2. Menu
Slides
• Model School: 3-5
• Race to the Top: 6-9
• Educators : 10-11
• Connection: 12
• Reflection: 13
• Citation: 14
3. What country has the best educational
system in the world?
• A) China
• B) Finland
• C) The United States of
America
Hints
• Spends the most money per
student worldwide.
• School lunches, health care,
most class materials and
university tuition are all
free.
• 2/3 of high school grades go
onto college
4. Answer B: Finland
• When looking for the best school systems in the world I
came across an article by (Steffen, Alex 2004) on
worldchanging.com. In the article Steffen shares the facts to
why this may be true. There is a great sense of community
and fostering that is given to the students and educators. In
Finland we see that education is more of community based
system. Children spend 9 years in the same school. They
build a community and a relationship with peers and
teachers. There are no economic worries when it comes to
education . Through taxes ,citizens are firmly invested in
the education of their nation. Children are expected to take
languages and math and science are held in very high
regard. What is even more amazing is that the students days
in school are shorter then our school days in America.
5. Reflections: What can be learned?
• What really amazes me about
countries like Finland, Copenhagen
and Japan is the investment they put
in the education of their population.
In America we rank 18th in education.
The biggest difference I see is that in
these countries taxes pay for
everything from health care to
education etc., but at the benefit of its
citizens. This is something that
American citizens would never
consider and with that our educational
system fails. There is no achievement
gaps within these countries, everyone
gets the same opportunities to
succeed. I really feel that we can learn
a copious amount from countries that
have a higher ranking and better
design of how an educational system
should work.
6. Race To the Top
What our current administration
doing for educational reform
7. Race to the Top
What is this new reform?
• Obama’s Education Reform
Initiative
Race to the Top is an Obama
administration initiative to
award money to states that
show that t have a plan for
school reforms in four main
areas: turning around low
performing schools, adopting
college and career ready
standards, effective teachers
and principals, and using data
systems to support student
achievement.
Details and Winners
Obama’s engine of reform,
Race to the Top, has been
phenomenally successful in
using a relatively small pot of
money, $4.4 billion from the
2009 stimulus package, to
leverage a huge amount of
change in education.
Has made more progress in
the last year than in the
previous 10 years. Jonathan
Alter September 13, 2010
The Race to the Top state
competition is designed to
reward states that are leading
the way in comprehensive,
coherent, statewide education
reform across four key areas.
The District of Columbia,
Florida, Georgia, Hawaii,
Maryland, Massachusetts,
New York, North Carolina,
Ohio, and Rhode Island are all
to receive a portion of the $3.4
billion remaining in the "Race
to the Top" fund for education
in those states.
8. “When we look up in the sky, Superman isn’t coming. But a social movement “more
powerful than a locomotive” is headed down the tracks, if only we’ll hop aboard.”
Newsweek
Jonathan Alter September 13, 2010
Obama's Class Project
U.S. education reform has made more progress in the last year than in
the previous 10. How the president is driving the effort.
9. • I absolutely loved the quote by Atler. I felt it to be very true and
powerful . What I found most shocking or my aha moment, was the
fact that there is an actual collective called “The Blob” that are
hindering the actual change in our educational system. In the article
he states this, “Some conclude that this is due to what is known as
The Blob”—the collection of bureaucracies, school boards, and
teachers’ unions committed to protecting the failed status quo”.
There is a battle within our educational system those who want to
change and those who want to continue to failure for a buck.
• A push for reform has occurred more than twice in my life time
and both initiative s have failed. The achievement gap and the
educational injustice that is occurring in our country is, the new
civil rights war. Now is the time to take action. Race to the Top
may not solve all of the problems within our education but it’s a
start and a change that we desperately need.
11. Reform starts with appreciating good teachers
Indianapolis Star October 29,2010
Written by
Sarah Zuckerman and Fatima Rich
• Sarah Zuckerman and Fatima Rich of Greenbriar
Elementary received an opportunity to go to New
York, and found their urgency matched by some
of the leaders making the biggest impact in
education reform today, such as Secretary of
Education Arne Duncan; former Washington,
D.C., chancellor of schools Michelle Rhee; and
Geoffrey Canada of the Harlem Children's Zone.
“The common denominator of their education
reform priorities was the need for every student to
have a highly effective teacher, regardless of
where they attend school”.
12. Reflection
• When a child or a school fails the finger is usually pointed at
the teacher. Teachers are the easiest to blame. What I see in
this article is a group of teachers from Indiana who want to
make a significant difference and have a fierce concern with
how children are being educated. The beginning of reform is to
have great teachers who are invested in themselves and the
education of the students. In August 2010 the Secretary of
Education, Anne Duncan released: Built for Teacher’s, How
the Blueprint for Reform Empowers Educators. In this
blueprint she speaks on the issue of teachers being scape
goated and the importance of good educators often times going
unnoticed. What was really powerful was that under the new
reform teachers are taken into account and empowered.
13. Connection
• Education Reform and the American educational system is a
very important challenge to me and that is the obvious
connection that these articles have in common. The
underlying similarity is that within these articles hope and
solutions are seen. The article about Finland shows how a
proficient systems work and what it entails, Race to the top
shows the reader what is being done in our own country to
stifle failure with new ideas and initiatives and the last
article reports on the educators who are on the front lines of
the civil rights war are wanting to see within their schools
and how they are being treated. This was an amazing chance
to investigate and reflect upon what is really going on in
education.
14. Citations
Steffen, , Alex
Finland: The World's Best School System?
22 Dec 2004 WorldChanging.com http://www.worldchanging.com/about/
Alter, Johnathan, September 13, 2010
Newsweek: Obama's Class Project
U.S. education reform has made more progress in the last year than in the
previous 10. How the president is driving the effort.
Race to the Top!
August 24 2010 CNN.com by sally Holland CNN producer
Race to the Top Release
Ed.gov Press Release March 2010
Zuckerman, Sara and Rich, Fatima
Reform starts with appreciating good teachers
Indianapolis Star October 29,2010
Built for Teacher’s, How the Blueprint for Reform Empowering Educators
,
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