Barack Obama And The Top Program

President Obama initiated a new platform for education that would replace the (No Child Left Behind Act). The President, implemented a compelling education approach that guaranteed that every student will receive exceptional education. In his 2008 campaign, he increased the public awareness, by improving the education system K-12. “While NCLB has been invaluable in providing a clear picture of which schools and students are struggling, it is only the beginning of education reform" (Press release, July 16, 2008). 2008) President Obama stated, “I will not settle for an America where some kids don’t have a chance. I’ll invest in early-childhood education. (Speech at 2008 Democratic Convention Aug 27,

Standards were released for Mathematics and English language arts on June 2, 2010, with a 45 states adopting the standards in the consequential months. There was an incentive for the states if they adopted the Common Core Standards. President Obama and Secretary of Education Arne Duncan announced the Race to the Top competitive grants on July 24, 2009 as a motivator for educational change. To be eligible, states had to adopt internationally benchmarked standards. Though states could adopt other standards like college and career ready standards, the Common Core standards automatically met the requirement. The governors and state schools chiefs funded development of the Common Core Standards. (Melinda Gates Foundation, Pearson Publishing Company, the Charles Stewart Mott Foundation)

In 2009 President Barack Obama announced his Race to the Top (RTT) initiative by stating, “America will not succeed in the 21st century unless we do a far better job of education our sons and daughters” (Boser, 2012, p. 1). Through the RTT Program, Obama provides federal grant funds to states to create programs that follow key reform strategies including; rigorous standards and assessment, high quality teacher and administrators, successful data systems, and reinvigorating math and science program (Boser, 2012, p. 1). Bybee (2013) compares this current time in educational reform to the Sputnik era and believes that STEM reform will catapult our nation out of its current educational crisis.

The American College Testing (ACT), 2010 concluded that a large number of high school students and high school graduates do not possess the knowledge and skills for college level work or career training. With the creation and implementation of common core standards, states and school districts have a clear set of student expectations to target

Unfortunately, the author eludes that the U.S. is no longer top on the list. Along with a decreased education rate, universities began accepting students more for economic status over merit value. This contributed to the positive trend of financial aid be given leaving it at roughly 247 billion dollars per year. This author mentions that this has a major impact of the decisions of lower income students to even strive to continue their education. In efforts to propose another plan to fix the controversy a program named America’s Promise was developed along with a couple of statewide programs very similar to Governor Cuomo’s. Georgia is one of the states that implemented these programs and has found a higher attendance rate in young individuals however find that the criteria may be too hard for low income students to meet. Kamentez writes that self paced online courses have been offered but self motivation has proved to an issue. The controversy continues and many new developments are being made, however, college will always be invaluable no matter the economic cost

America is still the land of opportunity and people still strive and succeed in their quest for self-improvement. And in no other aspect of America can this opportunity to succeed and their striving for betterment be as so clearly seen than in Americans obsession to achieve education at the highest levels. 94 percent of Americans believe that Education is important and 73 percent agree that higher education is “essential for getting a good job” (Source F). This symbolizes how Americans see education as the outlet to achieve affluence, success and a “better,” “high[er] quality of life” (source F). Furthermore, the many scholarships offered by schools, one of which mentioned by Obama in Source B, displays another aspect of the education system that provides opportunities for self-improvement, if earned through hard work, for an individual by providing a chance to obtain higher education no matter what background one comes from. In essence, education has become the primary path to achieve an improved standing on both a societal and individual

The Race to the Top program was “a highly competitive federal grant program… [where states would identify] their persistently lowest-performing schools based on student academic achievement, student growth, and graduation rates, and begin the process of turning them around,” (Rochefort and Donnelly, 2011, p3). Those districts or cities interested in applying for the grant money, “would be required to implement one of four ―school turnaround models, the specific choice to be made by local administrators,” (Rochefort and Donnelly, 2011, p3). The four models are as follows:

