President Barack Obama called for tying teachers’ pay to student performance and expanding innovative charter schools Tuesday, embracing ideas that have provoked hostility from members of teachers unions.
He also suggested longer school days — and years — to help American children compete in the world.
In his first major speech on education, Obama said the United States must drastically improve student achievement to regain lost international standing.
"The future belongs to the nation that best educates its citizens," he said. "We have everything we need to be that nation … and yet, despite resources that are unmatched anywhere in the world, we have let our grades slip, our schools crumble, our teacher quality fall short and other nations outpace us."
His solutions include teacher pay and charter school proposals that have met resistance among members of teachers unions, which constitute an important segment of the Democratic Party.
President Obama outlined his reform agenda yesterday for the nation’s public schools in a speech before the US Hispanic Chamber of Commerce. He promoted extending the school day, adopting performance pay for teachers, and encouraging the proliferation of charter schools, to name a few.
But what did he say about math, you are wondering.
Here it is – the math report. Obama’s speech mentioned math education explicitly four times:
1. He reminded the nation that economic development and academic achievement go hand in hand and that the federal government can play a significant role.
"Investments in math and science under President Eisenhower gave new opportunities to young scientists and engineers all across the country. It made possible somebody like a Sergei Brin to attend graduate school and found an upstart company called Google that would forever change our world," he said.
2. He pointed out that American 8th graders rank in 9th place on international math tests and that Singapore’s middle-schoolers outperform ours three to one.
3. He said that children who graduate from early childhood education programs are more likely to score higher in reading and math, more likely to graduate from high school and attend college, more likely to hold a job, and more likely to earn more in that job.
4. He addressed teacher shortages in math and science and said he supports offering extra pay to teachers in those areas, as well as new ways to recruit teachers into the profession and incentives to stay in teaching, particularly in high-poverty schools.