issues with the president of the national education association. then a house hearing o. then a look at the remaining weeks of the 2012 presidential campaign. now, a discussion on teacher's issues with the president of the national education association. from "washington journal," host: we are going to welcome dennis van roekel, thank you so much for being with us. guest: thank you. host: we want to talk about chicago school history and other school districts facing similar problems. these problems being faced in chicago are no

"this is america" is made possible by -- the national education association, the nation's largest advocate for children and public education. poongsan corporation, forging a higher global standard. the ctc foundation, afo communications, and the rotondaro family trust. new zealand has one of the top education systems in the world. to learn about the how and why of its success, i talked with the minister of education. i read these big reports, and they say that new zealand always is ranking in the top-10 of all school systems all over the world. what is the secret of success? >> there is no one secret of success. in order to get a system that is made up of many parts, one of them is that we have a highly inspirational culture as a society where a small country, -- we are a small country, the last stop before antarctica. we know that we have to trade to survive. to do that, we have designed -- to design products and services that the world wants. that means that our biggest resource is located between the two years of our citizens. that means we have to constantly ensure that how we contribu

possible by -- the national education association, the nation's largest advocate for children and public education. poongsan corporation, forging a higher global standard. the ctc foundation, afo communications, and the to trust.yfaar later, i will talk with kazakhstan's foreign minister. right now, a visit with the u.s. ambassador to kazakhstan, kenneth fairfax. >> what should americans know about kazakhstan? >> i think the short answer is a lot more than they currently do. >> thank you. >> it is the ninth largest country on earth. it is a country that has a rather extraordinary relations

. >> "this is america" is made possible by the national education association, the nation's largest advocate for children and public education. poongsan corporation, forging a higher global standard. the ctc foundation afo communications. >> during our recent visit to cassocks down -- has expand -- recent visit, we discover the city of contrasts. the old capital of almaty is home to culture and education while the new capital is home to the government's. in almaty, we visited a huge old world market. they call it the green bazaar, selling all kinds of goods. our translator explains. >> we are in the central market of almaty. there are a lot of ethnic groups represented here. many of them filled traditional gaps. for example, the green bazaar. they have different sweets and dried berries. >> we discovered a different kind of shopping experience in astana. the largest tent in the world designed to replicate a traditional yurt. it even has its very own indoor beach. it is similar to american malls, but this one has its own perch. kazakhstan is a huge country and business activity is very divers

"this is america" is made possible by -- the national education association, the nation's largest advocate for children and public education. poongsan corporation, forging a higher global standard. the ctc foundation, afo communications, and the rotondaro family trust. this year, kazakhstan celebrates its 20th anniversary of independence. on this program, we will learn about what it was like before independence 20 years ago, and how oil and a visionary president made kazakhstan the success it is today and why diversifying its economy will be the key to kazakhstan's even brighter future. >> it was a while the economy, while business economy, and a great economy mainly. today, we have a lot of public companies. our businessmen are doing international joint ventures. if you take the society as a whole, are people became much more open-minded, a free, outspoken people, and we are much different from what we were before. >> has that been exciting to be a part of? >> i was 20 years old when kazakhstan became independent. our generation of businessmen, they were not that successful because they p

guest is the head of the national education association. phone lines are open. you can join the conversation on our twitter page. jerry is on the phone from illinois. good morning. caller: i had the privilege of teaching in chicago public schools my first three or four years of teaching. it is absolutely very, very difficult. it is hard for people to understand how difficult it is to teach students with those needs. i left there and i now work in another district in the south suburbs. i think we are number one in the state for demographics. very high performing. we have so many resources and a

"this is america" is made possible by -- the national education association, the nation's largest advocate for children and public education. poongsan corporation, forging a higher global standard. the ctc foundation, afo communications, and the rotondaro family trust. later, i will talk with kazakhstan's foreign minister. right now, a visit with the u.s. ambassador to kazakhstan, kenneth fairfax. >> what should americans know about kazakhstan? >> i think the short answer is a lot more than they currently do. >> thank you. >> it is the ninth largest country on earth. it is a country that has a rather extraordinary relations with the united states, and yet most people really know either nothing or worse than nothing -- what they have seen in a movie, which is the opposite of reality, of course. there is a lot to learn. >> what are the mutual interests of the two countries, the united states and kazakhstan? >> we have many. you can look at it as an edgy, food security. lots of overlapping interests. but what would come to most people first is non- proliferation and world security. kazakhstan

