Congress Decides to do Something

House democrats and republicans decide they're going to rewrite No Child Left Behind. That's very good of them:

Senior House Republicans and Democrats plan to announce Thursday that they will team up to rewrite the No Child Left Behind education law, a rare show of bipartisanship in the polarized Congress.

Last month, the Obama administration launched talks with lawmakers on an overhaul of the 2002 law, which mandated an expansion of standardized testing and established a national framework for school accountability. This month, President Obama's budget proposed eliminating the standard of "adequate yearly progress" for schools to close test-score achievement gaps, a key element of the law.
....
But in a joint statement, Reps. George Miller (D-Calif.), Dale E. Kildee (D-Mich.), John Kline (R-Minn.) and Michael N. Castle (R-Del.) pledged "a bipartisan, open and transparent effort to rewrite No Child Left Behind -- a law that we all agree is in need of major reform. It will start with a series of hearings in the coming weeks to explore the challenges and opportunities ahead as we work to ensure an excellent education is available to every student in America."
Read more at WaPo

Dems Getting On Board With Teacher Performance Pay

This is my biggest beef with the teachers' union -- they protect the lousy teachers. It takes a special person to teach and public schools seem to attract and keep the worse instead of attracting and hanging on to the best.
As good teachers get their due-- higher pay -- more people will be inspired to teach and teachers will be inspired to do better. There are fine teachers out there who can't afford to teach. See Obama's education agenda here.

CQ Politics: To most ears, that didn’t sound like an especially revolutionary sentiment. But teachers’ unions have long opposed any sort of tinkering with the traditional pay system in the public schools, which tethers compensation chiefly to credentials held and years spent in the classroom. And since those unions form an important bloc of support for the Democratic Party, that had also been the party’s basic line about teacher pay.

But the party is starting to back away from that longtime article of faith. In the last several years, lawmakers, school district heads and even some union officials have begun proposing alternative approaches to setting the salaries — enhancing the compensation of teachers willing to work in underserved schools or to specialize in hard-to-staff subject areas, for example, or for teachers whose students show appreciable academic improvement.

The push will intensify in the coming weeks, because advocates of performance pay are planning to include $200 million in the economic recovery legislation for federal grants to test the notion. But the debate will really take off later in the year, when Congress is expected to start writing a reauthorization of elementary and secondary school policy, embodied in the 2002 law known as No Child Left Behind. At that time, advocates will push for $2.2 billion in grants, set aside in a previous bill called the Teach Act, to provide bonuses and incentives for enhancing teacher performance.

Teachers Want Obama as Principal for a Day

This is the latest work by Mason Fetzer. I love his art. This piece will be at the Manifest Hope DC art show prior to inauguration. 

Barack Obama, Abraham Lincoln, Oprah Winfrey and Bill Cosby headed up the list of prominent people that K-8 teachers would most like to be their principal for the day. The list, compiled by Northpoint Horizons, a Chicago-based educational publisher, was part of a national survey in which the company asked teachers to describe the key challenges they face and things they need to be successful in their classroom routine.
"We knew this question would offer insights into teachers' most pressing concerns," said NPH Director of Marketing Linda Schilling. "While the list of principals was quite diverse, most of our respondents shared a common theme: The need for a role model who can inspire and champion their efforts to improve the quality of education in their classrooms, schools and society."
Top ten vote-getters included: Barack Obama; Oprah Winfrey; Bill Cosby; Abraham Lincoln; Martin Luther King, Jr.; Bill Gates; Hillary Clinton; Benjamin Franklin and John F. Kennedy. George Bush was also mentioned " ... so he could see firsthand how NCLB (No Child Left Behind) and its mandates have impacted teachers and students." Runners-up included Ronald Reagan, Gandhi, Marva Collins, Maya Angelou, Eleanor Roosevelt, George Clooney and Mike Ditka. Read more at Earth Times.

