By encouraging and adhering to tougher standards and assessments, U.S. students will keep pace with other nations, Obama said.
The problem is not that students in other nations are smarter, he said; it’s that other nations are smarter about how to educate and prepare their students.
“I challenge states to adopt more rigorous standards to bring classrooms to the 21st century,” he said.
Governors and state education chiefs must develop standards and assessments to ensure that children have 21st-century skills, such as critical thinking, problem solving, and creativity, Obama said. Tougher, clearer standards will lead to better test scores, he added.
Statewide data systems that track student performance from kindergarten through the end of high school are another important element to reform.
In his March 10 speech at a meeting of the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, Obama said it is “time to start rewarding good teachers and stop making excuses for bad ones.” Teachers’ unions have strongly opposed bringing such a system to public education.
Teachers would be rewarded with more money for improved student achievement, and extra pay would go to math and science teachers in an effort to end a shortage of highly qualified teachers in those subjects.
Once in the classroom, teachers would have the support of more experienced educators through teacher mentoring programs, Obama said. Excellent teachers would be encouraged to enter inner-city schools, where they are desperately needed.
The stakes are too high to keep ineffective teachers, Obama said.
American Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten said the teachers’ union looks forward to working with President Obama on making education reform a priority. National Education Association (NEA) President Dennis Van Roekel said the NEA is eager to work with Obama and Duncan on 21st-century education initiatives.
Neither teachers’ union directly addressed Obama’s comments on charter schools.
The traditional school calendar puts the U.S. at a competitive disadvantage, Obama added. While once useful when children were needed to help their families tend farmlands during the summer, the calendar is now outdated and leaves children out of school for too long.
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