2003 Howard Dean on NCLB... "every school in America by 2013 will be a failing school."

[madfloridian]

Looks like Congress is rather bogged down in fixing the No Child Left Behind disaster. That is scary, since by 2013 every student must have met the standards they keep changing. An impossible goal.

Howard Dean was very outspoken on this issue in 2003. He said "every school in America by 2013 will be a failing school."

He also said:

"The president's ultimate goal," said former Gov. Howard Dean (D-Vt.), one of the Democrats who now harshly attacks NCLB, "is to make the public schools so awful, and starve them of money, just as he's starving all the other social programs, so that people give up on the public schools."
Bush's Education Fraud

In 2003 Dean urged Governors to reject federal funding for NCLB

MANCHESTER, N.H. (AP) Democratic presidential hopeful Howard Dean on Sunday urged states to reject federal No Child Left Behind funding, and said he would if still governor of Vermont.

''It's going to cost them more in property taxes and other taxes than they are going to get out of it,'' Dean told The Associated Press following a campaign stop.

Earlier in the day, he told a crowd of teachers and supporters at Merrimack High School that ''Vermont would have been the first state to turn down that money'' if he still was governor.

Dean criticized President Bush, saying his administration will lower the standards for good schools in New Hampshire, making them more like poorly performing schools in Texas. The Bush administration believes ''the way to help New Hampshire is to make it more like Texas,'' Dean told supporters in Manchester, adding that ''every school in America by 2013 will be a failing school.''

''Every group, including special education kids, has to be at 100 percent to pass the tests,'' Dean said. ''No school system in America can do that. That ensures that every school will be a failing school.''

Failing to fight failure

Failing to fight failure...One year later, the No Child Left Behind Act is not meeting its goals. With expectations too high and funds too low, it may do more harm than good.

..."The federal government can declare a school “failing” if its test scores do not rise five percent every year or if certain racial groups in the school do not improve five percent each year. Under the Act, the federal government can withhold funding from any school that does not meet its standards. But most successful states rarely increase their test scores by more than one percent each year. Loveless points out, though, that threats of punishment for failure may not be taken seriously, because “quite frankly, the federal government has never cut off a state.” If the threats were carried out, though, the results would be disastrous. The low-performing schools would receive less money, as opposed to more money. Moreover, the states are being told they must revamp their entire educational structure to match the federal government’s demands. If they do not execute certain provisions of the Act, they could lose millions.

So what can be done when states say they need more money, and the federal government says that they don’t? Unfortunately, the answer looks like nothing. The No Child Left Behind Act is a flawed and dangerously optimistic piece of legislation that simply cannot succeed anywhere near expectations. Worse, it actually has the potential to disrupt the successful programs that states have created by focusing on testing, and it ignores problems such as ballooning classroom size, under-funded English as a Second Language programs, and other basic needs. Even if the Bush administration poured billions more into NCLB to support its goals, the money and wishful thinking still wouldn’t help the education system evolve into a sound model for a decade. The Act is doomed to fail because it does not consider the needs of the states and the speed at which they can institute reform."

Bush's Education Fraud

"From the start, the NCLB debates have echoed the classic American ambivalence about how much schools alone can be expected to do in closing historic achievement gaps and overcoming social and cultural disadvantages. But it has also had political overtones all its own: the belief, by some on the right, that people like Sen. Ted Kennedy (D-Mass.) signed on only to leverage more money from the federal government and would be happy to let the accountability system fade away; and the belief, in some circles on the left, that NCLB, like all accountability systems, was a conservative trick to show the schools as failures and open the door for vouchers. "The president's ultimate goal," said former Gov. Howard Dean (D-Vt.), one of the Democrats who now harshly attacks NCLB, "is to make the public schools so awful, and starve them of money, just as he's starving all the other social programs, so that people give up on the public schools."

NCLB Outrages

"The standards are so ridiculous that every single public school in America will be deemed to be a school in need of improvement or a failing school by 2013," former Vermont governor Howard Dean said in a teleconference yesterday. He said the law, which he has pledged to dismantle, was "making education in America worse, not better."

