Jeff, good morning. Caller bobby jindal do not back out because of politics. Out because once he seen what common core was all tryingnothing more than why dont you ask these people on your panel to give you the document that they ask all the questions of their students. Just ask them for that document and i guarantee you that she will be able to get it. They are not allowed to. One other thing. If they come out with a new law that says that money follows the ill guarantee now that our Education System will get better in a heartbeat because then the best education the best teachers would come out, and the ones that couldnt teach would be fired. Host darlene, can you take the second part of that. Guest money does follow the student. Going back to where we started with esea, when i said at the beginning would the child benefit . The money is given to School Districts for children in poverty. So, the money in that sense follows the child in many states and districts. Their funding formulas are the same way. You get certain amounts of moneying depend ago then characteristics of the children. If he means in terms of following it and letting them go to open choice, we have some systems like that and they work some work well, some dont. But the idea that money follows the children is generally the way we finance education to begin with. Host the question from twitter, are you saying theres a direct correlation between money spent and outcome, no other factors . Guest no. Theres certainly other factors but Money Matters. Those have been study after study that show that when we spend money and we target it appropriately, that it does have excellent outcomes, longterm outcomes, outcomes on unemployment, on health, on incarceration rates, Money Matters. Host go ahead. Guest i Money Matters when its being spent in effective ways and there are practices in education where Money Matters less. So, in many School Systems, dollars are being given to teachers to get masters degree, and the research is weak. When we look at things like class size reduction in early grades 0, or investing in prek, its very clear that money can make a big difference for student outcomes. Host pennsylvania is next on our line for teachers. Good morning, matthew. Caller good morning. I was a military veteran and i had it toed at atlantic state university. I taught at Groves High School in satisfy nana, which is 9 savannah and 90 minority and economically disadvantaged. I walked away every three years because i was very discouraged. I came to the conclusion that its more the the problems in many of our schools is a cultural problem more than a problem with policy. And its not a money problem, either. For example, when you compare Appling County, georgia, with jack join come, Appling County receives 5,000 less per pupil annually, but perform outperforms jackson county. From a policy standpoint if we can improve the culture of learning in the home and encourage learning from the home in disadvantaged communities, i think were going about it all wrong with common core. The highest performing western country in the world, as many people know, is finland. Finland has a dee centralized consumerdriven modll they use vouchers and local autonomy to drive education. So i just leave that guy out there for you guys, and host do you want to pick that up . Guest he raised a number of important issues and questions. One is, again, the way we prepare teachers. He went through a troops to teachers program, so a quick training program. I think we need to be paying attention on the we hand its gotten us great teachers. Then how we support them over time, make sure theyre prepared to teach in the places they go into. And so i think paying attention to training is particularly important. He also raised a question about the role of parents, and i think one of the things that has happened is we tend to address problems, particularly problems of poverty in siloed ways. We dont talk about it in relation to things like neighborhood issues, health issues, and if we really want to tackle the problem of children and poverty, we cant treat it in this siloed way without looking at the other conditions. Host would you agree . Guest i would agree. When we look at school models, sometimes referred to as wraparound, schools that also offer some health services, dental services, theyve been shown to be very effective. They can often cost a little bit more so we have to be prepared to spend more on these types of schools, that can be very successful. Host we have 25 minutes left. Our phone lines are split up differently. Parents, teachers, and all others. If you want to call in, submitis calling from arizona. Caller good morning. One of the problems we have here this morning is you have two people on the panel that are both like minded, both come from the same background, and both believe the same things. Im going to use a word here and i get in trouble when i do but theyre basically socialists. The Common Core Program was written by socialists. Its to take the curriculum away from states because they say the states can do anything they want but if they dont do what the common core people want they lose their federal funding is what will happen. Host darlene opfer, another question on common core. But if you also want to talk about your perhaps policy difference is with the center for american progress. Guest sure. I think generally people think that rand is probably more conservative, in our thinking, but part is because over time we have done things Look Research on vouchers, on Charter Schools. We when the evidence shows those things work, regardless of our own political belief, we put out the evidence and say, this looks like a promising practice. So, it may seem like were aligned right now, but part of the alignment between us is based on the evidence, and we where the evidence is going in terms of how we need to improve schools. Host mr. Boser . Guest i think one thing id add to that is trying to get a look at what we know about effective schools, and what we know about Successful Schools, whether theyre in right to work states or not, Charter School states, which another divisive issue. Is it Successful Schools are focused on bringing people together. They do a great job of having teachers focus on a common vision. We see this in the research. Ton where bright has shown that full systems, whether more trust among the teachers, are much more likely to achieve in the long term and we see this in terms of practice. You look at toledo, ohio. Theyve done a smart job of bringing teachers together in evaluation systems where teachers are giving each other feedback, and that has shown an effect in terms of achievement and motivation for students. When it comes to education we need to do more to bring people together, to bring schools together to bring teachers, parents, and students, focused on a common vision. Thats going to be key for success. Host illinois next on the line for parents, jerry. Caller good morning. Im just like to comment that theres no amount of money you can put in the schools going to teach kids to open up a book or have the teacher teach what a child needs to learn, because you just throwing money away, and here in illinois we done seen that too many times because the Public School system here is so messed up, its unbelievable in chicago, schools closing, not because of money. They closed because the schools was just in bad shape. I mean host jerry, whats the answer . What is your suggestion . Caller just suggest that before they start throwing money into the Public School system, like they say, you got to have a choice to parents. You got to be able to let the parents make the choice where the kids want to go to school, and the lady said the money follow this parent. No, if your kid wants to go to any school, you have to give them avoucher. It might be a Charter School or something else, but theyre sinking money in the Public Schools and keeping the Public Schools, youre losing. Miss opfer. Guest well, i mean, i think that the evidence on vouchers is not very clear. We have better evidence on School Choice that actually some schools some Charter Schools are doing much better than their Public Schools. But, again, goes back to what theyre actually doing in the schools. Its not a public versus charter issue or private versus public. Its the processes going on, the kinds of support teacher are providing for students, and they have a common vision theyre working to. So i think its not about which kind of school but what the schools are doing themselves. Host a couple teach efforts, one from cleveland, ohio. Caller im a retired plan, principal. I have a program, we put 15 kids in jobs between the ages of 12 and 17. They learn a work ethic, how to market their skills, how to write a resume and how to go for a job interview, and its called its very successful. Ive been doing it for the past nine years. And once they complete the summer jobs program, then theyre eligible to receive a scholarship to college. So its very important that they learn a work ethic early as possible, even 12 years old, and the soon they work in the area businesses in cleveland, ohio, and they get inkind services. They dont get paid but learn the work ethics. Host talking about the efforts show is involved in cleveland. Will is on the line for teachers in columbia, tennessee. Will, good morning. Caller good morning to you, cspan. So happy to see that theres something about education here and its very important to this great nation of ours. I was fort nat enough to be in a school that provided for homeless children, more like an orphanage but provided a great background in education, and it was so important, and the best thing they provided in the secondary level was Vocational Training. I know that they dont put nothing like that in the core. But its so important for young people to have a job today, they have some kind of variety to pick up some skills before they get out into the real world, and they i mean, tps had a Vocational Training in every area where there is typing or short happened, vocation automobiles, woodworking, so vitally important. Host calling about Vocational Training. Mr. Boser . Guest i think Vocational Training can be very important for students. One of the key things we have to understand about education is we want students to be motivated. We want students to be engaged to develop those really rich, deeper learning skills. The one thing the call are did mention, want to push back upon. We have to separate out what schools are doing and what the common core do, which is this policy that has been developed by the states that raise expectations. Theres nothing in the common core that prevents teachers from taking a more vocational approach to education. So offering students those types of programs, whether theyre Vocational Education that might be motivating some students, or sports or arts, other things we know are part of a rich, deep curriculum. Common core is Language Arts and mathematics and tries to push up the standards and expectations of students, allowing us to do more to offer a richer curriculum for students. The other thing that is important about common core that hasnt been brought up that i think is worthwhile to talk about is testing. A lot of parents complain there are too many tests in school, theyre not fair, and that is an issue. We know that many School Districts are not have too many tests and students feel overwhelmed and the common core offers potential to create better exams that are more relevant to students and give a better sense of what they know and are able to do. Host our line for all d. Guest i want to jump in on the vocational issue, and also talk about the role of businesses. One of the problems with Public Schools offer vocational is being able to keep up with how