WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama defended his signature “Race to the Top” education plan before an audience that included critics who say some of his policies may shortchange low-income students and students who are members of minority groups.
“Education is an economic issue, if not the economic issue of our time,” Obama said in what the White House billed as a major education speech Thursday to the National Urban League, a civilrights group, in Washington. “It’s an economic issue when the unemployment rate for folks who’ve never gone to college is almost double what it is for those who have gone to college.”
O ba m a ’s atte m p t to toughen education standards and inject competition into the classrooms to prepare students for higher education has stirred opposition among civil-rights leaders, unions and other traditional supporters of the Democratic Party; congressional Republicans; and some state officials.
A coalition of eight civilrights groups that includes the Urban League and the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People released a report Monday that said the $4.35 billion Race to the Top and other “market based” programs unequally distribute government funding and support.
“Too many of our children see college as nothing but a distant dream” and are relegated to failing schools in struggling communities, Obama said. “We’ve got an obligation to lift up every child in every school.”
Some of the criticism of Race to the Top is “absolutely false” because every school district has an incentive to improve, Obama said. The plan has forced teachers and principals to “raise their sights,” he said.
“I know there’s a concern Race to the Top doesn’t do enough for minority kids,” Obama said. “What’s not working for black kids and Hispanic kids and Native American kids across this country is the status quo.”
The report released Monday by the civil-rights groups says federal data show that just 3 percent of the nation’s black students and less than 1 percent of Hispanic students were affected by the first round of Race to the Top competition.
“By emphasizing competitive incentives in this economic climate, the majority of low-income and minority students will be left behind and, as a result, the United States will be left behind as a global leader,” according to the Monday report.
The administration has succeeded in getting at least 29 states and the District of Columbia to sign on to common academic standards that would for the first time set shared performance goals for math and reading. Through the Race to the Top competition, Education Secretary Arne Duncan has prodded states to lift caps on charter schools and link student achievement to teacher pay.
‘RESISTANCE TO CHANGE’
This week, Duncan announced that 18 states and the District of Columbia had qualified as finalists in the second round of the program. These states will receive a combined $3 billion in grants, after $600 million already distributed in the program’s first round to Delaware and Tennessee.
But the program has been criticized by some traditional allies of the administration. The head of the Urban League, Marc Morial, was one of several civil-rights leaders who met with Duncan earlier this week to discuss their concerns with the program, specifically that black and Hispanic students were not benefiting from the federal resources.
Teachers unions have also objected to the program because it encourages evaluations.
On Thursday, Obama acknowledged the discord over the program, saying it reflects “a general resistance to change.”
“We get comfortable with the status quo even when the status quo isn’t good. We make excuses for why things have to be the way they are.And when you try to shake things up, some people aren’t happy,” he said. “Our children get only one chance at an education, so we need to get it right.”
The program has already been successful even where federal dollars have not yet been spent, Obama said. Thirty-two states have changed their education laws to qualify for the federal grants.
“Even students in those districts that haven’t gotten a grant, they’ve still benefited from the reforms that were initiated,” Obama said. “This process has sown the seeds of achievement. It’s forced teachers and principals and officials and parents to forge agreements on tough, and often uncomfortable issues - to raise their sights and embrace education.”
SUPPORT FOR TEACHERS
Republicans in Massachusetts, Texas and Alaska are attacking the common standards, calling them a federal takeover of local school-district policy. A proposed school-turnaround program, which allows districts to fire teachers and replace principals in poorly performing schools, is under attack from teachers unions and community groups. Obama has also failed toget enough congressional support for a $10 billion bill aimed at saving tens of thousands of teacher jobs from state and local budget cuts.
Obama said Thursday thatit was critical to give teachers more support and a “career ladder” so they would have opportunities to advance.
He praised teachers as “the single most important factor in a classroom,” calling for higher pay, better training and additional resources to help teachers succeed.
“Instead of a culture where we’re always idolizing sports stars or celebrities, I want us to build a culture where we idolize the people who shape our children’s future,” Obama said.
At the same time, he wants teachers to have “some measure of accountability,” Obama said.
“Our goal isn’t to fire and admonish teachers; our goal is accountability,” Obama said.
Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers, criticized school-turnaround proposals as part of a simplistic, “blame the teacher” approach in a July 8 speech at the union’s convention in Seattle.
While Obama and Duncan are proposing changes designed to amass bipartisan support, political divisions are endangering the chance they will actually be carried out, said Jeffrey Henig, a professor at Teachers’ College at Columbia University in an interview Wednesday.
“Politically the agenda is working in the near term, but there are risks,” Henig said.
Obama also used his speech Thursday to defend his economic program and the overhaul of the U.S. healthcare system, which have been prime targets of Republicans heading into the November congressional elections.
The recession “had an especially brutal impact” on minority groups, Obama said, and his policies are “creating an economy that lifts up all Americans - not just some, but all.” Information for this article was contributed by Moira Herbst, Roger Runningen and Catherine Dodge of Bloomberg News; by Julie Pace and Jennifer Loven of The Associated Press; and by Michael A. Memoli of Tribune Washington Bureau.
Front Section, Pages 1 on 07/30/2010