it is now for the most part in pershmerga forces control. about 14 air strikes that took place yesterday from the u.s.. there are no more isis militants left in the vicinity of the infrastructure. however, they have set up some booby-traps and barrels hold of explosives -- full of explosives that will blow up. are is why pershmerga slowly moving in with some of this technology to detect some of these mines and booby-traps, to make sure they are not set off. explosives could threaten the infrastructure and the safety of the dam and gates. if that is blown, that could be catastrophic down the road. that is why pershmerga forces are moving in. that originally

belonged to the kurdistan charges, but saddam hussein drove the kurds out. there was an article in the iraqi constitution that calls for a referendum. but that article was also held hostage under the leadership of al-maliki. in terms of the oil, the whole region is very rich in natural resources, oil, gas, and other minerals. this is why isis has made the region their target. not only that, there are american diplomats and businesses and investors on the ground that they would like to go faster. that is why it is critical that we continue to receive the means that we need to push back on isis offenses. host: that is all the time we have in this segment. ofant to thank karwan zebari

the kurdistan regional government, director of the d.c. office. thanks for being with us. as part of our series this week on lyndon johnson, we will focus on the elementary and secondary education act of 1955 and how it continues to influence the education system. and later in the make a robin williams suicide and battle with depression, we will speak to congressman tim murphy about mental health care in america. first, a news up eight. >> a new report on the cost of raising a child. an american child born last year will cost a middle income family an average of more than 240 $5,000 until he or she becomes an adult. -- agricultural support report found families in the northeast had to pay more on average than the rest of the nation. the report was first issued in 1960 when a middle income family spent just over $25,000 per child. that is about $198,000 in 2013

dollars. housing expenses made up 30% of the cost made by child care, education, and food, but the report did not factor in expenses after a child turned 18, like college tuition. members areongress, in recess but today marks a change for the house of representatives as the recognition of eric cantor becomes effective. and an update on wikileaks founder julian assange. the bbc tweets that he will leave london's ecuadorian embassy soon after two years of refuge. reports over the weekend say that mr. assange has developed a heart defect and a chronic lung condition. speaking at a news conference earlier, mr. assange said that his health had suffered during his time in the embassy. we will hear more at noon eastern from the cato institute. will discuss increased in congressional transparency on the site despite controversies

over how the site shares and edits its information. live coverage at noon on c-span television. you can also listen on c-span radio. >> each night starting at eight 8:00 eastern, a debate on genetically modified food. and then a spotlight on general motors safety recalls. highlights from this week's ideas form. thursday, we look at the issue of climate change. friday night, we visit important sites in the sole rights movement. tonight on c-span two, it is booktv, with a discussion on fracking. on wednesday, the authors of "the second machine age" talk

about how new technology will fundamentally change our everyday life. on friday at 8:00 eastern, reza aslan. tonight, a look at the overland campaign in virginia. on tuesday, the wars only battle in washington, d.c., the battle of fort stevens. thursday, the capture of atlanta and general sherman's march to the sea. on friday, a look at hollywood's portrayal of slavery. our schedule one week in advance call us-span.org, and to let us know what you think of our programming. or e-mail us. join the c-span conversation.

host: every day this week, we will take some time to focus on a different component of the great society that president lyndon johnson laid out his vision for 50 years ago. we focus on education and specifically the elementary and secondary education act of 1965. here is president johnson talking about the need to improve education and his now famous speech from 1964 at the university of michigan. place great society is a where every child can find knowledge to enrich his mind. and if we cannot educate today's 1970, what will we do in when elementary school enrollment will be 5 million greater than 1960? and high school enrollment will rise by 5 million? and college enrollment will increase by more than 3 million?

