This author, Valerie Strauss, feels that President Obama should call an educational summit in which he further shapes his policies for the future of the nation's education system. It was noted in her article that all sides of the education platform are against his policy, that should make it clear to President Obama that the policy needs further tweaking to improve the system.
His reform program suggests that there are four ways in which a low-performing school can reform.
1. Turnaround Model: replace the principal and half the staff. (The principal and staff may not be the only factors in why the students aren't doing well).
2. Restart: Turn the school into a charter school. (I agree with Strauss, the school should start from the ground up to initiate the core values, not as a replacement).
3. School Closure: Shut the school down and send the students to schools in high achieving areas. (What good will closing a school be? It will just increase the amount of students in other schools/classrooms. Many classes are at maximum capacity (or more) and will only increase the likelyhood of not doing well.)
4. Transformation Model: Replace the principal. (There are other factors that lead to why a school isn't doing well. The principal might be an excellent principal and replacing them might just take the school backwards.)
I feel that Strauss has a point in her article where she states that teachers should be uniting and sharing what works in the classroom: working together, instead of competing against each other like giant corporations.
Do you feel that an educational summit is necessary for the changes this reform wants to make?
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