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Make education a national priority, says Gov. Vilsack
If the United States is going to be truly secure and successful in the global economy, it must make a commitment to “substantially improving educational opportunities,” Iowa Gov. Tom Vilsack told a QuEST conference general session. This commitment would enable U.S. schools and citizens to remain leaders in innovation and creativity. Americans, he said, need “to make the transformation of education and our economy a national priority.”
A Democrat, Vilsack has been credited with establishing programs that have significantly improved the quality of education in Iowa. These initiatives have included reducing class sizes, providing professional development opportunities for educators, implementing more rigorous high school programs and funding school construction and repair.
In his remarks, Vilsack laid out his vision of a national and community commitment to education that would engage all Americans. His proposals would increase parent involvement, particularly in the early years, provide families with access to quality child care and preschool programs, give new teachers increased support in the form of mentoring and induction programs, and ensure that high schools are rigorous and relevant.
The Iowa governor said he believes that most Americans would agree that providing quality preschool programs, giving high school graduates an opportunity to go to college and increasing teacher compensation are far more important than tax cuts for the wealthy. “I believe that Americans are willing to sacrifice a little bit so that the next generation can be innovative and creative.”
Vilsack urged QuEST participants to “get engaged in the political process” and let their legislators know that nothing is more important than the future of our children. “We need to work hard in every community [and] in every forum to make sure that education is a national priority.”
NCLB: It’s still a worthy ideal
One of the key architects behind the Elementary and Secondary Education Act urged a QuEST general session audience to ask the hard questions, make the necessary adjustments and build the key political alliances needed to keep the 40-year-old federal law true to its mission of helping the nation forge a more just society and helping millions of disadvantaged children find opportunity in public education.
Jack Jennings, president and founder of the Center on Education Policy, told the audience that ESEA, now known as the No Child Left Behind Act, still has at its core a fundamental federal commitment to promote quality education for disadvantaged children—a commitment born of the war on poverty under Presidents Kennedy and Johnson. That fact should never be forgotten even as public schools struggle with such thorny issues as funding and accountability under NCLB, said Jennings, who from 1967 to 1994 served as subcommittee staff director and then as general counsel for the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Education and Labor.
“Despite all the problems with No Child Left Behind, NCLB is not going away—and it should not go away,” said Jennings. The law, which includes Title I, was a linchpin of domestic legislation forged under the belief “that if the federal government could help poor and disadvantaged Americans, they would do better and the country would do better.”
It’s still a worthy ideal, Jennings said, adding that “the past will show us the future” when it comes to fixing many serious problems tied to NCLB.
He reported on the latest findings of a detailed study of NCLB conducted by the center, a Washington, D.C., organization dedicated to promoting public school excellence. The study reveals many problems that must be tackled to fix the law and improve regulation. Educators say there is too much emphasis on testing, for example, and not enough support for schools. They also cite the law’s poor definition of what constitutes a “highly qualified teacher” and express concern that school accountability measures are “too blunt” and don’t give schools credit where it’s due.
Many of these concerns are valid, and they often reflect political impatience for results or even efforts by enemies of public education to promote privatization, he acknowledged.
Problems and dangers notwithstanding, it’s also important to recognize that there remain some fundamental areas of agreement that underpin NCLB. People believe that schools should be held accountable for raising student achievement and that children have a right to instruction by qualified teachers.
Jennings hailed the AFT’s rich history in courageously promoting the goals behind true standards-based reform. That kind of spirit, he said, can make the union a key force behind efforts to improve NCLB.
Hollywood turns the spotlight on teachers
The teaching profession does not offer stock options or exotic travel opportunities, but some of the perks of the business can be priceless. For example, can anything rival the pride that comes from learning that your students have gone on to lead successful, productive lives?
And if your students grow up to be Hollywood stars, it lends an extra delight. Hundreds of QuEST participants got a chance to share the thrill and the pride when a Hollywood-based advocacy group, the Creative Coalition, honored six teachers for making a difference in the lives of six artists.
The evening’s moderator, Lawrence O’Donnell Jr., a TV pundit and writer/producer of the prime-time hit, “The West Wing,” interviewed the stars and their teachers. Watching successful adults, like actress Phylicia Rashad, or actor Steve Buscemi, address their former teachers with the obvious awe elementary school children reserve for their idols was a charming part of the program. Rashad, star of “The Cosby Show” and the current Broadway show “A Raisin in the Sun,” honored two of her teachers, Vivian and James Harrison, a couple who taught music in Houston, Texas, public schools attended by the actress. Rashad has kept up with them over the years, sending flowers at Christmas and a limousine to carry them to a Broadway play on a recent trip to New York City. Rashad summarized her bond to them with one word: gratitude.
Buscemi credited his fourth-grade teacher, Carl Riccobono of Valley Stream, N.Y., for his first speaking part—the Cowardly Lion in the class’s presentation of the “Wizard of Oz.” Buscemi has won accolades more recently for his acting in HBO’s “The Sopranos” and the movies “Fargo” and “The Big Lebowski.”
Particularly moving were the tributes of Joe Pantoliano and Antwone Fisher to their teachers, Donna Regan of Cliffside Park, N.J., and Brenda Profit of Cleveland, Ohio. Pantoliano described his experience as a severe dyslexic who entered the 12th grade reading at the third-grade level. Back in 1970, he was one of a group of “outcasts” dumped on one of the school’s least-experienced teachers, 21-year-old Regan. She put the students to work on a play, casting him as the lead and by the year’s end uncovering a sense of his great capacity.
Fisher is a writer whose story has become well known through the movie that carries his name. Born in a prison, where his mother was an inmate, he grew up in foster homes and orphanages. When he was 8, he encountered the first person to take a real interest in him.
As Fisher wrote in his autobiography: “If there is such a thing as human beings who act as angels in our lives, Brenda Profit was that to me.” Profit was his teacher in grades 4, 5 and 6. She made Fisher, who also was dyslexic, love to learn and believe that he could succeed. It was a lesson he never forgot.