and many places, classrooms are overcrowded. and curricula are outdated. most of our qualified teachers are underpaid, and many of our pay teachers are underqualified. [applause] so we must give every child a place to sit and a teacher to learn from. poverty must not be a bar to learning must offer an escape from poverty. [applause] but more classrooms and more teachers are not enough. we must seek an educational system which grows in excellence , as it grows in size. host: joining us in the segment

today is darleen opfer of the rand education and ulrich boser, a senior fellow at the center of american progress. ulrich boser before the elementary and secondary education act, can you describe what education was like in america? guest: it was much more localized. 1965on signed the bill in and it really revolutionized education as we know it. it dramatically changed our nation's education system. for the first time, the federal government began funding high poverty schools to try to equalize the gap. what we see more broadly is that part of the presidents goal of a war on poverty. this is a program that was coupled with medicare and medicaid and expanded social security. host: what were the major components of the act we are talking about today?

certainly, aid to children in poverty. the act specifically targeted child benefits in the way the funding was given to localities. children in poverty receive the more money as a way to close the achievement gap and raise achievement for those in poverty. host: one of the other goals of the elementary and secondary education act was to lessen the achievement act, but also to prevent the establishment of a national curriculum. can you what was meant by that? guest: at the time, there was some resistance to the act, the notion that the federal government would take over education, which had been for , during the history of our country, under local control. as part of passing the act, it was dated the federal government would not control curriculum,

and that that would remain in local hands. while there was no establishment of a national curriculum, a provision that established the national act come it did establish some standards and achievement for schools. can you talk about those standards for achievement? guest: the law -- law set up a formula that gave additional funds to local school systems, and it was targeted to low income students. this was very important to johnson himself when he signed the law. he went to his hometown in texas his family,bout that his family was a farmer, that he attended a one-room schoolhouse, and he wanted to emphasize that this should go to low income students, to help them get out of poverty. one johnson said when he signed the law, that this law should be

a bridge that will close the gap between helplessness and hope. the law has changed a lot over the years, additional standards have been added onto it. it has been rewritten, has involved more of the standards and assessments. by and large, when people view the original law, they see it as a success. just look at the test scores of hispanic middle schoolers. those have risen by 25 points, which is equal to two years worth of learning since 1995. johnson's original vision for the law really paid off. host: some stats that we showed for our viewers, and for the radio listeners, the government $50 perss than elementary and high school student in 1960's. in 2011, six team hundred dollars per elementary and high school student. -- $1600 per elementary and high school student.

about the elementary and secondary education act, we are splitting our lines of differently. .arents can call (202) 585-3880 teachers, (202) 585-3881. all others, (202) 585-3882. darleen opfer, would you agree with the success of this act? guest: i would be a little more measured in my assessment of it. on the one hand, it certainly brought federal attention to education in a way that never was before. but the act has not always gone smoothly over time. there is a period of time in the 1980's where funding was significantly cut. some of the impact it could have had may have been more, had we sustain the financing to it, and also paid more attention to implementation on the ground.

generally it has been successful, just not as it could've been. host: in what way do you mean paying better attention to the limitation? -- act for the art started out, it was primarily about financing and we were not paying attention to what schools were doing with the money. needed to go to children in poverty but we assumed schools understood what they needed to do to educate children in poverty. now, with many years in hindsight, we probably know that they did not always understand what needed to be done. so we did not pay as much attention to the process of education. it was mostly about increasing input. i think we need to pay attention to the processes as well as the input. , would youh boser agree? guest: i think darleen is right. in 1965, this law was about

financing. we know back then, and today, that many high poverty school system get less than their fair share of dollars. you look in chicago, where, in the wealthier suburbs, school districts get twice as much money as those systems in the inner-city. moneyd to make sure that is at the core of this education debate, but we need to understand money alone is not enough. we need to make sure there are programs and policies in place. that conversation has evolved over time. we have seen educational reform such as race to the top or common core, which have all played a clear role in national education today. host: talk about the transition behind?to no child left guest: the shift from being

input focus to output focused happened under george w. bush when he brought the governors together in charlottesville, virginia. they talked about the importance of education and the need for standards, to raise standards, the quality of education. that really started a conversation leading to the goals under clinton, and then picked up again under george h.w. bush, with no child left behind. we saw a transition from focusing on input to thinking about what we expect from education, what are the outcomes we want, and how do we get them? so the law changed as a way to focus more on holding localities accountable for the outcomes, rather than just looking at how they spend the inputs. host: one of the viewers on twitter watch that johnson speech and said, our classrooms are still overcrowded, teachers are underpaid and underqualified.

