Our nation’s schools have become a national security issue. The United States’ failure to educate its students leaves them unprepared to compete and threatens the country’s ability to thrive in a global economy and maintain its leadership role, finds a new Council on Foreign Relations (CFR)–sponsored Independent Task Force report on U.S. Education Reform and National Security.
“Educational failure puts the United States’ future economic prosperity, global position, and physical safety at risk,” warned the task force, chaired by Joel I. Klein, former head of New York City public schools, and Condoleezza Rice, former U.S. secretary of state. The country “will not be able to keep pace—much less lead—globally unless it moves to fix the problems it has allowed to fester for too long,” the task force stated.
Whoa! That’s serious. What can and must be done to rescue the system for total failure?
Student First, a movement to transform public education believes the first step is to abolish “last-in, first out.” Generally, if it becomes necessary for a school district to initiate teacher layoffs, those layoffs would be based on length of service, “not the impact that teachers have on their students’ learning. That means, in most instances, some of the most impactful teachers in a district may be fired because they lack seniority.
A spokesperson for Students First, Jeri Powell, stated that ending the last in, first out policy by enacting state law, would work in concert with the teacher evaluation framework that is in place in Minnesota, with the approval of Gov. Mark Dayton.
The only groups opposed to this change in policy are bad teachers and the Minnesota Education Association, the union that represents state educators.
Right now, the Minnesota State House and Senate have passed measures to change the law. It is in a conference committee where members of both houses will work out differences between the two measures.
If the measure becomes state law, ineffective teachers will be the first to be laid off.
Unless this measure becomes state law, the findings of the task force will place our nation’s security in peril.
Our students will be the beneficiaries of this change in law.
Ultimately, the slump in our nation’s educational system will be eliminated and good educators will be rewarded for excellence in the classroom.
Keith Hansen
Comments (34)
Add commentActually Havenwood, I have heard from others
that reforms in education are more a movement toward anti-teachers than anti-teaching. Sometimes I think we have major issues with the NEA and instead of going after the group, we go after the teachers. Maybe I am wrong. This country has budget problems in every state and city. Teacher's unions seem to be the first one targeted and unfortunately, it is individuals that end up in the crosshairs. I think that the appointment of Arne Duncan by the Obama administration does not help, in that he himself is not an educator. I would hope that this new proposal to get rid of bad teachers is just that, and not a basis for a new platform to strip teacher's of all of their rights. I have rarely been on the side of teacher's unions, and I think there are problems in that area that need to be addressed. I had some great teachers in K-12, but most of the bad ones were actually in college. With their air of superiority and their attitude of "You cannot fire me" led to some stressful times. Then there is the problem with the internet. Many have this feeling that teachers are becoming obsolete. What ever you need to know, just google it. Well good luck with that. Those that have even the slightest connection to common sense know that the internet is rife with wrong information, and computers cannot do a hands on approach. Before we jump into any kind a reform willy-nilly, all sides need to drop the rhetoric, and examine the best approach to solutions for not only the students, but the teachers, and education as a whole. As some one said recently, "When did compromise become such a dirty word?"
Well pdnet
while I think you wrote a good post, I believe that any reform that helps students first is a plus. Teachers have this fantasy that they essential to the fabric of life, but they are actually becoming more obsolete as technology moves forward. How many jobs have been lost to computerized machinery in the last 3 decades? We need to concentrate on specifics and not give in to every teaching position for the sake of hiring one more person. I mean really, how many of life's problems have been solved with pottery class?