Deborah Cahill | Ewing & Associates

By: Deborah Cahill

Here’s another installment in the ‘Race to the Top’ feud. Some states, including California, are being punished by withholding much needed funds because we do not buy into this much flawed program. When are they going to realize that this is not an answer to the nation’s educational crisis. The following articles actually came from AOL and I thought they were worth sharing. Even if you have your child in private school, the plight of public schools is the plight of all us who live here. As goes your school system, so goes your area real estate.

“The U.S. Dept. of Education “Race to the Top” program aims to improve public education by targeting four specific areas and thereby advancing reform. Education Secretary Arne Duncan is the mastermind behind this incentive program that rewards states that implement certain education measures and standards (usually standardized test scores in math and English), and punishes states that refuse to adhere to these reform measures.

Duncan is in charge of allocating $4.3 billion in education funds. States must participate in the “Race to the Top” competition if they want some of that money. For example, Tennessee and Delaware both agreed to be held to the testing standards outlined by the program, so they were awarded federal funds to help improve their public school systems. States that decline to be part of the program will not see any federal dollars for education.”

Fighting back

“On April 6, BAMN held a press conference on the “Mobilization Against ‘Race to the Top” at the U.S. Department of Education in Washington, D.C. The press conference was attended by local educators and activists, as well as representatives from several of the contingents who plan to attend the April 10th March on Washington to Defend Public Education from California, Michigan, Florida, New York and Pennsylvania.

These five states share a serious crisis in their public school systems. Plagued by financial concerns, these states are leaders in teacher firings, the growth of charter schools, and the use of standardized test scores as the only measuring stick of a student’s potential. Stern says: “It is going to be the welfare zone of education. It will just be condemning; education used to be the great leveler, and now with privatization, the competition pits everyone against each other and destroys communities.”

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By: Deborah Cahill

This study ties play time to success in the classroom. This makes perfect sense. Even as adults with longer so called “attention spans,” when we are attending lectures or involved in classroom studies, how long does it take before we get “figidty” and want a break! Children need to be alert and fresh. Sometimes it is even appropriate to get the class up (whether they are elementary or college!) and have them do stretches or some other physical activity to re-focus their attention. I don’t think we really need a study to tell us this, unless they are making a case for putting recess back in schools as the favorite class of the day!

Leading the News

Most Elementary School Principals Say Recess Positively Impacts Achievement, Poll Shows.

The Christian Science Monitor (2/4, Paulson) reported that a new Gallup survey shows “more than 80 percent of elementary-school principals believe that recess has a positive impact on academic achievement.” Also, according to “two-thirds of the principals” polled, “students listen better and are more focused in class” after recess. “The findings support a growing wave of educators who are pushing to restore the place of recess in schools and, in some cases, to improve its quality.” Schools in some cities such as “Chicago, Atlanta, and Boston…have dropped recess completely,” amid budget cuts and an increasingly intense focus on test preparation.

Nancy Shute wrote in the US News and World Report (2/4) On Parenting blog, “Recess has almost disappeared from the curriculum at many schools, edged out by more math and reading work as schools push to raise scores on standardized tests.” But more and more research “shows that adding more play to the day, not less, improves the likelihood of better test scores and behavior.” However, Shute adds, “The news wasn’t all good. The principals said most of their discipline problems happened during a recess or lunch break and said that they would like to have more staff to monitor the playground, better equipment, and training in playground management.”