what exactly changed? what is your response? we have a focus on serving all children that we did not have prior to the act. there were a lot of children not being served well. it certainly focuses on the issues of civil rights. i think there are some that would argue that were not for esea we would not have the segregationist schools. having federal dollars allowed the government to put pressure on states and localities to do that. while the act may not have way that people perceive education, the way they think it's going in terms of had a lot of, it influence on the way we think about how we should serve all children. host: mr. boser would you agree? guest: we have seen clear result. it is difficult to say the law caused these results, but over the last 30 years, graduation rates have been ticking upwards,

the achievement gap has narrowed. when you look at the achievement of fourth grade african-american students, they have been ticking upwards in math. i think there are some promising things, some clear results that we can say came out of esea. at the same time, we have to say what would've happened had this not been in place. in new york city today, on average, each student gets about $3000 in additional federal funds. that goes to pay for some important things related to instruction, reducing class size, buying textbooks, extending the school day. without those funds, where would the students be today? it's important to recognize the federal role here. d.c. needs to recognize that these funds are additional to what states and district are doing. ultimately, it is states and districts that are responsible. the words of john pistole echo today, whether it is around teachers or schools,

or classrooms being too crowded. the fact is, we have simply not done enough. host: as part of our series focusing on the great society, we are taking your calls and comments on the elementary secondary education act of 1965 and how it has impacted classrooms today. we has put up the lines between parents, teachers, and others. carol is calling in from boca raton, florida. good morning. i tweet normally, but i had to call in this morning. i taught for 13 years in an urban, almost all-black school in nearby broward county. i left last year. this will be my second year that i can just watch c-span every morning. the state of education in our schools is abysmal.

and if you have a higher graduation rate, that is because we are compelled to pass kids. i was teaching kids, my last year, i was teaching seniors who could not read and write on a sixth-grade level, yet the pressure is upon you. it is all just a game. the kids are totally undisciplined. there is no discipline in most of the schools. you cannot get them to put away their cell phones. it is not the money. our school had plenty of money. it is how you spend the money. that is what is important. you cannot teach kids who do not want to learn. you still have a 12th grade curriculum you are supposed to teach. about englishre literature, they do not care about grammar. they could not read. they were taking reading in the 12th grade. when i went to school, my school did not even have reading when you got to high school. it was assumed you knew grammar

and english. so you cannot teach kids who do not want to learn and will tell you, girl, you ain't my mom, you ain't going to be telling me what to do. then the boys said, just give me the answers. we will let our guest jump in. you say you tweet a lot to the show, what is your handle? caller: i write to you and c-span. @carolold. on theou can follow in conversation happening on twitter every day. lots of folks like carol join in on the conversation every day. @cspanwj. , i will let you address the question.

guest: she raises points that are part of the conversation now, which is how to raise the quality of education. that is why we have been talking about standards, repairing students for college and career readiness, what that means. part of it -- and this is referring back to the esea --how do we help teachers and principals teach the kids they have and at the highest levels we need them to? act had ae esea second title of the teacher learning and preparation. part of the act that probably has not been made much of. focusing more on how we help teachers may address some of the problems we have talked about. calling in from rio rancho, new mexico. on the line for parents. show.: thank you for the my son is a senior at rio rancho high school, in the ap calculus,

ap english. never had a job. there is just no employment for kids around here. grandfather worked for the government labs forever. i will tell you what is wrong with kids these days. there is no opportunity for them. when you show kids that their friends are getting out of high school, college, and cannot find work, that is what brought us to new mexico. i have family here. but there are no jobs unless you are in the government. you wonder why kids are not motivated. it is because the real world does not have shit -- host: apologize for the language. ulrich boser, i will let you respond. guest: this debate has been going on a long time, the education between jobs and the economy. that is why the common core standards are so important. they are much more relevant to what students need to know and