..."As governor, Dean opposed No Child Left Behind and said Vermont would have to raise $80 million more from property taxes to implement it. Yesterday, he called the law an "intrusive mandate" and said Democratic candidates who voted for it were "co-opted" by Bush's agenda, which Dean says aims to "put public schools out of business."

Eugene W. Hickok, acting US deputy secretary of education, said Dean "doesn't get it" because he comes from a small, rural state without the challenges of a diverse student population.

NCLB atrocities

"Thursday marks the two-year anniversary of President Bush's landmark education reform legislation, the No Child Left Behind Act. The law required schools, teachers, and students, under threat of federal sanctions, to meet steadily rising standards of performance as measured by regular testing, the ultimate goal being "to close the achievement gap ... so that no child is left behind." All students are supposed to be performing at grade level by 2013."

When pigs fly this will happen, which sadly is what the bill is about....failure.

Proficiency by 2013

"NCLB requires public reporting on the extent to which schools are making "adequate yearly progress" (AYP) toward the goal of having all students proficient in reading and math by the 2013-14 school year."

There will never be a time when ALL will be proficient in reading and math, not when you set one standard for all....forgetting that children are not little robots.

They are different inside, they think in unique ways. It takes a variety of methods used by a skilled teacher to reach goals of any kind....not ones that just keep on getting out of reach.

I fully believe the program was geared to failure. So did many teachers I taught with...they figured it out early on. It does not take rocket science to figure that when you label all kids alike, set the same goals for them...you will have failure.

[no_hypocrisy]

1. That's the whole point underlying NCLB: to defund public schools wholesale.

[patrice]

2. Divide and Control. nt

[waiting for hope]

3. I hate NCLB - my son

is in First Grade and they are already prepping him for the Third Grade test. It's pure and utter bullshit, he takes at least six tests a week and is having a hard time retaining what he has learned because he has to move on to learn for the next six tests.

I like Edwards plan:

Overhaul No Child Left Behind
The law must be radically changed to live up to its goal of helping all children learn at high levels, accurately identifying struggling schools, and improving them. Its sole reliance on standardized, primarily multiple choice reading and math tests has led schools to narrow the curriculum. Its methodology for identifying failing school can be arbitrary and unfair. And it imposes mandatory, cookie-cutter reforms on these schools without any evidence they work. Edwards supports:

-Better tests:Rather than requiring students to take cheap standardized tests, Edwards believes that we must invest in the development of higher-quality assessments that measure higher-order thinking skills, including open-ended essays, oral examinations, and projects and experiments.
-Broader measures of school success: Edwards believes that the law should consider additional measures of academic performance. The law should also allow states to track the growth of students over time, rather than only counting the number of students who clear an arbitrary bar, and give more flexibility to small rural schools.
-More flexibility: Edwards will give states more flexibility by distinguishing between schools where many children are failing and those where a particular group is falling behind. He will also let states implement their own reforms in underperforming schools when there is good reason to believe that they will be at least equally effective.

http://www.johnedwards.com/issues/education/education-agenda/

And that is just one small part of his education platform.

[madfloridian]

5. The sad part here in Florida...

is that two of the best schools around...magnet schools which won't keep students unless they perform well...were marked down from being A schools because they did not "improve sufficiently".

Even if you are an A school you must improve a certain percentage...trouble is there is not a way to do it.

One went from A to C because they did not get better than an A. :shrug:

I was talking to a teacher who retired recently. She says it is just terrible. Kids are so frustrated, teachers are more frustrated and parents are just angry at everyone.

I retired just as FCAT started and before NCLB. I always thought I might like to substitute when I retired. But I have not set foot back on any school campus...nor will I.

[waiting for hope]

6. My son goes to a magnet

school and they are consistently having to one up themselves over the year before. My son's own teacher hates NCLB and thinks that it's not conducive to learning. It's hitting everyone all over and until parents get mad enough, not much will change until the next President - and I'm hoping that's Edwards! ;-)

[proud2BlibKansan]

7. A true story about Bill Bennett (Reagan's Sec of Ed)

http://www.tpmcafe.com/story/2005/10/1/105329/697

(Bill Bennett) told me he would not help, because he did not want public schools to obtain new funding, new capability, new tools for success. He wanted them, he said, to fail so that they could be replaced with vouchers,charter schools, religious schools, and other forms of private education.

