Ask the Expert: Cynthia Brown on the Obama Administration's New Plan for Education

What new vision does the Obama administration lay out in its education blueprint?

First of all, the Obama administration sets forth as a very clear goal that all students graduate from high school ready for college and ready for a career. It then focuses attention on those schools that are farthest away from meeting that goal--those schools that have the lowest performance with their students. And it requires that pretty substantial action be taken immediately to turn those schools around.

How does the blueprint differ from the No Child Left Behind Act?

The No Child Left Behind Act was important in breaking new ground, causing educators and the public to look at how various groups of students were doing in their school performance. However, the measures it set up were crude, and after several years of experience with them, we know that they needed a major overhaul. And the Obama administration blueprint does just that, with a more nuanced way at looking at a variety of schools and the range of effectiveness they have with their students' learning, and then requiring certain actions to be taken depending on how far they are from the goal of all students being proficient.

Why are some education groups opposed to this new plan?

Some groups are opposed to this plan because they feel that the changes from the No Child Left Behind Act are not substantial enough. They also are very concerned about where the investments in any new money will be made. However, I think they're short sighted. With regard to the previous accountability system, the one that the administration is proposing is much more sensible. It recognizes that many schools are close to getting their students performing at the levels that are needed, and it allows those schools that are close to have much more flexibility in how they design their educational programs. It focuses most intensively on the schools that are the lowest performing.

Secondly, the status quo in this country is not adequate for the 21st century and a future economy where we are competing internationally with other countries that are improving their educational systems very fast. We have to learn new ways of doing things, which means we have to invest in innovation and experimentation, and the Obama administration wants to do that in a major way. Hopefully, we'll learn lessons from these new experiments and innovations, evaluate them carefully, and then incorporate what we learn from these new experiences into how we spend the big formula grant programs like Title I and the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act. I think those groups who want to pour all the new money into the programs that have existed for a long time are not focused enough on the new ways of doing things that are absolutely essential if we're to have a world-class education system.