Education reform plans are always talked about at the beginning of the new school year. The difference in school funding is almost like night and day. If the school is in a well-to-do neighborhood it gets as much as $14,000 per pupil per 20 mill of taxes while the poor schools receive $700-800 per pupil. IS the health, and education of the child really at hand with numbers like this?
Reducing gaps between the wealthy and the poor
Open up innovation funds that reward schools with grants and initiatives which improve teaching and learning for students with disabilities and who need to learn English. Diminish the inequality and “blame” that is dividing students against teacher, teach against students, who both carry the load for the whole poor education process, the red tape distractions are simply not their fault. Stop “seeing” kids as racial minorities, but as children all one in the same. Race has nothing to do with their ability and wishes to learn, neither does disability.
Expand the voucher program to include
For any family who falls 200% below the federal poverty-$46,000 for a family of four-allow parents to use the vouchers worth around $4200 a year to participate in any voucher school program they like. The No Child Left Behind gave America until 2014 to get reading and math skills up to par, not farther behind. One-hundred percent improvement by the federal government? We, the people would settle for an overall improvement just by putting the body mind and soul education needs of the children first, period.
The problem with No Child Left Behind was how the program was interpreted
The program was never to place the "burden of proof" on the children, but to see what variables in educating the child would be needed to ensure success for the rest of the year. The tests being given at the end of the year with threats againts not graduating or moving to the next grade, was not how the ball was supposed to bounce, and completely upset all balance for the student. What was turned into a war in greed over money funds and who got them turned into a blood bath. In the very schools children were to make homes of 6-8 hours a day, the home building that was to ensure well-being and education turned into hyper-stress-related nightmare. Who can learn in that kind of environment?
Congress doesn’t need to agree on reauthorizing the program
There is more to evaluating a student than by his or her testing performance, though which all hope is being lost right now along with our most valuable commodity, the children. Testing proves nothing but government funding. Government funding does nothing but raise property value and does nothing to increase the value of the child, the home nor the community. Richer communities get richer and the poor to middle class get poorer. Embracing the whole child and their ability to function in everyday life and to perform school activities and being able to advance and grow is priceless. Wellness of the children is more important now more than ever.
Drop the advancement of getting children ready for college or the work force
Concentrate on the whole child right now, in this moment. Education and politics has hidden behind the long term goal of college and workforce placement all along, and the child right now is being neglected. The idea is not to rush them all through the education process as fast and as many as you can. Children rich and poor and of every race and disability are being lost not just through the cracks any more, but through whole openings and doorways now. Many parents have taken their children out of the “school system” for homeschooling to instill a value that is lost in “industrial processing” of children through an education system.
Supporting differentiation in children
The whole being health of a child will ensure their success in the academic world and in life in general. The First Lady Michelle Obama is on the right track with ensuring children’s nutrition but there is so much more to the larger picture that should be addressed on the federal, state and local levels. There are multiple differences, learning abilities and intelligences; a one test fits all approach like a dress size is supposed to fit all does not even come close. It certainly does not mean challenging and working with only those at the top of the class and abandoning the rest.
All schools are a priority all schools need improvement
Segregating the children from each other by race and worth only increases the risk of failure, and invokes inequality of adults and how they perceive each other. In a child who knows nothing of inequality until they are introduced to the thinking of adults of vision life in just that manner. If children ran the school system for the betterment of all children and not by politics, it would surely be a truer environment that does justice for all, and the grounds for “true” citizenship. Not to mention a population that just may ensure that most of the population votes.
Georgia’s Constitution says it must provide only adequate education for students and it shows. Providing “high quality” education for its students is first and foremost prominent.
It’s not about isolation it’s about giving children the knowledge they need to be successful
Funding education is relying too much on local property taxes. Effectiveness is about consistently addressing the “whole” of every child and also the “whole” of every teacher. It’s absolutely impossible for teachers to ensure the well-being and education of a child if they don’t feel supported and engaged. The system as it is sets every man, woman, and child up in defense, alone by themselves, instead of it being all for one.
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