[madfloridian]

9. Does Bill Bennett still own that online school?

What was the name of it? K12?

Here is something about it, don't know if he still is the owner.

http://www.edu-cyberpg.com/Teachers/billbennett.html

"Just like the industrial revolution, the factory model of education is over, we all learn very differently now, and Ex Secretary of Education Bill Bennet took it to the next step. The business model

K12.com/pennsylvania
Bill teamed with a Virginia company backed by the education firm Knowledge Universe that is Michael Milikin's money to start up k12.com his home / cyber learning for profit school which is also commodisizing educational products.
Bill managed to cut a deal with the X Governor Ridge of Pennsylvania to be allowed into the state and because of his political connections has managed to secure business relationships with several other states.

Censorship / Publishers / The Money -- How to Stop Censorship in the educational system

CONTRACT: K12.COM an Internet-based elementary and secondary school providing online curriculum for families and schools, won approval for its first virtual charter school in Norristown, Pennsylvania. The company, whose chairman is former Education Secretary William J. Bennett, will receive a five-year charter to provide curriculum for and run an Internet-based Pennsylvania Virtual Charter School. "

[proud2BlibKansan]

12. Good question

Thanks for reminding me about that.

[madfloridian]

14. Aha! Being investigated by the GAO....from Media Matters 2006

"K12 Inc., a company from which Bennett resigned in the wake of the controversy over his comment, is currently part of an investigation by the Government Accountability Office (GAO), the investigative arm of Congress, which is looking into K12's involvement in a project that received an improper multimillion-dollar grant from the Department of Education during Bennett's tenure at the firm. Meanwhile, during some of his television appearances, Bennett has continued to comment on administration education policy and the No Child Left Behind Act without mentioning the grant, which was awarded while Bennett still was part of the company."
http://mediamatters.org/items/200601050002

Here's the K12 website. He used to be featured there prominently, but not now.

http://www.k12.com/

[madfloridian]

23. Can't find any updates on this investigation.

Nothing since then. Guess it went away.

[proud2BlibKansan]

57. Wow what a surprise!!

:sarcasm:

[LynneSin]

27. And he wants lobbyist money to support his mega gambling addiction

what a fucking hypocrite

[whistle]

4. This is the conservative agenda for education

[Jackpine Radical]

8. I've been meaning to say for some time how much I appreciate your threads.

This is another example.

Thanks.

[madfloridian]

10. I guess you can tell I am angry at what the Bushes have done to schools.

Jeb's legacy, George's legacy, will impact the public school system dreadfully. The law needs to be seriously changed.

Talking to teachers who are still in the classroom is so disheartening.
They feel like learning means little and tests mean everything....guess they are right.

[madfloridian]

11. More from the TAP article in the OP....pretty bad stuff.

"What makes those incentives particularly intense is that in its well-meaning attempt to make sure that no school could pass muster unless every major subgroup became proficient in reading and math, Congress created very high hurdles for many schools and districts. It meant, as many school officials vehemently complained, that some of the most highly regarded schools were suddenly in jeopardy of being labeled low performing. If a school tests less than 95 percent of its children and less than 95 percent of all major subgroups in every grade -- meeting those numbers is itself a huge challenge, especially in high schools, where even a 90 percent attendance rate is extraordinary -- and if any of those subgroups fail to make progress in both reading and math in any two succeeding years, the school and its staff get a black mark and go through a federally mandated shape-up program. The principal and teachers are then subject to reassignment after four years. (That part was already in effect, or starting, here in Florida when I retired. Now they are the point of threatening to close schools)

If making the grade is statistically tough for many schools with lots of minority students, it's almost impossible in schools with large numbers of students who arrive speaking little English. Worse, for English learners, there's a catch-22: Because those who become proficient in English -- and thus do well on tests -- are "redesignated" as "English proficient," their numbers are no longer counted in the English-learner category. California and Illinois have gotten waivers allowing them to continue to count English-learning students for three years after redesignation. But that solves only part of the statistical problem, because any school that has a rising percentage of English-learning students, as many have, will never be able to show progress in that category. "It feels like you're being set up," said a veteran school administrator and federal official who is now a superintendent in a large city with a mushrooming immigrant population."

http://www.prospect.org/cs/articles?article=bushs_education_fraud

Yes, to that school administrator, you ARE being set up.