employment changes. And every day we have new jobs being add as technology changes, and i think if were going to train students for the work force now and for the future, we need much bigger and much closer cooperation between businesses on the one hand and schools on the other, and meeting that need. Host now to calvin on the line for all others. Calling from new york, delware. Good morning. Caller good morning. Host go ahead. Caller calvin davis, jr. Ive called cspan in the past i have a question and a comment [inaudible] rand corporation, the think tank policy organization that works for the government, and so [inaudible] the center for american progress. My question is, with all the Extensive Research that we know your organization has been afforded, we still see that the policies that are being implemented by the government is failing people like me, black men and women, and the reason why that teacher who said she taught black kids, why she doesnt understand why we may not pick up a book, were under stress from psychological warfare. The kkk military police literally shoot news broad daylight with no reap percussion repercussions so were dealing with a psychological environment where were constantly being told our lives are worthless, we mean nothing, we contribute absolutely nothing in society, when true history will show that we contributed just about everything that everybody else has. Host mr. Boser do you want to take some of the racial achievement gaps the caller brings up . Guest i think the caller brings up some interesting issues, and a broader debate around race and education. The issue of achievement gap where we look at the achievements between white students and students of color. We have seen, as we talk about at the beginning of the show, that that gap has been narrowing slightly over time. Some of that could be partly attributable to the vision of johnson. But we have to also acknowledge we have a long way to go before we really narrow that gap, and we need to be focused on policies we know work. Focusing on building instructional capacity, the teachers have the tools they need, and focusing on high standards. Something else the caller brought up that i would like to address. We have done some research on the situation of teacher diversity and make sure we have a diverse teacher work force. What we have seen is really tremendous gaps in some states, like carr and arizona, where you have largely a white teacher work force, and the students who are largely students of color. So, you also have to make sure we get teachers in the classroom who are prepared to teach, who are highly effective, but we also know that teachers of color can relate better to students of color, as they understand their background. So making sure we have a diverse and highly effective teaching work force is key to our future. Host ms. Opfer on teacher diversity. Guest i think definitely is an issue. We have seen recently that teach for america has made a big push to increase their diversity in response to some criticism that they were too white. And so i think that has been a longstanding issue, and the question is, how do we incentivize and aattract really highperforming minority teachers into classrooms and environments that probably arent the best conditions to teach in. We really need to think about how to do that in order to address the problem. Host east st. Louis, illinois, on the line next for parents. Good morning. Good morning. I grew up in the 50s and 60s, and i did not learn until i was an adult that youre not supposed to stare at the sun. Or that youre not supposed to swallow toothpaste. After you brush your teeth. If youre going to teach, you need to teach children things theyre going to need in life. Like filling out a checkbook, or writing a check. Teaching people about nursing. So and these communities where the hospitals are all closed down, theyll have someone they can go to for medical aid or to fine out what they need to do about their health and about nutrition. There were many days i set in school, i didnt have anything to eat. And i was hungry, and i couldnt concentrate on what they were talking about, also the blackboard and im sitting there with my gut growling. Honest, if you can find money for wars and for all this crap, why want you take care of the people here in this country . Guest i think the caller addresses some important points, that we need to think about ways in which were going to improve education for young people. We have heard this now from a lot of callers. People talking about the role of money and education, and i just really want to stress we need to think about productivity in schools, how we get the most bang for our buck. We did a study that came out a few months ago that evaluated the seven thousand School Districts and we only see across the United States only two states, two states, texas and florida, that really evaluate the productivity of their school. We need to put more money in our schools but we need to make sure those dollars are well spent and thats going to take looking closely at what programs are effective. I think the research is pretty clear on things like prek and clear on supporting teachers that they can have those rich skills to attract students. And i think ultimately education reform in our nation is common sense. We know it works. The question is, do we have the political will to do it, to focus really on those programs, those policies, that are best for kids . Host warrington, pennsylvania is next. Carol on the line for all others good morning, carol. Caller good morning. About the teachers, in order to bring a more broadbased Teaching Staff into teaching profession, i lived in philadelphia when i was growing up, and in the up until the middle 60s i think it was, nursing students would come from all parts of the state because that was the only thing they could afford. And plus the only place they could pr