Obama v. McCain Education Policy Debate
Attendees and guests at the the Association of Education Publishers (AEP) Conference in Washington, D.C. this past Friday, June 6th were treated to the first education debate of this year’s election. Education policy advisors for both presumptive nominees sat side by side along with an industry panel tasked with posing probing questions. Speaking for Senator Obama was Jeanne Century from the University of Chicago and for Senator McCain - Lisa Graham Keegan, former Arizona Superintendent of Public Instruction.
Although Ms. Century and Ms. Keegan agreed on the critical role that highly qualified teachers play in successful K-12 education, Ms. Century reframed the discussion when she asserted that Sen. Obama is committed to lifelong learning and making sure that young children are properly nurtured from birth so that they arrive in the classroom prepared to learn.
Ms. Keegan, obviously more experienced and comfortable in the role of education advisor, stressed the shared concern of both candidates but cited the difference as being the amount of innovation the McCain camp was prepared to allow in teacher preparation and classroom instruction. The representatives generally agreed that the definition and application of scientifically-based research needs to be revisited.
Ms. Keegan made a negative comment about the value of whole language reading instruction and went on to say that Sen. McCain advocated the strengthening of state standards, was not in favor of developing national standards and preferred to focus on the “science” of reading instruction. It is possible that in a more nuanced answer she might have been more inclusive of creating a literature-rich environment, however, she seemed to dismiss the concept as holding little value in reading acquisition.
Ms. Century responded that it wasn’t a question of developing federal standards but that the state standards be broad and rigorous and that states needed to ensure that disadvantaged kids have learning opportunities outside the school day.
Perhaps because Ms. Keegan has served at the state level, she came across as much more polished and practical than Ms. Century did. Sen. Obama’s representative often remained at the policy level without providing specific examples and applications.
Predictably, the candidates views about the value of No Child Left Behind provoked the most heated exchange with Ms. Keegan stating that NCLB is blamed for everything negative in today’s schools. She asserted that even the phrase itself has become a distraction preventing intelligent discussion of NCLB’s positive benefits such as showing light on those students who had previously been invisible.
Ms. Century argued that assessments need to be developed to a broader degree and should measure 21st century skills. The two representatives differed as to whether NCLB has constrained the curriculum with Ms. Century saying yes and Ms. Keegan arguing no. The other two topics where they disagreed along partisan lines were on merit-based pay for teachers and school vouchers.
While both parties agree on the critical nature of the teacher’s role and the value of good pedagogy and professional development, they differ on the necessity of full NCLB funding with Sen. Obama advocating universal PreK and early Autism screening and Sen. McCain’s belief that thanks to NCLB we now have reams of data that should be used to reward teachers who increase student performance.
Ms. Century articulated Sen. Obama’s position against tying traditional merit pay to student outcomes. In addition she said that Sen. Obama supports other evaluation systems such as mentorship and deep content knowledge to reward classroom excellence. Both candidates seem to agree on the value of mentoring new teachers.
The candidates representatives spoke to a knowledgeable crowd of about 600 education publishers and media. It would be fair to say that in general it was a pro-Obama crowd, however as the debate began to spotlight more of their differences than agreements, Ms. Century was much less effective at presenting Sen. Obama’s ideas. Clearly, Ms. Keegan was more experienced at expressing her candidates views than was Ms. Century.
However, they were both disingenous when asked specifically about the changes they would make in the Department of Education post election. They both asserted that they were so focused on policy that they hadn’t given any thought to who might head the DOE and what changes they would recommend. The audience indicated that they did not find either response credible.
The panel asked thoughtful questions of the two representatives, however the best question came during the general Q & A from a Scholastic Junior reporter attending a Washington, D.C. public middle school that has deteriorating facilities and is cancelling its foreign language program next year because of lack of funds. She asked the representatives given their emphasis on creating a robust, 21st century curriculum, what each candidate would do to ensure that students attended schools in safe, up-to-date buildings with a comprehensive curriculum. The young reporter received a heartfelt round of applause from the audience for her question to which the representatives responded in a predictable partisan manner.
Final Thoughts -
- Why is it that 16 months into this election cycle and months after he became the presumptive nominee Senator McCain has not yet released an education policy document when education is the most important issue to American voters after Iraq and the economy?
- If Senator Obama is going to rely on policy wonks to explain his education platform, then they need to include more practical specifics, be more inclusive and acknowledge the shared aspirations of both parties.
- Kudos to AEP for hosting this event and bringing together the candidates representatives and a community invested in the success of K-12 education. Let’s hope that this is not the only such debate in the coming months.
Posted in: K-12 Education |
