Blueprint for ‘No Child Left Behind’ Overhaul Headed to the Hill Monday

Awww look, they gave him a “halo”.

He needs to stick with one major problem at a time. Healthcare and The Economy. Since they are laying off teachers and closing schools all over the place I feel many kids are getting left behind. So are adults. This is the worst mess I have seen in my lifetime and I will be making better decisions on who represents me in Washington from now on. Disgusting.

“Through this plan we are setting an ambitious goal: All students should graduate from high school prepared for college and a career – no matter who you are or where you come from,” Obama said in his weekly address.
Wow, is THIS ever going to cheese off the Republicans!

Gee, who is going to be plumbers, electricians, mechanics, cooks?

No child left behind, isn’t that another Bush/Cheaney disaster started but never funded or properly implimented? The republicans seem to be proficient at leaving huge messes for the democrats to clean up and then you blame them and reselect another republican moron to creat another disaster for you to cry about. You did this and you deserve the spoils of you stupidity. You were warned but you failed to heed those warnings.

Bush’s “No Child Left Behind” also means “No Child Move Forward”. That is why most 3rd graders in U.S. are still using fingers to count while Asian countries 3rd graders can solve division problem in their head.

Every knows education is necessary part of our life. Then why are so many schools closing around the country? I high school closed (it was on the news) and now those student have NO where to go. And they want an education.

Every major government program has unintended consequences. They should all be rationalized periodically. Just as entitlement programs created generational poverty in the inner cities; Clinton’s ‘Affordable Housing’ initiative created a housing bubble that imploded when teaser rates on 3-,5-,and 7- year ARMs expired; NAFTA increased illegal immigration; C4C stripped poor people of a supply of used cars. It should tell us something about major Healthcare legislation.

Education is a states rights issue. The federal governernment should repeal the “no child left behind” and close the federal Dept of Ed. Then there would be less money needed by the federal and more available back in the pockets of the people. Teach reading, writing, arithmetic and the golden rule and you will preserve the American culture.

I agree, Jane. The job market has been skewed by labor monopolies to the point that I would have been far better off had I not gotten a Masters in Engineering. Perhaps a high school education and a tow motor certification would have served me better. Tells ya what we value and why we are no longer the innovators. Another hot button should be that we graduate 3 times the number of non-value-adding lawyers than doctors in this country.

You are correct: lots of stuff on the table now (health care, economy, Joe Bidden), but Debb is correct: many states lack the funding for schools and schools are being closed due to funds. In my state, Indiana, schools are being asked to cut even more out of their operating budget (aka Salaries and programs). Schools are not overspending in any means and now we are being asked to do more with less (with no hope that what is cut will be replaced).
So, is it an issue: yes. You almost wonder if schools should be returned to the local communities because once an outside “measurement” is enforced, that measurement is already treating all students as “equal” and not all students are equal.

“No child left behind” I’m a Bush supporter but not a support on this law. I see too many kids on a daily basis pushed through school not getting the need basic skills to succeed, due to this “No child left behind”, go back to the old way if a kid doesn’t get it the first time then retain him/her until he/she does, teach them, quite having students graduate who can’t do basic math or read a textbook designed for the 6th grade. Untie the teachers hands, if a student is disruptive to the class, let it be handled then and there. I agree with the comment first teach reading, writing, math and the Golden Rule, then the rest will fall into place.

Why is “education” so sacred? Sure the three R’s are nice but, putting many kids in debt, dwindling fish stocks (dead zones) and depleted water is a BIG problem. Much of our “education” does not adress these issues and we continue on a destructive path.

As an ex-teacher, I know that the No Child Left Behind policy is absolutely absurd. I taught 3rd grade in North Carolina for many years, and in schools with highly disadvantaged children. Out of 20 students, for example, 5 of them may be on or above grade level. The other 15 were often 1 to 3 grade levels behind. Every year each of my students showed significant growth – sometimes as much as two years growth in one academic year – including students with learning disabilities, speech problems, among other disadvantages like coming from single-parent homes, low income/high crime communities, and lack of parental care or involvment. Yet, it was my fault when less than 70% of my students couldn’t pass the standardized test to go to the 4th grade. Education policy needs to account for growth, and quit insisting that all students are the same simply because they are the same age. They are not in the least. I was an excellent teacher – rookie teacher of the year for my school my first year teaching, my principal and peer evaluations were almost always perfect, and I was grade level chairperson my third year teaching. I know many teachers like myself who went (and still go) over and beyond school and district requirements to give the highest quality education and experiences to their students, all within a 7 or 8 hour school day, working as much as 60 to 70 hours a week (when pay is based on 35 hours a week), and yet the government still puts the blame on teachers when their students can’t pass a ridiculous test at the end of the year. Education, to be successful, needs to be holistic – involving parents, students, and the community, as well as teachers and school administrators. The government needs to recognize and accept the fact that not all students are the same, that many, many are at great risk due to many factors stemming from their family backgrounds, and very often come to school lacking even the most basic of skills. The government needs to quit evaluating teacher progress year to year, when each new batch of students is different from the last. The focus of education policy must be placed upon on individual student progress. It also needs to recognize and accept that there are many different ways for students to demonstrate progress other than standardized tests (not everyone is a good test taker…we all know that). All teachers know that growth can be documented through many different methods. Let teachers do what they do best – educate. When a significant number of students in a classroom fail to show significant INDIVIDUAL growth, THEN question the teacher. And the keyword here is “individual”.