. >> "this is america" is made possible by the national education association, the nation's largest advocate for children and public education. poongsan corporation, forging a higher global standard. the ctc foundation. afo communications. and the rotandaro family trust. >> having heard so much about finland's successes in public education, i had a chance to sit and talk with tapio kosunen from the ministry of education in finland. why is education and finland -- wise education in finland so successful? what is the real answer? >> it is very much appreciated. >> appreciated? by the general public? >> by the general public and as a means to have a decent life. >> so, you are not so much concerned, i gather if i am hearing you correctly, not so much with scores and statistics, but more as a total human being? >> yes. that is the point. we do not use any standardized tests. >> would you say that again out loud? >> we do not use any standardized tests in finland. actually, we have won a standardized test. which is the examination after secondary school. >> towards the end of their time at second

"this is america" is made possible by -- the national education association, the nation's largest advocate for children and public education. poongsan corporation, forging a higher global standard. the ctc foundation, afo communications, and the rotondaro family trust. this year, kazakhstan celebrates its 20th anniversary of independence. on this program, we will learn about what it was like before independence 20 years ago, and how oil and a visionary president made kazakhstan the success it is today and why diversifying its economy will be the key to kazakhstan's even brighter future. >> it was a while the economy, while business economy, and a great economy mainly. today, we have a lot of public companies. our businessmen are doing international joint ventures. if you take the society as a whole, are people became much more open-minded, a free, outspoken people, and we are much different from what we were before. >> has that been exciting to be a part of? >> i was 20 years old when kazakhstan became independent. our generation of businessmen, they were not that successful because they p

secondly the national education association with over 3 million members, our membership is about onehird republican, one third democrat and one third independent, so we reach out to candidates in all parties and what we care most about is what are your positions on education. we support both republicans and democrats. there are more democrats that we are currently supporting, but it is because of their positions on education, not because of their party. host: we thank you very much for being with us, dennis van roekel, president of the national education association. guest: well, it was a great time, thank you very much for having me. host: by the way this morning in the "washington post", there is a look back at antetum, the battle that in many ways changed the war and often called the bloodiest battle of the civil war from 1862, this marking the 150th anniversary of that conflict. and the, of course, anniversary of the civil war overall. american history tv beginning at noon eastern time will be focusing on what happened in sharpsberg, maryland, you can get schedule information by

the national education association, but the rank-and-file members don't know that. state employees gained gained-- give the money, the afl-cio but the teachers classified it as a public relations. john: it is for their side. media matters says more money for the union. >> the members don't know this. classified as public relations it is like administration and overhead. john: and they seem happy. >> if they could have the job without part of a. john: tea and wisconsin when they were forced to be a member they left like that. >> is important to give them a voice and a vote. john: the union is not pro worker but pro "shadowbosses". john: you talk about the military i assume that is the exception. >> one-third of the military or civilian and 60% are already unionized there on military bases, filing grievances and be found a grievance union filed when the price of soda went from of $0.50 up at $0.55. >> and they had to fight that. and imagine the taxpayer dollars used. john: border patrol, immigration, fema, e ven the nasa scientist. >> even the peace corps. >> at home

the national education association, but the rank-and-file members don't know that.tate employees gained gained-- give the money, the afl-cio but the teachers classified it as a public relations. john: it is for their side. media matters says more money for the union. >> the members don't know this. classified as public relations it is like administration and overhead. john: and they seem happy. >> if they could have the job without part of a. john: tea and wisconsin when they were forced to be a member they left like that. >> is important to give them a voice and a vote. john: the union is not pro worker but pro "shadowbosses". john: you talk about the military i assume that is the exception. >> one-third of the military or civilian and 60% are already unionized there on military bases, filing grievances and be found a grievance union filed when the price of soda went from of $0.50 up at $0.55. >> and they had to fight that. and imagine the taxpayer dollars used. john: border patrol, immigration, fema, e ven the nasa scientist. >> even the peace corps. >> at home in