Only four students went straight to the workforce, when a century ago, this was not the case. With students now consistently going straight to college after high school, state universities should be free to state residents since we have public high schools. In Kalamazoo, Michigan, students who attend high school in Kalamazoo starting in ninth grade, can have from sixty-five to one hundred percent of their tuition covered (Teicher). This is known as “The Promise.” The Promise guarantees any student from Kalamazoo a scholarship that pays either a majority or all of their tuition (Teicher). This scholarship can be used for any state school, fifteen private schools, and other state schools around the United States that are less than the highest tuition in Michigan (Teicher). Since The Promise’s first wave of scholarships, there has been definite improvements in college attendance. For black students, there has been a three percent rise in college attendance and overall forty-eight percent of scholarship recipients graduate college (Teicher). While this has shown an impact, there certainly are other factors that lead to the fifty-two percent that do not graduate, such as not being taught time management, academic skills, or how to take advantage of their sources (Teicher). Despite this fallback, “The Promise” has definitely started an era of higher college graduation rates and those who lack financial support a method of

The person the I choose for the MVP project was Barack Obama. Barack Obama was born in August 4, 1961, Honolulu, Hawaii, U.S. Barack Obama was the 44th president of the United States and the first African American to serve in the office. Barack Obama Has won two Grammy awards. Signed the Affordable Care Act which provided health insurance to over 20 million uninsured Americans. Barack Obama published his first and second book.

About century ago, the United States had the most educated workforce in the world, thanks to the movement that made high school free and available for everyone, but today many nations exceeded that level. According to “Education at a Glance” report of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, U.S. college graduation rates rank 19th out of 28 countries studied by the OECD, twenty years ago the United States was first among OECD member countries, since that time more countries focus on increasing the number of college graduates; therefore, U.S. falls behind the competition (Weston.) This clearly indicates that the United States’ tertiary education needs a serious initiative like Obama’s plan to push up the college graduation

Department of Education identifies issues, institute programs, provide financial aid and collect data to improve education. Findings to improve scores for all students are presented to congress who approve funding and signed into law by the president. To receive funding for programs, schools must comply with the rules and requirements set by the department. The Department of Education program changes and federal aid administration are determined by the current administrations education agenda. The last three presidents had their own ideas how to bolster the education systems, President Clinton had “Goals 2000”, President Bush, “No Child Left Behind” and President Obama, “Race to the Top”. The new administration indications, so far, believe charter schools and 20 million dollars towards voucher programs are the future for school desegregation. How will the biggest changed in federal support impact racial and socioeconomic

First, Aspire seeks to create district change within its selected geographies, by influencing, modeling or pressuring change. District change is the primary focus of Aspire’s work. In addition, Aspire seeks to build capacity among other educators, charters, and CMOs, which collectively will create a statewide network of high performing schools. Finally, Aspire will advocate for changes in educational policies, practices and institutions in California. Together, these three activities will create the changes necessary for improved achievement for all California

Secondly, ethos is a different technique of rhetoric. Ethos credibility of the speaker or author. When President Obama was running for president in 2008 he used ethos to display his plan for the future responsibility for upcoming reformation. He said “And those of us who manage the public’s dollars will be held account, to spend wisely…because only then we restore the vital, trust between a people and their government.”(Obama) Obama wanted Americans to know that the financials plans would be open to the government and help build a trust between him, the country and Americans. Americans citizens wanted a president that would listen and would be open about the government system. Many voted for Obama to change their

President Obama’s next issue in the State of the Union Address was the need for education reform. President Obama talked about the need to improve the quality of education. Republican and Democratic governors throughout the country introduced a plan last year called Race to the Top; to summarize it states “If you show us the most innovative plans to improve teacher quality and student achievement, we'll show you the money.” The President supported Race to the Top by giving an example of a high school in Colorado rated to be one of the worst in the state; after the first year the school went through rectification ninety-seven percent of the seniors graduated.

Obama acknowledges to students that they need to ”Understand, you've got to earn it–you've got to keep your grades up and graduate on time,” when in reality, this is a huge proposal. Students who lacked enthusiasm and contained a faltered idea of educational importance in high school would carry that onto an equally as free college. Students would enroll because of the lack of cost and the feeling of just because they can, instead of enrolling for a greater opportunity. A person expending their own wealth and money into something will always be more motivated than someone that doesn't. This would lead to college being taken for granted when it should be seen as something that will better a person’s life and will take it to the next level. This all would result in a huge societal change as student life and student apathy would decrease the effort a student has on working towards their