be able to do to succeed in the world today. they also raise expectations. also what is deeply important about the standards is they do more than just teach students fax. it teaches students how to think. we need educational reforms that help students get these jobs and importantly, help the students be competitive in the global economy. those new to the common core debate, can you explain what it is and the timing of it? guest: it is a set of standards developed by the state. they are in reading and math. they have been rolled out for a while and now we are seeing some assessments of those test being attached to do though standards. they have been in the headlines recently. some states have thought about leaving the standards. anerally, this has been reform that many in the educational reform community see as an important way to improve the achievement of students. of the randn opfer

corporation, your thoughts on common core? guest: this is a promising move, the idea that we have a set of standards that we can agree on, that were well researched, that were developed by educators, that really raise the bar on what we expect for students. i think standards alone hold promise, but in order for them to achieve the promise, we need to pay attention to how they are rolled out in schools, how they are implemented, the kind of support given to teachers to teach what is actually quite a high level, a level that they were probably not teaching before. host: what would you say to those folks who are concerned that common core does what was elementary ande secondary education act of 1965, preventing the establishment of a natural -- national curriculum? it is unfortunate it has

been politicized that way. it was an initiative put together by the states, governors got together to create a standard. as the department of ed started using it as part of the race to the top and the incentives, saying it states about the standard they get additional federal funds, it started to turn into something that was federalized, but that was never the intent to begin with. guest: i want to jump in and draw a distinction between bandits -- standards and curriculum. standards are simply expecting what students should know and be able to do. when should they learn certain topics in math? when should they be learning onto brock, edition and -- addition? curriculum is something that needs to be developed i teachers. that is textbooks, quizzes. sets out what students should be able to do at

a certain code to of time, but it really leaves it up to local system to develop that curriculum. i want to be clear, i do not see any evidence to suggest that common core is at all in conflict with esea, which was correct in setting up in 1965, that there should not be a national curriculum. we need to leave it up to teachers themselves to have the flexibility and autonomy to reach out to students in the way that they know best. host: let's go to one of those teachers in miller place, new york. steve is calling in. caller: good morning. i teach english as a second language in a middle school, public middle school. i am wondering what your people think, your guests think? lbj would probably be rolling over in his grave if he saw the way that common core was implemented. it did start out as a state project, but it was kind of overtaken by certain moneyed interests.

the governors approved it, the governor's association approved it, but who actually wrote it was a group of 27 people, including only two teachers. those teachers voted against the common core, yet it was implemented. i think there is a lot of discussion about how this happened. some of it is accurate and some of it isn't. if we ask educators -- and there have been a number of surveys about the common core -- the majority of educators are in favor of them. they believe we need to have higher standards. the mathematics association of teachers, it english language association of teachers, those educators have endorsed them. generally, these standards have been accepted by teachers. left with ourour panelists, discussing the elementary and secondary education act of 1965 and what

it is meant for the education system today. we have lines for parents, teachers, and others. in south bend it, indiana is donald. good morning. this is very important to me. i have nieces and nephews in school. an all hands on deck situation. i just want to ask a couple of quick questions. i do not know much about it, but i think it's a good idea. critical thinking is very important. teaching kids how to think for themselves. quickly, theto go high school situation needs to be revised. is there any talk about having students stop at grade 10 and 12, maybe they are out in the world trying to

get job skills, etc.? is there more focus on things like that? core, thethe common thing we have to keep in mind is that it is getting increasingly politicized. just take a look at bobby jindal, governor of louisiana. when the common core -- when he first looked at the common core, when he saw it on paper, he thought it was a good idea. he thought it was what was good for kids, good for kids in louisiana. then the political winds shifted and now bobby jindal has been trying to pull out of the common core. he has done so because he is no longer looking at the best interest of students in the louisiana but himself. we need to keep in mind, there is good policy and i believe the common core is great policy, what is best for kids, but there are also shifting political winds, and there are politicians