Gibbs Says Obama Will Get Rid of Don't Ask Don't Tell - Video

Gibbs answers a series of questions that people asked on change.gov, such as how to fix No Child Left Behind. Gibbs says, first, it will be funded.
Obama will get rid of the Don't Ask Don't Tell Policy. Watch:

For marijuana smokers, sorry, Obama isn't in support of its legalization.

“Previously Addressed Questions”
These popular questions have been answered previously by top officials or in the prior edition of “Open for Questions.”

“Will you appoint a Special Prosecutor (ideally Patrick Fitzgerald) to independently investigate the gravest crimes of the Bush Administration, including torture and warrantless wiretapping?”—Bob Fertik, New York City

Vice President-elect Biden, 12/21/08: “[T]he questions of whether or not a criminal act has been committed or a very, very, very bad judgment has been engaged in is—is something the Justice Department decides. Barack Obama and I are—President-elect Obama and I are not sitting thinking about the past. We’re focusing on the future… I’m not ruling [prosecution] in and not ruling it out. I just think we should look forward. I think we should be looking forward, not backwards.”

“What will President Obama do to bring about an independent Palestinian state and bring an end to the violence in the West Bank and Gaza?”—Katherine, Virginia

President-Elect Obama, 1/5/09: “I am not backing away at all from what I said during the campaign that starting at the beginning of the administration we are going to engage effectively and consistently in trying to resolve the conflicts that exist in the Middle East. That is something that I am committed to—I think it is not only right for the people in that region, most importantly it is right for the national security of the American people and the stability that is so important to this country. So on January 20th you will be hearing directly from me and my opinions on this issue. Until then my job is to monitor the situation and to put together the best possible national security team to hit the ground running once we are responsible for national security.”

“I’m concerned about the banks who received tax payers money and have had no accountability. Will this be corrected after President-elect Obama is in office?” —Dorothy, Tucson Az

Open for Questions Response, 12/15/08: “President-elect Barack Obama does not believe an economic crisis is an excuse for wasteful and unnecessary spending. As our economic team works with congressional leadership to put together a plan, we will put in place reforms to ensure that your money in invested well. We will also bring Americans back into government by amending executive orders to ensure that communications about regulatory policymaking between persons outside government and all White House staff are disclosed to the public. In addition all appointees who lead the executive branch departments and rulemaking agencies will be required to conduct the significant business of the agency in public so that every citizen can see in person or watch on the Internet these debates.”

“Will you consider legalizing cannabis/marijuana/hemp so that the government can regulate it, tax it, put age limits on it, and create millions of new jobs and create a multi-billion dollar industry right here in the U.S.?”—DJ C, Chicago, IL

Open for Questions Response, 12/15/08: “President-elect Obama is not in favor of the legalization of marijuana.”

Obama On Every Child Left Behind

Obama speaking in Dayton, Ohio. (italics mine)
A woman asks: "What is your plan to correct President Bush's 'Every Child Left Behind Policy?'"
Obama says the concept is a good one. But he's in favor of a well-rounded education -- art, music, second language. The republicans jumped on Obama yesterday on the latter.
We should want our children to have more knowledge and skills, he said. "I know because I don't speak a foreign language. It's embarrassing." He's dead on, so right on this. Kids should be taught a foreign language, or two, or three, as early as possible because that's when they're most receptive. Chinese might be the better language to learn, though. 
The problem with No Child Left Behind was in the execution, he said. "He left the money behind for No Child Left Behind."
Schools didn't have resources, he said.
Teachers have been pressured to teach to the test, which is hard for the teacher and uninspiring for students.
Then, he points out "if parents don't parent then it's not going to work." He says this all the time to black and white audiences and apparently, a version of this -- when Obama said black fathers need to be more responsible -- was Jesse Jackson's beef. He thought that Obama was railing against black fathers to gain white support. Obama is an equal opportunity railer.

Also, a side note. CNN just cut the video during the town hall, then reverts back to the beginning of the video, while still saying "live." Actually, I believe it's never live. There is a time delay.

I think CNN does this so that it can have something original to report on without bloggers also having access. It's happened a lot lately. Perhaps it's a technical glitch.