
States applying for grants will be encouraged to increase access to quality
learning programs for vulnerable children across America. The Department of
Education and the Department of Health and Human Services will jointly
administer the program.
·
On May 16, President Obama gave the commencement address to
the Booker T. Washington Class of 2011, and stressed the importance of
education in a highly competitive world. The Memphis, TN high school was the
winner of the second annual Race to the Top High School
Commencement Challenge, which is designed to reward schools that best demonstrate
how they are preparing students for college and a career.
·
The President reiterated his commitment to improving American
education and said his administration is focused on achieving reform, promoting
responsibility and delivering results in a speech in Miami on March 4, 2011.
·
The Act includes $5 billion for
early learning programs, including Head Start, Early Head Start, child care,
and programs for children with special needs.
·
The Act also provides $77 billion
for reforms to strengthen elementary and secondary education, including $48.6
billion to stabilize state education budgets (of which $8.8 billion may be used
for other government services) and to encourage states to:
o Make improvements in teacher effectiveness and ensure that
all schools have highly-qualified teachers;
o Make progress toward college and career-ready standards and
rigorous assessments that will improve both teaching and learning;
o Improve achievement in low-performing schools, through
intensive support and effective interventions; and
o Gather information to improve student learning, teacher
performance, and college and career readiness through enhanced data systems.
·
The Act provides $5 billion in
competitive funds to spur innovation and chart ambitious reform to close the
achievement gap.
·
The Act includes over $30 billion to
address college affordability and improve access to higher education.
Focus on Early Childhood
Education
The years before a child reaches
kindergarten are among the most critical in his or her life to influence
learning. President Obama is committed to providing the support that our
youngest children need to prepare to succeed later in school. The President
supports a seamless and comprehensive set of services and support for children,
from birth through age 5. Because the President is committed to helping all
children succeed – regardless of where they spend their day – he will urge
states to impose high standards across all publicly funded early learning
settings, develop new programs to improve opportunities and outcomes, engage
parents in their child’s early learning and development, and improve the early
education workforce.
Reform and Invest in
K-12 Education
The
President will reform America’s public schools to deliver a 21st Century
education that will prepare all children for success in the new global
workplace. President Obama’s Commencement Challenge, Race to the Top,
fosters critical thinking, problem solving, and the innovative use of knowledge
to prepare students for college and career, helping America win the future by
out-educating our competitors and achieving his goal of having the highest
proportion of college graduates in the world by 2020.
President Obama will push to end the
use of ineffective, "off-the-shelf" tests, and support new,
state-of-the-art assessment and accountability systems that provide timely and
useful information about the learning and progress of individual students.
Teachers are the single most
important resource to a child’s learning. President Obama will ensure that
teachers are supported as professionals in the classroom, while also holding
them more accountable. He will invest in innovative strategies to help teachers
to improve student outcomes, and use rewards and incentives to keep talented
teachers in the schools that need them the most. President Obama will invest in
a national effort to prepare and reward outstanding teachers, while recruiting
the best and brightest to the field of teaching. And he will challenge State
and school districts to remove ineffective teachers from the classroom.
The President believes that
investment in education must be accompanied by reform and innovation. The
President supports the expansion of high-quality charter schools. He has
challenged States to lift limits that stifle growth among successful charter
schools and has encouraged rigorous accountability for all charter schools.
Restore America’s
Leadership in Higher Education
President Obama is committed to
ensuring that America will regain its lost ground and have the highest
proportion of students graduating from college in the world by 2020. The
President believes that regardless of educational path after high school, all
Americans should be prepared to enroll in at least one year of higher education
or job training to better prepare our workforce for a 21st century economy.
To accomplish these overarching
goals, the President is committed to increasing higher education access and
success by restructuring and dramatically expanding college financial aid,
while making federal programs simpler, more reliable, and more efficient for
students. The President has proposed a plan to address college completion and
strengthen the higher education pipeline to ensure that more students succeed
and complete their degree. His plan will also invest in community colleges to
equip a greater share of young people and adults with high-demand skills and
education for emerging industries.
