With the U.S. presidential election just a few days away, the impact of a new presidency on schools and education has been on my mind a great deal. I’ve seen a bunch of emails and reports from various individuals and groups (not to mention the campaigns) describing the candidates’ views on education, and Obama and McCain’s education advisors have also been speaking a good deal, such as in NYC at Columbia.
I want to focus for a minute on Senator Obama’s education policy, in part because he is leading in the polls (though by all means the election is still very much up in the air) but mainly because there are indications that an Obama Administration might move education ever so slightly (or even strongly?) in the direction of democratic educational change. While I’ve written previously taking a pessimistic view on Obama’s education plan, here are a few reasons I’m becoming more hopeful:
- One of Obama’s education advisors is Linda Darling-Hammond: Darling-Hammond, a Stanford University professor and co-convener of the Forum for Education and Democracy, is a strong advocate for progressive educational reform and social justice issues in education, and a fierce critic of the standardization and high-stakes testing that has dominated education reform this decade.
- Another education advisor is Michael Johnston: Johnston is the principal of Mapleton Expeditionary School of the Arts in Thornton, Colorado, an Expeditionary Learning Outward Bound school, which feature student presentations of learning and project-based work that lets students explore areas of interest.
- Obama has mentioned the Mapleton, Colorado School District’s reform plan in his talks, including his recent 30 minute advertisement, and he gave a major education policy speech at the Mapleton Expeditionary School in May 2008. (Now of course one must be skeptical about the motivations for appearances, but I couldn’t help but be impressed by Obama’s choice to take the time to watch a student’s presentation of his learning and provide helpful feedback to the student – check out the last link for that interaction. At the very least, this means Obama is familiar with the practice of performance assessments and not simply evaluating based on tests). Obama praised Mapleton’s reform efforts, which included breaking up a large high school into several smaller high schools that include the Expeditionary school as well as the Mapleton Early College High School, modeled on the student-initiated internship program of the Big Picture Schools.
- Speaking of tests, while Obama may not be as critical of NCLB or testing as some would like, Obama has repeatedly critiqued the over-reliance on standardized multiple-choice high-stakes assessments. Front and center on the candidate’s education web page: “Obama and Biden believe teachers should not be forced to spend the academic year preparing students to fill in bubbles on standardized tests and he will improve the assessments used to track student progress to measure readiness for college.”
- The Obamas send their kids to the University of Chicago Laboratory School, a pioneering progressive school founded by John Dewey, still considered one of the most influential (progressive) educators in American history.
- Obama supports the creation of an Innovative Schools Fund (pdf) that would promote “innovative” public educational options such as charter schools, Montessori schools, and theme-focused schools, mentioning such examples as the Mapleton Colorado School District and the Austin Polytechnical Academy in Chicago, the latter featuring hands-on learning and internships.
By all means, one ought to be aware that an elected candidate may be unable or unwilling to support all that he or she campaigned for. And I must say I share some of the worries of critics who point to Obama’s support for merit-pay for teachers, and who are frustrated that Obama does not take a stronger position in favor of authentic rather than test-based assessments, or that he does not more strongly highlight the importance of students, parents, teachers, and local communities being more involved in educational decision-making.
Still, taking Obama’s education position as a whole, I cannot help but be instilled with a sense of optimism and hope that an Obama Administration would indeed bring us that much closer to an education system based on our democratic values and a belief that young people can be active co-creators of their own education.