The President spoke tonight of education in his State of the Union Address and highlighted the reform of No Child Left Behind:
We agree that real opportunity requires every American to get the education and training they need to land a good-paying job. The bipartisan reform of No Child Left Behind was an important start, and together, we’ve increased early childhood education, lifted high school graduation rates to new highs, and boosted graduates in fields like engineering. In the coming years, we should build on that progress, by providing Pre-K for all, offering every student the hands-on computer science and math classes that make them job-ready on day one, and we should recruit and support more great teachers for our kids.
This is clearly a small portion of a long speech, but the President is saying a fair amount in a few words:
- He’s extolling the virtue of the new ESSA as a replacement to NCLB.
- Obama is throwing out the gauntlet to ensure the funding of preschool for all American children.
- Without stating details, the President is supporting STEM education.
- And, he wants to improve our crop of teachers, both current and future.
Just as interesting was Obama’s comment in his seventh sentence of the Address:
But tonight, I want to go easy on the traditional list of proposals for the year ahead. Don’t worry, I’ve got plenty, from helping students learn to write computer code…
The President has made it a point to promote the wisdom of teaching coding to our students.
Which of these proposals/ideas will bear fruit in the President’s last year?