No Child Left Behind stirring up formal resistance in several (47) states

[Algorem]

http://www.cleveland.com/search/index.ssf?/base/opinion/1124184996166990.xml?ocedu&coll=2

Tuesday, August 16, 2005

...(rebellion?)

Could be, according to a report scheduled to be released Wednesday.

The report by the Civil Society Institute, an advocacy group in Massachusetts, found stages of organized revolt in 47 states -- including Ohio -- that will most likely gain momentum during the coming school year.

The report found that legislative challenges to President Bush's far-reaching education reform law have already taken place in three states, Colorado, Connecticut and Utah. Colorado eased penalties for schools; Connecticut authorized a lawsuit and Utah authorized officials to ignore rules that conflict with its own policies.

The biggest hot spots during the coming school year? Keep an eye on Minnesota, Maine, Nevada, New Jersey and Virginia, the report says.

[rodeodance]

1. 'rote memory' teaching will bring this country down even further!!

[librechik]

11. we're fighting to keep the clock going in a forward direction

Bushies want to turn it back to the ABC Primer era.

They're just a bunch of dyslexic pantywaist bullies.

[mom cat]

2. Maybe now that famous U turn is happening...only in a better direction!

[cmd]

3. The reality is setting in

This year the good schools who have followed the formula, have increased their scores and done every thing right; are failing to meet the federal standards. When a glass is full, you can no longer pour water into it. NCLB expects you to be able to do just that. All schools eventually will fail because of the way the law is written.

[ToeBot]

4. I wouldn't take Utah's position on NCLB as much of a postive...

Utah has always been leary of federal oversight of public education. The Mormons don't like the idea of the gentiles controlling the curriculum. Indeed. one of the few times that the Mormon leadership made an official political position statement was on that very issue. (They are usually much more covert with regards to political influencing.)

[JPZenger]

5. Legal Challenge by Reading PA School District

The City of Reading, PA. School District filed a challenge last year. One of their criticisms is that they are forced to provide the test in English only, regardless of whether the student speaks any English. So, the non-English speakers spend a few hours staring at a piece of paper, get a zero, and that brings down the scores of the whole school district.

I can understand requiring students who have been in the country for a few years to take the test in English. However, if a student has been in the country for less than a year, and does not yet know English, it is ridiculous to test them in English. You are testing their ability to understand English, not their knowledge of math and ability to read.

[wtbymark]

6. By 2012 NOT ONE school in the US will be able to pass

it's their little plan to destroy public education. All the schools fail, no more funding, they close, privatised schools open.

[mopinko]

7. ding ding ding

we have a winner. either that, or we transform the whole country, including inner cities, into lake wobegone.
privatizing the schools IS what this is all about.

[central scrutinizer]

8. statistical nonsense

They mandate that students improve each year until the majority of students score above the 75th percentile!!!! That is statistically impossible and nonsensical.

[electropop]

10. Oh, that's the Lake Wobegone thing.

"All the kids are above average." Gee, perhaps the clowns who wrote No Child Left Unharmed should have taken a high school math class.

:dunce:

[Left Brain]

15. No Child Left A Dime

sad

[nyhuskyfan]

9. Brilliant Headline

Unless I missed something, there are only 50 states in the union. If 47 of them are in some stage of revolt, I think a word other than "several".

[Algorem]

13. That paper loves to slant it's headlines to favor Bush.I bet it wasn't the

columnist that wrote the headline.

[kath]

16. Yeah, the word "several" is BLATANTLY inappropriate here.

[Toots]

12. Remember this was Ted Kennedy's bill as well

I am not sure what changes were made from Kennedy's original bill but it will be hung on Kennedy as well as Bush*.

[sunnystarr]

14. If the shoe fits ... (nt)