[AdHocSolver]

13. Maybe this crisis will enable serious study of US education, the quality of which has deteriorated..

for decades. I say this as a former student, a former teacher, and a parent of children who went through the "system".

The thrust of education the past fifty plus years has been to turn out minions to staff the corporate cubicles. The emphasis was always on getting good grades so you can get a good job and live the good middle class life. If any actual learning took place, it was merely coincidental.

As long as jobs were plentiful and the schools and colleges graduated adequately trained workers, conditions were considered rosy and everything was good. However, these days the corporations can't off-shore jobs fast enough. There is no need to spend our tax dollars on schools since there are no jobs for a majority of the graduates anyway. Better save the money and give it to the corporations in boondoggles, no-bid contracts, and corporate welfare.

But, you can't just honestly tell the public that their kids don't need an education since there are no jobs for them when they graduate anyway. It is time for another "blame the victim" ruse. Make it impossible for their kids to graduate by giving them impossible testing to overcome and you have the perfect excuse to deny them money for education since they cannot seem to learn anything anyway.

[madfloridian]

15. This "blaming" started years ago....maybe the Reagan years.

I remember we were talking after school about all this stuff we were reading about kids not getting good education. Of course they were getting good educations.

I believe TPTB actually starting the talking points that schools were not working to discredit them. Many of us believed that years ago.

If something is not working, you can soon do away with it. That was the beginning of the end. Only we did not realize it then.

[OzarkDem]

19. Good points

About 12 years ago, there was a big push in our GOP controlled state to focus on splitting students and curriculum into even more drastic "worker bee" categories.

They wanted to take all the kids who didn't score high on their crummy, poorly designed state proficiency tests and put them into classes that only prepared them to work in blue collar jobs and service sector jobs. In essence they wanted to determine a student's future career path while they were still in middle school, never giving them the opportunity to learn more than specialized courses that focused on skills for lower level jobs in manufacturing,food preparation, restaurant management, hair styling, lower level health care jobs, etc. Those kids would never be given a choice in their education or the chance to learn more about science, math, literature, music, nothing.

Even the school administrators, principals, AND teachers were pushing this. Many of the jobs they wanted to train students for have since been shipped overseas.

The mentality still exists in our upper middle class school district, though today they even ignore the students who don't conform to their idea of good student performance in class. Regardless of how well students score on standardized tests, they'll often relegate them to the "tech school" programs to teach them skills for restaurant work, etc.

Ohio's education system sucks from top to bottom.

[killbotfactory]

16. A dumb idea, executed poorly

Just like the Iraq war... I'm beginning to see a trend.

[madfloridian]

28. You are right.

Definitely a pattern of dumb things poorly executed. :think:

[DCKit]

17. 30 more yeers of these....

And * will go down in histronics as teh bestestest, smartist pResidunt EVUR!!!

Watch the movie "Idiocracy" and tell me he's not stamped ALL OVER IT. The whole thing was filmed in "BOOSH" vision.

[LynneSin]

18. Dean is right - that's the entire plan of NCLB and the repukes will have succeeded

Make a school program that is so fricking unattainable for most schools to achieve that eventually the entire public school system will collapse under the sheer dead weight of this program.

Who will benefit - wealthy children whose parents can pay to put their kids into any school.

Another benefactor - religious nutjobs who will somehow manage to sweep in and easily secure federal funding to so-call "clean-up" this mess. And then provide a substandard education where we stupify our children with such profoundly dumb ideas like creationism and astinence while convincing children that women deserve no choice in their bodies. (BTW - I am a Christian and I find these religious nutjobs offensive).

The real losers - children from middle incomes and lower who will have little educational choices and fall further behind.