is a the second point, it great one. there have been developments and just to reiterate, the caller was asking are their movements for apprenticeship programs or helping students get real-world experience while in high school? we have scenes and very innovative practices. been pushed by this administration, vice president joe biden has been very smart in talking about apprenticeship programs. programsl enrollment that allow students to enroll in college while in high school. it raises expectations for students and it keeps students motivated. it allows them to see real-world application of their studies. host: if you want to see ulrich some of thesen education issues, go to the center for american progress' website, americanprogress.org. and darleen opfer is with rand

education, rand.org. in nebraska on our line for parents. 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 don't 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 will guarantee you that our education system would get better in a heartbeat

because then the best education, the best teachers would come out. and the ones that could not teach would be fired. , can youleen opfer take the second part of that -- money following the student. guest: money does follow the student. going back to esea, when i said at the beginning that it is a child's benefit. the money that is getting to school districts for children in poverty. child in follows the that sense in many states and districts, their funding way.las are the same you get funding depending on the characteristics of the children. as far as letting them go to open choice, we have some systems like that. some work well and some do not. the idea that money follows the children is generally the way we finance education to begin with. , "are you twitter saying there is a direct

correlation between money spent and outcome, no other factors? factors,ere are other but money matters. it has been study after study to show that when we spend money and targeted appropriately, it does have excellent outcomes. short-term but long-term outcomes. outcomes on employment, on rates, on incarceration money matters. host: go ahead. guest: money matters when it is being spent in an effective way. there are some practices where money matters less. in many school systems, dollars are being given to teachers to get masters degrees. the research there is week. when you look at class-size reduction in early grades or investing in pre-k, it is clear that money can make a big difference for student outcomes. morgantown, pennsylvania on our line for teachers.

good morning, matthew. caller: good morning. military veteran, i did troops to teachers and i taught at groves high school in savannah, which is about 90% minority and economically disadvantaged. and i walked away after three years because i was very discouraged. i came to the conclusion that the problems in many of our schools is a cultural problem more than a problem with policy. money problem, either. when you compare one county in georgia with another county in georgia, the first county receives about $5,000 less per upil annually but outperforms the other county. from a policy standpoint, if we of improve the culture

learning in the home and encourage learning from the home in disadvantaged communities, i think we are going about it all wrong with common core. performing western country in the world is finland. ,inland has a decentralized consumer driven model. where they use vouchers and local autonomy to drive education. i will leave that out there for you guys. host: darleen opfer, do you want to pick that up? guest: he raised a number of important issues and questions. one, the way we prepare teachers. he went through a troops to teachers program, a quick training program. we need to be paying attention on the one hand, has gotten this great teachers is in the classroom. but then, how we support them over time and make sure they are prepared to teach in the places

that they go into. to training isn important. he also raised the question about the role of parents. one of the things that has happened is we tend to address problems, particularly problems of poverty, and very silent ways. we've been talking about esea and education, we do not often talk about it in relation to ,hings like neighborhood issues health issues. if we really want to talk about problem of children in poverty, we cannot treat it in this silo way about looking -- without looking at other conditions. host: would you agree? guest: i would. when we look at school models, schools that also offer health services,r dental they have been shown to be very effective. they can cost a little bit more. we have to be prepared to spend more on these types of schools that can be very successful in

these disadvantaged communities. host: about 25 minutes left or so. our phone lines are split differently full stop parents, teachers, and all others. those are open if you want to call in. on our line for parents in arizona, smitty. caller: good morning. one of the problems we have got, you have got to people on the panel that are both like-minded, both come from the same -- bothnd, probably believe the same things. i will use the word here, i get in trouble, they are basically socialists. the common core program was .ritten by socialists it is to take the curriculum away from states. can do say the states whatever they want. but if you do not do what the common core people want, they will lose their federal funding. arizona.tty from another question on common core.

