2008 March 06 Archive at The Core Knowledge Blog

Now that John McCain is the GOP nominee, he can count on all kinds of advice from the education commentariat. First up, Fordham’s Checker Finn and Michael J. Petrilli, who offer the Republican standard bearer some suggestions in the Weekly Standard. Noting that McCain “doesn’t consider education a top presidential priority” and has had little to say on the subject, they sugggest McCain integrate education within his larger platform, which promotes a strong, competitive America.

“Start by playing to your strengths, Senator, fitting education policy within three broad themes of your candidacy and worldview: keeping America confident in the face of Islamic terrorism, strengthening our ability to compete in a globalizing world economy, and fighting wasteful spending,” Finn and Petrilli offer. Give U.S. schoolkids a deep knowledge of U.S. history and America’s role as freedom’s champion. “That means not letting history and civics get squeezed out of the curriculum by NCLB’s obsession with reading and math scores,” they write.

Most intriguingly, Finn and Petrilli argue McCain should urge governors “to develop a set of common, rigorous expectations and assessments for all young Americans from Okeechobee to Walla Walla. And he could push Congress to rewrite NCLB so it focuses not just on academic stragglers but also on our savviest youngsters, too.”

The Wall Street Journal reports a presidential panel will describe the nation’s system of teaching math as “broken” and recommend a focus on basic math instruction.

“The National Mathematics Advisory Panel, appointed by President Bush in 2006, is expected to urge the nation’s teachers to promote ‘quick and effortless’ recall of arithmetic facts in early grades, mastery of fractions in middle school, and rigorous algebra courses in high school or even earlier,” the Journal reports. “Targeting such key elements of math would mark a sharp departure from the diverse priorities that now govern teaching of the subject in U.S. public schools.”

The back-to-basics call will surely be music to the ears of teachers and parents unhappy with constructivist math programs in Texas, Washington, and elsewhere who have railed recently against “fuzzy math.” That said, the members of the advisory panel includes mathematicians and educators from both sides of the “reform vs. basics” math wars. “The draft of the final report declines to take sides, saying the group agreed only on the content that students must master, not the best way to teach it,” reports the WSJ.

“Unlike most countries that outperform the U.S., America leaves education decisions largely to state and local governments and has no national curriculum,” notes the paper. “School boards and state education departments across the country are likely to pore over the math panel’s findings and adjust their teaching to make sure it aligns with the nation’s best thinking on math instruction.”

Did someone say national curriculum??