[madfloridian]

20. I can't help but compare the NCLB program to what is going on in Florida now

about evolution. The state wants to put in the standards that evolution must be taught alone in science class. They are having the fight of their lives, and may be kept from doing it.

Here is a picture that speaks to where we are in education here now, and it speaks to the religious folks you mention. The mrjority of the board are against teaching evolution, two will obey the state law though they support creationism, and one has no clue.



The article about it.

http://journals.democraticunderground.com/madfloridian/1655

[LynneSin]

26. I have 3 words to say about that

Dover School Board

What was nice about Dover was that the new people who were elected actualy were not all anti-creation but said that creation should be something taught in ELECTIVE classes, not standard classes.

Most of them ran because they were pissed at the amount of tax dollars being spent by the Dover School Board to support the pro-creation program

[prairierose]

21. There are actually two goals to the...

"every child left behind" legislation. One is to destroy the public schools so that they can be "privatized" as the neocon's plan for everything. Destroy government.

The other is to transfer as much money from the public purse into the bank accounts of neocon friends. The tests the schools must buy and administer come from a neocon company. The education software that is so highly recommended comes from Neil Bush's little company (Saudi funded). Many of the religious schools that would benefit from school vouchers....The list goes on and on.

It is the same with all of their programs. Destroy the public program that actually works and in the meantime use it to move as much taxpayer money as possible into the hands of cronies.

[Cha]

34. neil bush? Is it his company that

sell the tests?

Let's imagine the neofascists only making government bad enough that no one will vote repulicon ever again.

[prairierose]

54. No that is a different neocon company..

Neil Bush's company sells education software. I can't remember the name offhand but reviews that I read last year said it was not really very effective software.

[madfloridian]

56. It's called Ignite....and the software has a name like COW or something.

And I understand he has well benefitted from his brother's educational experiments.

[madfloridian]

22. Great letter to Sun Sentinel about dangers of FCAT and NCLB

http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/opinion/sfl-brmail980sbnov19,0,2719402.story

"This multibillion-dollar albatross created by ignorant politicians has left educators, parents and students in a state of total befuddlement.

What many do not realize is NCLB was not created to improve learning or help equality. It was created for one sole purpose — to privatize public schools! The Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test is helping this along. Example: Students in public schools are "categorized" into subgroups. Kids who have trouble reading at grade level or performing adequately at math. There might be a plethora of reasons why: don't speak the language, learning disabilities, processing problems. NCLB does not care! If any one of those subgroups fails for any reason, the entire school is labeled as a failure!

Imagine, if you will, your boss setting a quota for output. You're a good worker and want to please your boss, so you work your tail off, and wow, you reach your goal. Wait a minute, your boss says, that was too easy. Let's set the goal higher.

..."Next day, the same etc., etc., etc. Get the picture? Sorry, you're fired!

This is what FCAT/NCLB does each year. No educator really knows what the test will be like or what score our politicians will set for them next. The idiots running the show get to make up new rules and change the game any time they wish!"

[madfloridian]

58. Yep...it's called COW

http://www.forbes.com/2007/01/27/neil-bush-education-lead-citizen-cx_atg_davos07_0127cows.html

[LWolf]

24. I would like to see this discussion have more prominence

in both primary and general election campaigns. It's a bigger issue, imo, than most of the rest, sharing equal priority with war, health care, NAFTA, vote count integrity, and a fairness doctrine.

Of course, I'm a teacher. Some of us have been saying exactly this since BEFORE the 2000 selection and NCLB; those of us from the states that incubated the early state models.

Still, even here at DU it gets almost no play at all. Take a look at this thread, posted earlier this week, and the valiant attempts to kick it up for discussion; it took 3 days of kicking to get anyone else to step in to say even a few words:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=132x3747057

[madfloridian]

25. Thanks for that link. I missed that post. People better get aware quickly.

I left school on the day I retired and never looked back. This agenda was pushed in early on in Florida because of Jeb. But all the teachers who thought he was equal to Jesus then are cursing him now.

I hate to say I told you so....

I was so alone in being a Democrat among teachers. That in itself was an amazing thing to me.

The GOP pushed their agenda so amazingly well...I must give them credit. They have done so with the complicity of many Democrats who should be ashamed.

