How my topic is related to federalism

Education is greatly related to federalism, especially NCLB. No Child Left Behind was signed and put into affect by George W. Bush on Janauary 8,2002. This program allows each state to set their own standards. These schools have to give tests to see each childs ability in math and english. The students are supposed to improve each year. The problem, only a certain amount of money is given to each state from the federal government, and each state is left up to itself to raise the rest of the money for their public schools. Not all states can raise this needed money, which causes problems in the public schools, and then the kids don't get the proper education, and then they don't meet the requirements and goals set by their state.

This issue is really controversial because many people believe that education isn't a federal issue. Some believe it's only a state and local issue, and that the federal government has stepped past their boundaries of power. It's also seen as an “unfunded mandate” between the state and federal government, and sets the teachers and kids up for failure from the start.

Specifically in New Orleans there has been more challenges because of Katrina. First of all, there aren't nearly as many students enrolled in the public or charter schools. Charter schools are more popular now because this was the states way to solve the problem of failing public schools. The federal government cannot just hand over more money to one state, Louisiana, because they need it. If they did, this would cause problems with other states that need the money as well. Now that charter schools are so common, another change was made: schools have school choice. This means that kids don't have to live in a certain area anymore to go to a public/charter school. They can go to whichever school, no matter where they live. This does cause some problems, because the charter schools are a little more selective, so the kids living across the street may not be able to make it in so has to find another school. There are many more problems that the Cowen video goes into as well.

The point in George W. Bushs' presidency that seemed like such a huge accomplishment has quickly gone downhill. The federal government has yet to fix many of the kinks in this system. Obama does have plans as to how to reform this system, but kids suffer every day from the lack of planning in the passing of this law 9 years ago.

questions for eduaction

When did NCLB start?
Why was this started?
What is the state and federal relationship in this program?
Why is this program controversial?
Is this program actually helping students improve in math and english?
*i've started watching the Cowen Institute video on public schools in New Orleans which talks about before and after Katrina. the video is an hour and ten minutes long, and i've only watched about 11 mins of it. i wasn't exactly sure which report you wanted me read, but this video i think is the same as his report because they're both from Cowen's website

Why I chose this topic

My mom has been teaching in schools for awhile now, especially with younger kids for as long as I can remember. She's a speech therapist, so she isn't in front of a white board teaching kids but she still gets to know a lot of the kids with speech problems. When i was younger i used to go with her on a pretty consistent basis with her to her head start building. It wasn't in the best area, but this didn't stop my mom. When i went into my moms office, i sat and watched the younger kids play speech games and such. I caught onto some things in particular: they didn't have much respect for the teacher compared to what I was used to seeing, they didn't speak proper english, which was also how the teachers talked in class. These two points made me think how my school differed from theirs.

My mom now teaches at a differnet school on the westbank, which i haven't been to yet. But, my mom has told me a couple of things about it: her boss, the head of the school, cannot speak english correctly. This may be such a huge deal partly because my mom is a speech therapist, but in general this shouldn't be happening. The head of a school in a private setting would have to first of all be able to speak correctly, have experience, etc...The public school system has lowered their standards for the people they hire, which effects the young people they teach. Therefore kids who go to public schools are put on a lower level from the start, and have to work 10 times harder to be on the same level as a private school kid.

When i drive home from school, or driving to school, i always pass the John F Kennedy school in lakeview. This school was public before Katrina, and is now shut down and has grafitti written all over the building. Seeing this building makes me realize that our public schools in New Orleans aren't considered much at all, compared to the private schools. This wouldn't happen at a private school, and if it did consequences would be given. Just driving by this closed school, you can see the opportunities that could of been there, and the fact that people just don't care. The state obviously hasn't done anything about this school, and I feel that this school will remain like this for years and years.

topic for project

Hey Mrs. T! I think that I want to do education in New Orleans, and specifically how public education differs from private. And why the public school systems are so bad here, compared to the public school systems in Texas or other areas of the U.S.