There is condescension among many for the president's No Child Left Behind program. Without the details of the program, what it was intended to accomplish was - to hold teachers, schools, administration, and districts accountable for students doing poorly.
The premise is - students can do well if teachers know their material and can teach.
Students can learn if they want to learn and if teachers can teach students who wish to learn -regardless of the conditions in which the learning is occurring.
A report released by a group set up by former Secretary of State Colin Powell, America's Promise has revealed that 1.2 million high school students drop out each year.
Inner city schools are failing.
And it is not because they do not have the money.
Miami, Denver, Atlanta, Los Angeles, new York, Baltimore, Indianapolis - graduation rates below 50%.
Detroit - 25% of 9th graders will graduate.
Columbus - 40% of 9th graders will graduate.
Baltimore - 34% of 9th graders will graduate.
New York - 47% of 9th graders will graduate
The suburbs of New York - 82% of 9th graders will graduate.
The suburbs of Baltimore - 81% of 9th graders will graduate.
I have only read three newspaper columns on what the report says. I have not actually been able to find the report, but will assume the writers of the three columns graduated from school and were able to grasp basic concepts. One source was wbko.com There are others. Do a search on any of the terms: America's Promise, colin powell, high school drop outs report and you should find at least five other references.
THE ANSWER (not from the report, but common sense):
In some states, funding for students is twice the national average (or nearly) and yet those states still see abysmal graduation rates. MONEY IS NOT the be all end all to resolving this national shame.
Requiring teachers to be competent will help.
Reducing ADMINISTRATION costs.
In some states, 50% of the money directed for education (schools) goes to administration costs. I Don't want to pay one more cent for education. I want to eliminate one administrator per day in each state and the savings will be given directly to schools in need. The amount saved would be easily an additional $54,000,000 per year. Some states less, some more. I am sure no state has less than 400 administrators throughout all its counties and districts. Start thinning them out. Make the remaining employees of the state (administrators) do more. Lower the starting pay for administrators (and I am not referring to principals and on-site workers) by 20-30%.
Do the above and you will have more than enough money, BUT before all that gets done ... ensure teachers can teach. Hold districts accountable for failed policies. Like bonuses - all administration people would agree to lose 10% of their salary if their district fell below a certain percent of students graduating and that percent would not be decided by the local community ... but by the state legislature / governor in conjunction with NO TEACHER input, but with consultation of all district administrators in the state.
Let's try this way for 8 years and if it doesn't work, I would support providing each state with $2 billion more for education. If I am correct, which I will be, I don't want anything.
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