[cgrindley]

29. I disagree

NCLB is not a uniquely American phenomenon. Standardized testing programs similar to it have been in place in Canada and the UK for decades and decades. These are good things and we NEED children to have base levels of knowledge. We also need to have the government through standardized testing provide at least 50% of a child's grade for a course so that we can ensure that nothing untoward is occurring in the classroom--eg it was found in British Columbia that boys were being more or less punished by their teachers and given much lower classroom grades than they managed on standardized tests. Likewise, we need safeguards against grade inflation. We need to know that an A is indeed an A (even with the ridiculously easy nature of the NCLB instruments). If schools won't or can't meet these humble targets, then they should be closed and reorganized.

Yes. Children should be treated like "little robots" in as much as we need to recognize the overwhelming need for a minimum level of basic programming. We need to know that children are capable of discrete and quantitative skills. That they have certain definite abilities. That they know certain facts and are equipped for a life time of learning.

If they are passed along--some stupid, pointless, dumb as shit social promotion nonsense--then they merely are set up for a far more profound and lasting level of failure. For you know what happens when those ill-educated children try to go to college? They get instantly and unceremoniously flunked out.

Stop coddling administrators, teachers and students. Hold the system to at least a minimum standard. It works in other parts of the world and it will work here.

[madfloridian]

30. That is NOT what NCLB is about.

This paragraph of yours.

"Yes. Children should be treated like "little robots" in as much as we need to recognize the overwhelming need for a minimum level of basic programming. We need to know that children are capable of discrete and quantitative skills. That they have certain definite abilities. That they know certain facts and are equipped for a life time of learning."

They got that and real quality thinking before this fiasco called NCLB came along.

You need to do some research. Teachers do rote skills along with other thinking skills, and a good teacher knows what her student knows.

[cgrindley]

32. No, they really didn't

anecdotally at least, I have seen a remarkable collapse of basic skills here in the states at least since the early 1990s (regardless of SAT scores remaining more or less stagnant). There has to be a way to better police student performance standards as the old way simply did not work. Education really has to be subject to aggressive federal regulations and standardized tests are the most reasonable way to achieve this. And as far as the theory of it all goes, assessment is not going to go away. It won. I want and need to be able to trust student abilities and I want and need to know exactly what their grades mean.

[madfloridian]

38. Why do you think I want assessment to go away?

I don't. Not reasonable assessment.

I did not post just opinion...you are not paying attention, just spouting your own rhetoric.

[cgrindley]

41. Yeah... all of those are opinion pieces

even Minnesota's is a statement of opinion--and it also "embraces" certain aspects of NCLB.

If you're not against assessment--and let's be clear here, that means assessment used as a tool to monitor school performance and punish or reward good or bad schools--then what exactly are you against?

[madfloridian]

46. Right now, sir, I am against anything you are for.

Your arrogance is unbelievable and insulting.

Guess what I do when people are just insulting because they can be? Bye.

[cgrindley]

49. So you don't support nationalized education?

you don't support public assistance? you don't support taxing the snot out of the rich? you don't support free health care for everyone? you don't support the Democrats? So why are you here?

[madfloridian]

31. You don't even realize it is not about testing.

I gave standardized tests all my years of teaching. We always have.

The difference this time is the "meant to fail" agenda.

I posted many references....and few doubt that agenda anymore. You need to get up to date before you rip teachers and students and speak of coddling.

God, that makes me furious.

[cgrindley]

33. Hmmm

I wouldn't call any of what you posted anything other than opinion. At the very least, my opinion is no less valid.

Unless you were administering the APs or SATs or ACTs or other such national instruments, you were not giving standardized tests. I guess I could concede that a fair enough standardized test in my books would be one that is the same at least for every single student in a given State at a given grade level. My apologies if you were in fact giving those sorts of tests.

And yes, social promotion was "coddling". Grade retention is sometimes necessary.

[madfloridian]

35. Why are you talking about social promotion?

The NCLB is so much more than that.

You really are being unreasonable about this.

I resent the way you are just assuming teachers and students are "bad" until proven "good" by Bush's NCLB.

