Basically here’s how the money is allocated to K-12 schools and higher education. The Detroit Free Press summarizes the education allocations within the stimulus package:
$53.6 billion in direct aid to states, including $40.6 billion for local school districts, $5 billion in bonus grants for meeting key education performance measures and $8 billion for public safety and other critical services.
$2,500 annual tax credit for higher education expenses.
$500 increase in the maximum Pell Grant for low-income college students to $5,350 in 2009 and $5,550 in 2010.
$13 billion for Title I grants for schools in low-income areas.
$12.2 billion for special education.
$2 billion for the Child Care Development Block Grant program to help low-income parents.
$1.1 billion for Early Head Start and $1 billion for Head Start.
Will the economic stimulus bill bolster education so it is no longer a national
shame? Probably it will be years before we know the correct answer to that question.
However, I’m optimistic that $100 billion earmarked for education will at the least draw more attention to the sad state that our education system is in. I guess I’d like to have a say in how to spend that money for education.
Not to say that the money won’t be useful, but perhaps the focus should be on other aspects of reform for education and alternative ways to spend that money. One such area is the role of technology in the classroom. The economic stimulus package has $1 billion is funding available for Title II-D (Enhancing Education Through Technology) of No Child Left Behind (NCLB) on top of the $275 million already available. Another $13 billion is available for Title I and the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, which can be used for technology as well.
A creative use of technology in the classroom is the use of smart phones. At a lower cost than that of laptops many in the mobile learning industry are suggesting that using cell phones in schools will make kids smarter. Since kids are already familiar with the device and most enjoy using them it makes sense that it would be easy to take advantage of this in the educational setting. Qualcomm recently granted $1million to Digital Millennial Consulting to conduct research on the use of smart phones in the classroom.
The findings of the research done at four North Carolina schools in low income neighborhoods is promising. Ninth and tenth grade math students were given cell phones which ran Microsoft Windows and programs to help with algebra. Students with the phones did 25%better on the algebra final than students without the phones in their algebra classes. The teachers who administered this technology commented that it really excited their students and made them collaborate and focus on their studies outside of school.
As well, last year in New York public schools partnered with Samsung and 2500 free cell phones were used as a reward for good behavior with prepaid minutes for high-test scores. The use of texting to remind students of assignments and deadlines was also successfully used until the project was dropped because of lack of finances. These creative uses of technology may improve the academic performance and behavior in the classroom making it a “yes “for my wish list for spending.
The next item would be pay-for-merit salaries for teachers. A recent study done on Los Angeles demonstrated that “four consecutive years of having a teacher from the top 25 percent of the pool would erase the black-white testing gap." This means that good teachers are the most important factor in a good education. More important than small class size, good school or neighborhood. Having a good teacher overcomes all other deficits. So we need to reward these teachers who are actually educating students as evidenced by test scores, grades and behavior. We need to improve how we determine which teachers are the most effective since especially at the lower grades a teacher with a graduate degree, high SATs or Ivy league college degree doesn’t always mean that they are a good teacher. Our present educational system rewards complacency for teachers- don’t be creative, or strive for excellence- just don’t make waves seems to be the mantra. A huge part of the fix will be in establishing better teachers who will go into the disadvantaged schools- at present there is no reward for accepting this type of challenge.
Another important item on my spending list is to provide better professional development for teachers. This is crucial in helping to narrow the gap in functional education that our teachers have in the areas of use of technology as well as how to work with children with learning differences who are in main stream classrooms. The lack of specialists and the funding for them requires that classroom teachers take on these additional skills to better serve their students.
We continually must ask why the U.S. spends more per student than any other industrialized country to get the worst results? The economic stimulus plan and its $100 billion for education is certainly an attempt to change these results. We must stop throwing money away and examine what has and hasn’t worked. Certainly, national testing or statewide testing hasn’t worked. We have teachers instructing for the test rather than testing to measure instruction. Since these testing mandates scores have gone down.“We do know that the existing national school system is broken and that we aren’t trying hard enough to fix it.”In short, thinking about the influx of $100billion for education has stimulated many into thinking about the importance of education in America.
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