if you want to talk about policy differences with the center for american progress? guest: generally, people think that rand is more conservative in our thinking. part of it is the cousin of her time we have done things like research on -- part of it is because of her time we have done things like research on the vouchers and charter schools. when evidence shows those things work, regardless of our own political beliefs, we put out the evidence and say this looks like a promising practice. it may seem like we are aligned right now, but part of the is based ontween us the evidence and where the evidence is going in terms of how we need to improve schools. >> mr. boser? to that andld add try to look at what we know about effective schools. about successful schools, whether they are in right to work states or non-right to work states,

charter school states, which is another divisive issue, successful schools are focused on bringing people together. they do a great job of having teachers focused on a common vision. we see this in the research, school systems where there is more trust among the teachers achieve more likely to in the long term. and we see this in terms of practice. you look at toledo, ohio. they have done a smart job of bringing teachers together in a bottom-up, teacher evaluation system where teachers are giving each other feedback. that has shown effects. in terms of student achievement and motivation. the bottom line i am trying to stress is that when it comes to education, we really do need to do more to bring people together and to bring schools together and to bring teachers, parents, and students together to focus on a common vision. i think that will be key for success. host: illinois on our line for parents. good morning. caller: i would like to comment,

there is no amount of money you can put into schools that is going to teach kids to open up a book. either have to have the teacher teach or the child learn. you can throw money here and there, we have seen that too many times. the public school system here is so messed up it is unbelievable. in chicago, they closed because the schools were in bad shape. host: what would be your suggestion? caller: before they start throwing money at the public school system, you have 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 the shoe. the lady said the money follows -- no, if your kid wants to go to any school, you have to give them a voucher. even though it might be a charter school or something. sticking money in the public schools, you are losing. host: ms. opfer?

guest: well, the evidence on vouchers is not very clear. we have better evidence on school choice, some charter schools are doing much better than their public schools. again, it goes back to what they are doing in the schools. a public versus charter issue or private versus public issue, it is the processes that are going on, the kind of supports teachers are providing for students. and as ulrich said, that they have a common vision they are working to. it is not about which kind of school, but what the schools are doing themselves. host: a couple teachers calling in, gwen from cleveland, ohio. caller: i am retired. i'm a retired principal. i have -- sometimes in education, we give scholarships

-- we have given out 32 scholarships. i have another program, we put 15 kids between the ages of 12 and 17, they learn work ethic and how to market skills. they learn how to write a resume and go for a job interview. for the success of students, it is very successful and i have been doing it for the past nine years. once they complete the program, they will receive a scholarship to college. it is very important that they learn to work ethic as early as possible, even at 12 years old. the students do well. they work in area businesses in ward one in cleveland, ohio. the businesses do not get paid at all. the kids learn work ethic and repair themselves to become -- the: talking about some of fx and cleveland. well on our line for teachers in columbia, tennessee. caller: good morning, c-span. see that there is

something about education here. it is very important to this great nation of ours. i was fortunate enough to be in a school as a young boy, it was tennessee preparatory school. the school provided for homeless children, it is more like an orphanage. it provided a great background in education. it is so important. the best thing they provided at a secondary level was vocational training. they do not put nothing like itt in the common core, but is so important for young people who have jobs. they have to have some kind of experience or variety to pick up some skills before they get out into the real world. tps had vocational training in every area. whether it is shorthand,

-- alliles, woodworking of this was so important. host: talking about some vocational training. mr. boser? guest: vocational training can be very important. one of the key things we have to understand about education is that we want students to be motivated. we want students to be engaged and develop really rich, deeper learning skills. the one thing the caller mentioned, i want to push back. we have to separate what schools are doing and what the common core does, which is policy we have been talking about that has been held by the states that raises expectations. there is nothing in the common core that prevents teachers from taking a more vocational approach to education. to offering students those types of programs, whether vocational or sports or arts, all the other things that we know are part of a rich, deep curriculum. the common core is focused on the charts and mathematics -- the common core is focused on language arts and mathematics.

