<p>Reform the teachers unions
School choice/competition</p>
<p>^ “School choice/competition” has pretty much failed as an education reform strategy. In many places it brought in a bunch of fast-buck hustlers who were more interested in looting the public purse than in delivering a superior product. You can point to isolated successes, but they’re much more the aberration than the norm.</p>
<p>I say this not to defend the status quo. I think our K-12 system sucks. But I think we should be paying much closer attention to places like Finland that seem to have figured this out. Their system is much more collaborative and communitarian, aimed at bringing everyone up to speed. Our system is much more geared toward competition and separation–very much a “leave most kids behind” approach that brands kids and entire communities failures, which not surprisingly becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy. The failure of our public school system is largely of our own making, and those who succeed in it have little genuine interest in fixing the parts that don’t work for the vast majority who endure those failures.</p>
<p>I noticed you didn’t comment on reform of the teachers unions. If you cannot get the teachers union to go along w your proposed changes, because of rigidity of the rules of their contract, then you’re stuck w the status quo.</p>
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<p>Well, it would be interesting to know what our teachers’ unions would think about the Finnish educational system. I don’t think it’s ever been squarely put to them. In Finland, teachers are among the highest paid and most respected professionals in society. They are treated as national heroes, because it’s widely understood the country has no chance of competing globally unless it has a better-educated workforce than most of the rest of the world. The trade-off is that entry barriers to the profession are extremely high. But all of that is strongly endorsed by Finland’s teachers’ union, which is said to be powerful and influential in shaping the nation’s educational policy.</p>
<p>[Why</a> Are Finland’s Schools Successful? | People & Places | Smithsonian Magazine](<a href=“http://www.smithsonianmag.com/people-places/Why-Are-Finlands-Schools-Successful.html]Why”>http://www.smithsonianmag.com/people-places/Why-Are-Finlands-Schools-Successful.html)</p>
<p>Teachers are highly regarded in Singapore too and they also have an excellent system. They are probably stronger than Finland in math and science.</p>
<p>But we can find excellent districts in the US too and excellent states for models closer to home. I’m sure that we could find excellent districts that spend $20k and up in the US. Money does matter as does the family situation and a whole bunch of other factors.</p>
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<p>We could start by cutting one-third of the administrators and reallocating those funds elsewhere. Parkinson (of Parkinson’s Law) demonstrated decades ago that administrative hierarchies, especially those unimpeded by the need to stay solvent or go out of business, tend to grow at an exponential rate, even when the overall organization is shrinking.</p>
<p>One problem with administrators, aside from their costs, is that they waste the time of those below them by creating never-ending new forms, procedures, reviews and whatnot, done largely to justify their salaries and used as an excuse for increasing their departmental budget and staff.</p>
<p>Getting rid of deadweight in administration is like getting Congress to pass on giving themselves a pay raise.</p>
<p>Speaking of the rise in student interest rates, we need to abolish the Federal Reserve System and put the US back on the Gold Standard. </p>
<p>(my son is interning for a state legislator, and he said it is amazing how many people call in with conspiracy theories)</p>
<p>I am hoping the loans remain subsidized. Our current system of financial aid though flawed, has its merits. For the neediest we have PELL. Those who qualify for aid, but are not PELL eligible can get the subsidized loans. And everyone else can take the loans out on a non sub basis. With the Perkins scheduled to be over soon, these loans serve a good purpose IMO. The amounts are just drops in the bucket for those going to sleep away school or to private colleges that just integrate them into their packages, but for the majority of students who are going to comm coll or other local state schools and commuting, it makes a big difference in percentage increase to cost.</p>
<p>For the past couple years, the President has asked Congress to reauthorize and expand the Perkins loan system so that it would be used to reward the most cost-efficient colleges with more loan money, and penalize the colleges with the worst results. The measurements would include such factors as high 4 and 6 year graduation rates, etc. and the most reasonable net tuition costs. Congress hasn’t acted. If Congress does not act regarding Perkins, all of the loan money is supposed to be returned to the feds as it repaid, and no new loans would be issued starting in a year.</p>
<p>Perkins should be directed to the students that need it the most, and what the President is asking will basically give the top private schools these funds, not the publics, so I oppose what he is doing. I’d like all of these lonns to go to public schools, not privates. Try getting a Perkins for the schools that 90% of students are attending. THey are discounts off of the top prices schools, the way the system now works.</p>
<p>Cpt:</p>
<p>There has been work on college performance measures that fully take into account the types of students enrolled by each college. In other words, Directional State University would not be expected to have the same 4 year graduation rate as Yale, but instead would be compared to other universities with a similar student body. Some of these measurements say that a college with certain characteristics would be expected to have a X% 4 year graduation rate, but instead it is Y percent points above or below that expectation.</p>
<p>The President’s proposal is to come up with a set of performance measures, and then use additional federal Perkin loan funds to use as incentives based upon those measurements. The intent is not to reward a few colleges for already having good outcomes, but instead to provide incentives for everyone to improve.</p>
<p>Hi all, just reviving this thread, because it’s my understanding that tomorrow July 1, the student loan rates are doubling. It sounds like there could be some agreement later in summer, but not a given. </p>
<p>My gal’s a freshman, so perhaps those of you in the know can tell me: when do the various loan agreements “lock in” their rates? (Should we have signed a loan agreement prior to July 1? Do we have a say in when we approve loan agreements?)</p>
<p>The media said the rates can be reduced retroactively - but probably not after they are disbursed. The problem is that Congress went home.</p>
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<p>No. The rates are set by Congress, and signed by the President, for the academic year. The money is usually disbursed in 2/3 tranches (depending on quarter or semester system), approximately two weeks after classes start.</p>
<p>Thanks Charlieschm and bluebayou,
And to all, here’s a good current overview from PBS Newshour:
[Time’s</a> Up: Student Loan Interest Rates Set to Double | PBS NewsHour](<a href=“http://www.pbs.org/newshour/rundown/2013/07/times-up-student-loan-interest-rates-set-to-double.html]Time’s”>http://www.pbs.org/newshour/rundown/2013/07/times-up-student-loan-interest-rates-set-to-double.html)</p>