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1. Our media consistently claims there is an education crisis in the United States.  What information can you provide to refute this statement? - Include information about the strengths of American education. Examples: programs, classes, teachers, college preparedness, academic achievements, etc. The education system in the United States has many strengths such as extra help programs, SAT and ACT prep courses, dedicated teachers and counselors, and many academic achievements. Schools allow students to pick their classes for their schedule which allows them to learn more about their future career that will benefit them for college and/or a class to try new things that will give them a break from their academics classes. Teachers and counselors provide extensive help making it easier for students to apply and learn more about college. SAT and ACT prep classes provide students with extensive help for SAT and ACT tests that will benefit them for college since it is one of the major grades colleges look at. Therefore the education system in the United States has many benefits.    

2. How does your administration plan to increase the nation’s high school completion rate? Explain. - Include programs, support services, etc. We plan to increase the nation’s high school competition rate by creating a program for students who are dropouts and ones that are planning to and provide them with the education that they are not receiving. The New York state high school completion rate has been gradually increasing since 2005. We will make sure that it does not decline with the program and with the help of guidance counselors. The guidance counselors will know who is planning on dropping out and discuss if there is a solution.  

3. What is your stance on standardized testing? Do you believe standardized testing serves a purpose? Explain. We are against standardized testing, it does not benefit students and it doesn’t test for useful skills that students need, therefore it has no purpose. Students who have not perfected their test taking skills find standardized tests very difficult and stressful. Students spend almost a whole year prepping for a test that does not benefit them. We will make sure students are learning to broaden their education instead of learning just for a test.   

4. What are the positive and negative effects of standardized testing for both students and teachers? The positive effects : #1 Students who are not doing well in certain subjects will prove how much they know. #2 Teachers could be tested on how well their students do on the standardized tests. The negative effects : #1 The bad test takers will get low grades affecting their averages. #2 Standardized tests take up unnecessary time focusing strictly on test material.

5. What other methods can be used to assess our students and teachers? Provide specific examples to support. Teachers should be assessed to focus strictly on how their students are obtaining material. More group and hands on learning techniques will be made. Assess tests weekly that will not count on their averages as an opportunity to see how their students are obtaining material.  

6. How do you plan to ensure that students around the United States are college and career ready when they graduate from High School? Explain with specific examples. We as a team plan to ensure students are college ready by providing more college level classes. There are already so many classes available at Mepham but we will ensure that the courses will be available to all schools in America. We will also make sure English teachers assign more than one research paper per year and possibly assign papers to more classes. Since research papers are often assigned in college, students will be more prepared especially with the college level courses.

7. How do you plan to make college more affordable for America’s high school graduates? Explain your plan and how this will benefit the United States. We plan to make college more affordable for high school graduates by creating a program similar to the program with the Excelsior Scholarship in New York. This program was created to give free tuition to students finishing high school and going off to college. But the program has strict requirements that our program will not have. For example, the program requires a minimum of 30 credits and if they don’t complete 30 credits by the end of the year, the Excelsior scholarship is no longer available. With our program we will not be as strict and widen the program beyond just New York. This program will benefit the US giving low income families a chance for their child to attend college.

8. Education has been called the great equalizer. Do you believe this statement rings true today in the United States? Explain why or why not. * If you do not agree with this statement, how do you plan to change things? Explain. As Secretary of education, I do not believe this statement is true. Schools all over America are different in their own ways. For example, Mepham High School has a brand new Mac lab that many schools do not have the opportunity to have. The lab is open to all students and they all have access to programs that are not available on most computers. Teachers are another example because not all teachers have the same amount of experience. The ones with more experience generally know more about students learning skills and techniques. Graduation rates are also different all over America. Referring to Long Island, the graduation rate in Hempstead is much lower than the graduation rate in Syosset by approximately 60%. Therefore the great equalizer is not true.

9. Why should Americans trust you to improve American education? Explain with specific examples. Americans should trust us to improve American education because with hard work and effort we will make students feel that they are getting the best education possible. Students will work in study groups to ensure they are fully aware of the lesson. We will put an end to standardized testing so there is not wasted time spent for test prepping. And we will make sure the best teachers are chosen to educate students.