Now that is really pathetic.

[cgrindley]

37. Sorry

I don't trust any high school grades that are not validated by a standardized test. I'm not assuming that things are "bad" no more than I am assuming that things are "good". Unless a standardized test is involved, we do not know for sure what the performance was.

[madfloridian]

43. I had given two standardized tests a year every year I taught.

The ones you mentioned are for high school, and there are others for elementary school....also standardized.

You can say all you want that we were not already given standardized tests, but you are not telling the truth.

When education becomes nothing but testing, which is what you want....then there is no education...just rote learning.

[cgrindley]

45. Rote learning is good

Kids need a background of raw knowledge. Critical thinking skills can come later. Basics first. Everyone has to go to college after all.

[ulysses]

36. you write of "the ridiculously easy nature of the NCLB instruments"

What, pray, are the NCLB instruments? What is their nature?

[cgrindley]

40. Are you being serious? You don't know?

are you asking me for information? you wanna see some standardized test questions from the National Center for Education Statistics?

http://nces.ed.gov/nationsreportcard/itmrls/

[ulysses]

42. I'm quite serious.

You seem to be under the impression that NCLB comes with a standard set of assessment materials. I'd like to know what they are.

[cgrindley]

44. I'm under no such impression

it's a fragmented system. I did provide you a good link for some of the questions currently in use around the US. Follow the link.

[ulysses]

47. ok, I understand you now. next question:

I teach students who recieve special education services, and recently had a child whose IQ measured below 50. However, because her functional skills are high, she had to be considered "mildly intellectually disabled" and tested on the same standardized test as a child who functions in the average range (85-115). Her score counted toward the school's adequate yearly progress report.

Is the test "ridiculously easy" for her? Is it fair to her to be stubbornly "exposed" to pre-algebra when she can't add, because she'll be tested on pre-algebra and not addition?

[cgrindley]

48. Sorry about the system's failures but I'm not responsible

nor do I have special education students. My heart goes out to you. I would imagine though, that if we win the election, the system will be fine tuned and situations like the one you described will no longer be an issue. NCLB or something like it won't go away though. It really is a good idea.

[ulysses]

50. wow.

Glad you've washed your hands of what you support. I'm sorry you don't feel as if you have a stake in the future of my students. They may be your neighbors some day. And don't bet on the fine tuning, either.

[cgrindley]

51. I'm not washing my hands of it

it clearly shouldn't apply to your students. Your students, however, are not in my realm of experience. I'm not qualified to talk about them. Literally speaking, I don't have a stake in their future education.

And I'm willing to trust that either a Clinton or an Obama administration will fine tune the system.

[ulysses]

52. I would disagree about your stake in their education.

These aren't kids whose future is in an institution. You probably run into folks like them every day and don't even realize it.

re: Clinton or Obama - they're both sitting in the Senate. Let's ask them why they aren't moving on making changes to NCLB this year instead of waiting.

[cgrindley]

53. Neither Clinton nor Obama

commanded a healthy legislative majority nor had the political clout of the executive branch.

[ulysses]

55. they have a majority

and the legislation is before the Congress, not the President.

[KoKo]

39. I don't think this will be an issue...having watched CNN where 'Suckers"

and "Dudes" ...and "ooooh...oooh man what ARE they thinkin'" ,etc...are the NEWSpeak...it would seem to me that Natalie Holloway and JIVE TALK...are just what all of us are speaking these days.

With Computers why do our kids even need to go to 'Formal School' these days? After all...our "P-Resident" is barely literate...and lookie 'he's actually P-Resident!'

I don't think all that formal education is relevant these days. Slopping burgers or throwing Chicken on a grill and pouring over a "microwaved" processed sauce from giant food processing, restauranteer SYSCO SYSTEMS and the various Agribusiness HOG and Poultry Farms that provide the Fast Food these days doesn't take alot of intellectual stimulation. One just needs to know the "Timing" to get it on the grill and pour the sauce...and after working 12 hours go home and try to be kind to family for an hour...go to bed...get up and start the process all over again. It's the NEW AMERICAN WAY for MOST FAMILIES!