have his mind-numbed automatons yet realized that obama’s change actually means “overhauling” EVERYTHING about this country? it has become quite apparent that obama believes that every essential facet of this nation is wrong or broken and needs to be completely changed into something that would reflect his image of america? folks, we elected a demagogue to the presidency, one who clearly envisions himself an absolutist leader.

Edumacator– While you may be correct, you have to remember that with over 1 billion citizens, the Chinese can afford to send less engineers to college, while still outperforming us.

it’s kind of funny that, until obama began to critize NCLB, noone on the left criticized it during the last year. in fact, i have even heard some educators now praise the standards…even though they bashed them as the most incidious plot in history during the bush administration. the education “establishment” is one of the most ideologically corrupt and intellectually dishonest groups in the
country. and i say this from experience…having spent most of the last 20 years in academia.

There is ABSOLUTELY NO, NO, NO relationship between the federal gov and student successes. EVER SINCE THE FED GOT INVOLVED IN EDUCATION – TEST SCORES HAVE GONE SOUTH!!!! Retired parochial and public elementary teacher.

No child left behind? The federal government has been or will continue to be the reason why we have a failed educational systems. anything the government touches had been mediocre or failure.
I think the parents should start demanding the federal government to butt off. Parents could choose the right education of their children through private school. Stop wasting tax money for fund failed public school.
i would rather see our tax money go to private school of our choice. the public school system of America is dead!!!!!!!.
98% of our top political leaders send their kids to private school because the policy they push for public school were meant for votes and political motives…
I’m not rich and yet I was able to put my kids in private school because of determination and principle.
WAKE UP AND SMELL THE COFFEE

Did anyone else notice the subliminal “halo” above President Obama?

please Obama spare us from your terrible plans…..again!!!!…
If there is such thing as Midas touch, this Obama is the equivalent to Kiss of Death…

We definitely need to increase voc-ed; lots of high school kids have no interest in history or Hemingway. We should also LOWER the mandatory attendance age to 15. This will reduce discipline problems and court cases (at my school, we have a full-time employee making $60k whose only job is to attend truancy court). And we should have a No Pass/No Play policy – if a high school student fails to pass a majority of classes (50%?)he should not be allowed a free education.

A presidential decree should grant all American citizens a high school diploma. They will then be eligible to enter college. Our nation will then take the world leadership in promoting higher education. It will be the task of the colleges to educate and turn out millions of bright mathematicians and scientists. No child will be left behind except those that refuse to take advantage of this golden opportunity.

Historically no matter how much money taxpayers poor into education it has never made it any better. Private schools have the incentive, because of competition, to outperform Government (Public) Schools – don’t believe, look up the actual studies done.

NCLB is a joke! My son was bringing home A’s and B’s in most of his subjects and there were no problems brought up in parent-teacher conferences, but something just didn’t seem right. So prior to his entering the 4th grade I went online to see what level he should be at. He wasn’t even able to pass 2nd grade Math! I confronted his teacher who told me “He’s doing the best he can, so we have to pass him.” That’s not acceptable to me. So needless to say from that moment on I have Homeschooled my child-and I have him do it until he passes. My child will not be left behind.

WHEN WILL HE WORK ON THE WARS, HOMELAND SECURITY, CREATING JOBS, LESS SPENDING, LOWER TAXES, ETC.??? This week, Obama told a fundraising audience in St. Louis that “it’s nice to get out of Washington.” WHAT???–He spent his first year in office JOY-RIDING to FOREIGN countries — many times with his family — at our expense. He made more foreign trips during his first year (10 trips involving stops in 21 nations) than any U.S. president before him. Now, with the fate of HCR, the Campaigner-In-Chief is visiting American cities to ram Obamacare down our throats. This is the most corrupt administration in American history.

I’m a full-fledged conservative and a high school math and science teacher. I teach at a highly successful public school. Despite these facts, I’ll be the first to say that NCLB, while well-intended, is impractical and misguided. Do yourself and a favor and read the first few posts on this blog. Then go out and do some research on the fine print regarding what NCLB considers “progress”. Pay special attention to the details on what they call “subgoups”. After this it will be difficult to justify supporting its continuance. I’m not familiar with the details of Obama’s new proposal, so I’ll hold my judgement until I am. I’d just like to finish by asking my fellow conservatives to get all of their facts straight before blindly attacking the dismissal of NCLB. It’s great to support teacher, student, and parent accountability, as I do. But you really don’t want to go down with that sinking ship, which supports these ideals only in theory rather than in practical implementation.