trying to push up expectations and standards, allowing us to do more and to offer a richer curriculum for students. the other thing that is important that has not been brought up and i think is worthwhile to talk about this testing. a lot of parents today are complaining that there are too many tests in schools and they are not fair. that is an issue. we know that many school administrations have too many tests and students feel overwhelmed. the common core offers potential to create better, fairer 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 others -- unless you wanted to jump in? onst: i wanted to jump in the vocational issue and talk about the role of businesses. one of the problems with public offering vocational training is being able to keep up with how employment changes. every day, we have new jobs being added as technology changes. if we are going to train

students for the workforce now and for the future, we need a much bigger and closer collaboration between businesses on the one hand and schools on the other a meeting that need. host: calvert on our line for all others. calling in from newark, delaware. good morning. caller: good morning. davis, is calvin jr. i have a question and i comment. educationfer for rand , that is rammed corporation, the think tank policy organization that works for the and also -- for the center for american .rogress with the extent of research your organization has been afforded,

we still see that the policies that have been implemented by the government is failing people .ike me -- black men and women the reason why the teacher who said she taught black kids and why she doesn't understand why we do not pick up a book -- we are under stress from psychological warfare. from seeing the military police in broad -- should us daylight with no repercussions. we are dealing with an extreme psychological environment and we are constantly being told that our lives are worthless and that we mean nothing, we contribute absolutely nothing to society. that -- ory will show host: calvin in delaware. do you want to take some of the racial achievement gap that the color brings up?

--the caller brings up. guest: there's the issue of achievement gap, where we look at achievement between white students and students of color. we have seen, as we talked about at the beginning of the show, that cap has been narrowing slightly over time. some of that could be partly attributable to the vision of johnson. we have to also acknowledge that we have a long way to go before gap and we need to be focused on those policies that we know work. focusing on building instructional capacity. that teachers have the tools that they need. and focusing on high standards. something else the caller brought up that i would like to address. we've done some research on the issue of teacher diversity. making sure we have a diverse teacher workforce. what we see is really the tremendous cap in some states, like california and arizona, you have largely a white teaching workforce.

and then the students, largely students of color. you have to make sure that we get teachers in the classroom who are prepared to teach and who are highly effective. we also know that teachers of color can relate better to students of color. they understand their background. making sure we have a diverse and effective teaching workforce will be key to the future. , on teacherfer diversity? guest: it is definitely an issue. we have seen that teach for america has made a push to increase their diversity in response to some criticism that there were two white. white.o do weestion is how incentivize and attract really high-performing minority teachers into classrooms and probablyronments that are not the best conditions to teach in. we need to think about how we do that. host: st. louis, illinois, on

our line for parents. good morning, carol. caller: i grew up in the 50's and 60's. i did not learn until i was an adult that you are not supposed to stare at the sun. that you are not supposed to swallow toothpaste after you brush your teeth. children thingch that they are going to need in life, like filling out a checkbook or writing a check. teaching people about nursing. in these communities where the hospitals are all closed down, they will have someone they can go to for medical aid or to find out what they need to do about their health and about nutrition. there were many days i sat in school and i did not have anything to eat. i could not concentrate on what they were talking about on the black work. i am sitting there with my gut growling.

if you can find money for wars, you can find money for all this, why can't you take care of the people in this country? host: mr. boser? aller: the c addresses important points. we need to think about ways we are going to improve education from young people. people talking about the role of money in education. i really want to stress that we need to talk about productivity in schools, how are we going to get the most bang for our buck. we did a study that came out a few months ago that evaluated the nativity of over 7000 school districts. what surprised me, we only see across the u.s., only two states -- texas and florida -- only you valuate the productivity of schools. we need to put more money in our schools and make sure the dollars are wills then. that will take looking closely at what programs are effective.

the research is clear on things like pre-k and supporting so that they can have the rich skills to attract students. ultimately, education reform is common sense. we know it works but the question is do we have the political will to do it and to focus on those programs, those policies that are going to be best for kids? host: pennsylvania, on our last couple minutes on this segment. carol on our line for all others. guest: -- caller: good morning. in order to bring a more broad-based teaching staff into the profession, i lived in philadelphia when i was growing up. up until the middle 1960's, nursing students would come from all parts of the state because that was the only thing they could afford and the only place they could get it because they were all women. quality not lower the

or the expectations of the but it was, practically free. i don't understand why the government can't subsidize something like that. teachers anyway but particularly for low income areas, you could draw people from the community, men and women, that could come in at a low cost and teach. the other thing is teacher quality. i think teachers get a bad rap. they are very good teachers out there. i live in a different area, where there is great support for the school system. i think you can begin to change the curriculum. one of the ways you can do that is through accreditation for colleges. each area has its own accreditation throughout the u.s. they could begin to look at what is needed for better teaching and more preparedness and more

