Huckabee and Education

Over the course of the next week or two, I'll be sharing some information in regards to Mike Huckabee, Barrack Obama, John McCain, and Hillary Clinton which should shed some light onto their educational viewpoints and what they believe is the best course of action to take in the future of education. The following information was obtained through education.com. I'll start with Mike Huckabee, although it appears McCain will eventually be on the ticket come November. Education.com apoke with Alice Stewart, Huckabee's campaign press secretary about these issues:

MIKE HUCKABEE

In General
Huckabee's ideas about education reform include a focus on the value of arts education, as well as creating a personalized learning path for every student to focus on their interests –ideas that neither Democrats nor Republicans are broaching.

Standardized Testing
One of the hot-button issues of today's education debate is that of standardized testing, which aims to assess the overall performance of schools as well as that of individual students. While Huckabee supports testing, he says that it should be used in conjunction with a variety of other approaches to assessment. “Governor Huckabee believes that testing should be an important component, but not the only way we assess a student's progress,” says Stewart. “We know that students learn in a variety of ways, and No Child Left Behind must recognize multiple measures, including portfolios, oral presentations, experiential demonstrations, and other methods of demonstrating competence.”

School Choice
Where does Huckabee stand in the ongoing debate about charter schools, homeschooling, and school vouchers? He gives the green light for all three, but believes that “Vouchers should be decided by the states, not the federal government,” says Stewart. She adds that Huckabee thinks vouchers are good for failing urban schools, but may be more problematic in rural areas where alternative school choices are not within easy commuting range.

No Child Left Behind
Although Huckabee supports the accountability measures that NCLB represents, which prevent students from “falling through the cracks,” he thinks that the program needs some adjustment. Specifically, he says that NCLB does not take into account schools with high percentages of ESL and special needs students, and he stresses his commitment to staying true to art and music requirements in schools. “I believe passionately that music and the arts play a critical role in our school curriculum,” Huckabee says. Stewart underscores his point, saying that “Raising reading and math scores must not come at the expense of other elements of a well-rounded education, and NCLB must insist that schools not get away with teaching to the test.”

College Funding and Affordability
For the next generation of voters, college costs are a major concern. So what's Huckabee's plan? According to Stewart, “Governer Huckabee believes we should encourage scholarships and offer low-interest-rate or interest-free loans to students majoring in a variety of vital fields. We should recruit for science, math, and engineering, as we do for sports.” In other words, students focusing on important areas such as math, science, and engineering should get a leg up. “We should also offer forgiveness of student loans or tuition for post-graduate study to those who will teach in under-performing schools or do other national service,” adds Stewart.

Universal Preschool
As for expanding universal preschool education on a federal level, Huckabee maintains that individual states, and not the government at large, should resolve the issue themselves. “Education is best handled at a state level,” Stewart says.
But while Huckabee says that “the whole role of education is a state issue –it's not really a federal issue,” he does suggest that government has a part in the process: “I think the federal government can play a pivotal role primarily in helping to make sure that the best practices that are working in the states are shared with states who are struggling,” he says. An individualized approach, both at the level of schools and students, is his educational agenda, Stewart says. For students, Huckabee wants to see a “personalized learning” plan for each student, especially at the high school level. Stewart says that “each student will have a personalized learning plan ... where the student is the lead author based on his interests, passions, and dreams.”Says Huckabee: “If we really are serious then first of all we make sure that we build a curriculum around their interests rather than just push them into something that they don't care about.”

Alright, so my impressions are: He supports standardized testing (which sucks), believes No Child Left Behind is a good thing (boo, hiss) but believes it needs to be changed to take ESLs and special needs students into account (there's something good), he thinks student loans should have low interest or no interest depending on field (good that he thinks this, but will he do anything about it? Probably not), and (as I highlighted above) he thinks education is a state issue, not a federal issue (...what? Don't dump it on the state politicians, they'll dump it right back on you). Overall, I would say Huckabee is a poor candidate to vote for in regards to education.