A Message to Democrats (and Republicans too) about Education Reform

Because I am California bound, I had to cancel an engagement to speak with the Sun City Democrats about education reform. To make up for it, I taped a message to them and answered their questions. I pasted the YouTube response below. Here are the questions:

1. We read, in the Austin Statesman, that one of the major problems for the Texas public school system is an influx of poor, uneducated, children who do not speak English. There is an old adage, when you find yourself in a hole, the first thing to do is to stop digging. Would not a halt to the immigration of these children mitigate the problem? If yes, would you advocate a halt?
2. What measures are necessary to recruit the best teachers? What incentives are needed to keep them? What makes for an effective teacher?
3. Can charter schools provide effective alternative educational models? In Texas these schools seem to approved and evaluated centrally. What models are used in other states and to what effect?
4. How do we stop the spread of the voucher system and charter schools, including tax credits to corporations in Texas? How do studies that have been done on the performance of charter schools compare to the performance of public schools?
5. What can be done to prevent the public schools from being infested with the corporate model?
6. What changes do you advocate to have our public schools help our children to be more prepared for life in the 21^st century?
7. What are your thoughts on installing the International Baccalaureate Program into more of our public schools?
8. What makes for an effective administrator? Every teacher I talk to is very frustrated by administrative requirements. They say they don’t have time to teach. What is being done to improve this situation?
9. How do feel “No Child Left Behind” has impacted our public school system?

Policy Briefs discussed in the talk:

Domestic Voucher Brief

International Voucher Brief

Community-Based Accountability 

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Please blame Siri for any typos.