student teaching or mentoring. host: thank you for the call. darleen opfer on teacher quality and attracting teachers financially to the profession. guest: there have been a number of efforts to attract teachers, tuition has been waived or forgiven, and subjects like science or math. they have been successful but they are hard to scale. if we want to solve this long-term we need to think about the profession. she talked about how in nursing, they have high standards. look at other countries that have very high quality teaching, going into teaching is a very difficult profession to get into. to think about god and what it means in terms of professionalizing teaching, raising the -- we need to think and what it means in

terms of professionalizing teaching, raising the standards. making it an attractive profession to go into. if you are a minority student with excellent grades and cough qualifications, there's a world of opportunity available to you. on our line for parents from alexandria, minnesota, good morning. caller: i want to make a comment here. the contracts. -- focus is on three things wages, benefits, and retirement plans. four months later, the point is that the class sizes are too big. host: are you talking about teachers unions? caller: i am. until the focus changes from tenure and retirement plans, i do not think education is going to get better. thank you. host: ulrich boser? teachere debate over

tenure and the role of teachers unions has been in the headlines recently. i think teachers unions play an incredibly important role in making sure the nation has a strong middle class. as i spoke about earlier, when we look at successful schools, they are schools that have brought people together. i mention the toledo example because i think it is powerful. that is a school system where management and labor came together. teachers and administrators came together to really focus on improving teacher practice. and thinking about what is going to be best for students. that is ultimately the way of the future and what is going to work in schools. host: let's give our last call to one of those teachers. karen in texas. good morning. caller: i was calling with -- whata comment regarding your guest speaker from brand said regarding money following the students. is thetually happens

money is earmarked two states and in the states and mark the money to the district. i taught for nine years in title i schools. what actually happens, the principals get to decide how the money is spent. a couple of the last two districts i worked in, schools received over $2 million. unfortunately, none of that money went into the classrooms. the principal decided she would take all of that money and redecorate her offices and the secretary's offices and she would buy bicycles to give away to the students if they managed to show up on time. another district received 2 million dollars to buy computers and technology for the classrooms, which were all put into computer labs that each student got to use for 15 minutes out of the week, the entire week. behold, all ofd the computers were stolen by the computer teacher and sold on the black market. host: i want to give darleen opfer a chance to respond here.

guest: this raises a question and circles back to where we started. then we about input, switched under no to output. on process.ocus what are we doing with the input that we have? they being used? are they being used in evidence-based ways to improve student achievement. if we want to get the outcomes we hope to have, focusing more on the processes in schools and in the way schools are using money and making sure they are using money for effective processes is the way that we need to focus now. , if you wantboser to chime in? guest: the use of technology in schools. we see it certainly technology going to a lot of schools. but we know that students are not using it and very effective ways. we did a study that found that one third of students are using computers in the classroom for

drill and practice. i also want to reiterate a theme we start out with, money matters when it is used in effective ways. to focus on raising expectations for students. common core is a great way to start out. we need to empower teachers and make sure we prepare them for college and career. host: ulrich boser with center for american progress, americanprogress.org. darleen opfer with rand, rand .org. the wake of robin williams' death and longtime bout with depression, we talk with psychologist and congressman tim murphy about mental health care in the u.s. and that open our fence to get your thoughts on the issue. the first, a news update. >> 9:29 a.m. eastern. reports that more than a

third of americans have no retirement savings. a new survey commissioned by bankrate.com finds that 14% of americans ages 65 and older are without a nest egg. -64 age group, 24%. in total, 36% of americans have not put aside a time for retirement. today says "perhaps unsurprisingly, young americans are the least prepared, with 69% of the 18-29 age group having no retirement savings. "the key to aays successful retirement is to save early and aggressively." turning to the middle east, israeli and palestinian negotiators in the egypt-mediated gaza talks hard their positions