the national education association, but the rank-and-file members don't know that. state employees gained gained-- give the money, the afl-cio but the teachers classified it as a public relations. john: it is for their side. media matters says more money for the union. >> the members don't know this. classified as public relations it is like administration and overhead. john: and they seem happy. >> if they could have the job without part of a. john: tea and wisconsin when they were forced to be a member they left like that. >> is important to give them a voice and a vote. john: the union is not pro worker but pro "shadowbosses". john: you talk about the military i assume that is the exception. >> one-third of the military or civilian and 60% are already unionized there on military bases, filing grievances and be found a grievance union filed when the price of soda went from of $0.50 up at $0.55. >> and they had to fight that. and imagine the taxpayer dollars used. john: border patrol, immigration, fema, e ven the nasa scientist. >> even the peace corps. >> at home

the president of the national education association, the nea, the federation, the american federation of teachers, we'll call it that, they're in for 400 grand a year. and teachers unions, by the way, this is where it really gets good. teachers unions overall collect more than 2, 2 i'm just going to use this, teachers unions collect 2 billion dollars in dues each year. think about that. 2 billion dollars in dues. now, that money is going to liberal politicians, for example, president obama, his signature health care law designed to unionize, does this new book, 21 million health care workers. 21 million health care workers. is this starting to come together for everybody? we're starting to see this web of interest and direction? and why? because for every million of these workers unionized in the 27 nonright to work states, unions stand to earn a billion dollars in dues. do you get the feeling that there's a little at stake here when we talk about obama care, health care workers, unionizing as many as 21 million health care workers? well, if you're trying to catch your breath after ta

tomorrow on washington journal, the national education association president offers his reaction to the chicago teachers strike. former education secretary bill bennett discusses the 2012 presidential campaign. eric and the washington institute has the latest on the anti-american protests in the middle east. boston journal, live at 7:00 a.m. eastern on c-span. -- washington journal, live at 7:00 a.m. eastern on c-span. >> i think people like to see how politicians views have shifted over the years. whether mitt romney in 1994 was campaigning for wlefare -- welfare reform, i guess. people really like to see how these politicians have a vault -- have evolved. that isan element incredibly interesting. >> i have tried to think why is he a change so often. why he finds it so difficult to come down on one side of the issue and instead floats between both issues. >> someone running for state office for the state of the first time, those of help there is someone in la blagojevich. >> he is a trailblazer and a hero of mine. >> it is the viral part of the internet. >> more on sunday night at 8:00

i went through a two-year battle with the national education association 25 years ago to do it in tennesseebut president obama has been strong on teacher evaluation. he's been strong on charter schools in the chicago teachers union should listen to the proz that. >> you know, i am so glad you said that, that was my next line. we've had arne duncan, the education secretary on this show. i know that president obama's talked about performance in his reform package and here are these far left, far left, some of them are socialist teachers unions that will not be judged and the data is so clear how they screwed up. so obama's got the story right republican senator alexander, is that correct? >> well, that's right. that's right. this is the holy grail of k through 12 education. finding a fair way to relate teacher pay to student performance. these teachers are already making $75,000 a year on average, that's nearly $20,000 above the national average. if you pay the best teachers more, pay them $100,000, and $125,000 and send them into the toughest schools to where they need the most help is what

. >> gupta: so far, the national education association has supported non-profit technology like khanong as teachers are trained properly. but as with any new innovation, khan says there are always some skeptics. >> khan: i've seen some subset of teachers who say, "oh, what is this video thing?" you know, "live human interaction is important." and the reason why that... that bothers me a little bit is that i know that's exactly what we're saying. in fact, we exactly agree with you, that what we're trying to do is take the passivity out of the classroom so that you, as a teacher, will have more flexibility. >> gupta: does it minimize the role of the teacher? does it make it less impactful? >> khan: no, i think it's the exact opposite. we kind of view teachers playing the role of more like a coach or a mentor, which, once again, i personally believe is a much higher valued thing than a lecturer. >> gupta: khan academy's math program is being piloted in 23 schools, mostly in california. preliminary test scores from a handful of classrooms have shown improvements, especially for students

