Visit msnbc.com for breaking news , world news , and news about the economy I have to admit I am more than a little apprehensive with the President’s plan. I ma definitely in the camp that sees NCLB as a steaming pile of shit, and it is hard to see ANY changes to hat bill as being bad, but I wonder if what Obama is planning will really do the job of reforming education in this country. Here are some of the features in the President’s education reform blueprint. — By 2020, all students graduating from high school would need to be ready for college or a career. That’s a shift away from the current law, which calls for all students to be performing at grade level in reading and math by 2014. Okay this sounds promising. — Give more rewards — money and flexibility — to high-poverty schools that are seeing big gains in student achievement and use them as a model for other schools in low-income neighborhoods that struggle with performance. I like the idea of rewarding good teachers, and more flexibility will really help teachers to use their creativity to address teaching challenges. — Punish the lowest-performing 5 percent of schools using aggressive measures, such as having the state take over federal funding for poor students, replacing the principal and half the teaching staff or closing the school altogether. No.