we're brought to you today by the national education association, under president dennis vanrockle.org. we were talking in the last half hour, to jake sherman about the house, chances of democrats getting back the house and also the lack of action in the house. let's switch to the senate. nobody knows the senate better -- that's her job with the cook political report then jennifer duffy. a good friend and especially a good friend to come in this early on a monday morning. since charlotte, elizabeth warren spoke in charlotte and she and scott brown have had their first debate. how is it looks in massachusetts? >> it is interesting. we saw over the last couple of weeks democrats really starting to fret for warren's campaign. and that showed her moving ahead a little bit in the polls. it is still a very close race. she was at 50%, and then there was one for scott brown at 50%. still a very close race, scott brown needs to hold on to about 20% of democrats and right now he at about 15 or 16%. so it's a toss up. single-digit race, can't see it changing. >> bill: i should have started wit

that is not the important part of the federal government and more of a payback to the national education associationcturing jobs he is looking to create. not right to work states like florida and we remember what the administration did as far as going after boeing when they tried to open a plant in south carolina. the president said he would cut the deficit in half and what have we seen? four straight years of toil and dollar deficit of $1.2 trillion and when you look at fiscal year 2013 budget the debt that he did not talk about. you have $1.9 trillion in new taxes but it does not lower the debt. it goes to 53% growth to the federal government. the practical application speaks for itself. stuart: will you get the blame? are you going to get the blame for the 9% unemployment rate in palm beach county? >> i don't think i will get the blame for the 9% unemployment. everyone knows the house of representatives we pass 44 pieces of legislation. and regulatory policies that opened the entrepreneurship and passed legislation to get energy security going in the right direction and left a lot of moratorium's

whereas president obama, he doesn't want to get involved because of the $50 million the national education associationnt to elect them him in 2008. so the president's playing politics and in chicago they have to get down to cutting a deal. jon: peter, president obama has said to the teachers union, the national federation of teachers they have no better friend in the white house than him. is that what this is about? >> well, if i were to grade the romney campaign and their surrogates on this whole episode i could grade them an f for substance and a for effort. the fact of the matter is the administration, like other administrations will not weigh in on a union dispute in a city or a state. rahm emanuel has been running the city of chicago in a way he is making some tough budget decisions. i don't think he owes that to scott walker. that is what you do when you govern as an executive. jon: scott walker in wisconsin, -- >> let me finish. if you ask the aft and nea, teachers unions where they believe this administration has been on their positions, on their agenda, you will find some very interesting ans

so this is a very serious thing that's going on in the national education association.nd very closely aligned one to the democratic party is doing. this. >> here is a breakdown of what's happened since the the nea has made that payment. 41 articles referring to the nea and other teacher's unions. taken a favorable stance on organized labor all published articles. criticized outlets that disagreed with these articles and attacked fox news directly 29 of 41 articles. one of the interesting things is, vince. the nea made this to quote a political organization. of course media matters calls itself a charitable organization. 501 c 3 tax exempt nonprofit. are those two things at odds? >> well, i mean, they claim to be some sort of like -- first of all, they claim to be educational charitable organization. and they came to be this arbiter of objectivity that he they're out there trying to correct misinformation. when you are taking the the nea talking points and publish them on wrowrp web site. it doesn't sound like you are arbitrating anything. duplicating talking points. it'

we're not against charter schools, but the national education association. all schools to be as good as the best school. what we -- what concerns us is kind of a bait and switch. let's talk about vouchers or charter schools so we don't have to talk about class size so we don't have to talk about how are you training your teachers, so you don't have to talk about are all kids getting a broad curriculum with the arts, with literature or are you just making sure it fits on a standardized test. >> that's something you and i have had many impassioned conversation cans about this. i wonder about this choice. what is it about a piece of paper that is a charter that somehow would make the school 17% more likely to perform at a higher level. >> it doesn't. charters by themselves are not any kind of a cure-all. magic pill. but the highly performing charters, like the kip schools for instance, about 110 of them, it's the highly performing charters are schools that all schools can learn from. so what i'd like to see more of is sharing of best practices between those cha