Will, give a few bullet points, please, that illustrate the failings of NCLB. Thanks!

All of you posters do one thing for me. Read through these posts and denote the informed and educated ones versus the ones that are full of “cynicism, distrust of government and just plain negativity”. LOL…And we wonder why we are no longer the “United” States of America. The “conservative, narrow minded propaganda machine” of the last twenty five years or so has really done a “job” on the narrow minded and less educated segments of our society – hasn’t it?

Will, it sounds like you’re saying we need to ignore the 11 who fail. If so, then yes, I can see why you’re at odds with the concept of no child left behind, and with accountability in general. For my part, I believe the 11 who failed have just as much right to an education as the 39 who passed — regardless of what subgroup they are in. And when we stop caring about those 11, then whether you want to admit it or not, we stop caring about the 39 who passed. No child left behind means exactly that: every child counts.

NCLB has been a TOTAL FAILURE for this Country since President Bush signed the thing into law. Our children are not just let down by a system that doesn’t prepare them well for either attending a higher education but sometimes life as well. I also put the blame not just at the feet of the states and educators, but us parent’s. Why? Because as the generations have grown up in the system, that have lost monies to fund schools because people don’t like paying taxes that school’s used to get their funding from at one time. I live in a small community that because the parent’s care about the quality of our children’s education we renewed a $1.50 per $1,000 on property taxes last year. To raise money for art’s programs we have a concert series that brings in to music artist such as Michael McDonald or Hal Ketchum to perform with our students. We have classes that my son at another school never had, like Chinese Language, taught by a retired executive that if the kid’s that take this full course will be able to challenge it for a language college requirement. This is just one example. We have a zero drop out rate as well. So when parent’s like to blame the educators they also need to turn the mirror on themselves and take some of that financial responsibility.

Constance, I’m not sure what you’re trying to say other than gifted students are short-changed in schools. Your rambling essay, your citation of studies that are decades old, and use of sentences like “our new goal for our intellectual capital is pressing it through” left me with tired head. And for the life of me I can’t find a definition for “lusory.” So, are you for educational reform, or are you against?

I work in education. Yes, we have “data” now, and due to the big test, then the pretest, on target tests, and post test, we know what each child is achieving. However, I feel we are overlooking several details. First, educators have no control over the child’s homelife, which definitely affects their tests. If they are wondering where they will spend the night that night, or what they will eat, or where mom or dad were, our test is not likely to mean alot to them. Also, we test everyone. Special education students, who are educated on their ability level under IDEA, are TESTED on their grade level, under NCLB. Also, we are compared to other countries based on “scores”, and usually fail to measure up. We are one of the only countries in the world who educate and test EVERYONE. Most of the countries we are compared to separate their students into education or work tracks at a relatively early age. I don’t know the answers, but encouraging and challenging students in vocational or functional programs, in addition to academic makes more sense to me.

Historically no matter how much money taxpayers poor into education it has never made it any better.
Posted by: ThomasJeffersonLives | Mar 13, 2010 11:18:39 AM
Absolutely correct. As the old saying goes, you can lead a horse to water, but you can’t make him drink. One of THE main problems in our schools today that no amount of money is going to take care of is lack of interest in getting an education by the students. Just take a look at what they are exposed to everyday… the conveniences of life without the work. These kids thrive on American Idol, reality shows, overpaid sports ‘heroes’, and so on. They live in a society that values what ever ‘talent’ you have (or don’t have in some cases) more than a well rounded educational background. Who needs to learn anything when you can be a bimbo, get on TV, do your bimbo reality show, and make a fortune? Who needs to learn anything when you can pass a football, or throw a baseball and make a fortune? Who needs to learn anything when you can get onstage, possibly make an idiot of yourself by NOT being able to sing, and STILL make money? Not to mention some of these kids live in areas of crime, drugs, pimps, murderers, etc. and have no interest in school. They see the drug king down the street being treated like a king, and a bank account to match. They know of someone who makes a living off stealing and other crimes.
And then, of course, you have the distractions in the classrooms everyday that constantly draw the attention away from the chalkboard/computer and down to the ipod, cell phone, iphone, etc. they are holding in their hands. I heard about an alarming statistic the other day on a radio program that said the instance of taking ‘inappropriate’ photos of oneself and sending them to boyfriends is almost 1 in 6 girls UNDER the age of 15. Which leads to the next problem…discipline.
Does anyone remember when you messed up and got paddled? Sent to the principal’s office? Cracked on the knuckles with a ruler? Sat in the corner? I do. But not anymore. Discipline is a dying breed. Too many lawsuits and ‘therapists’ telling us that discipline ‘scars’ the students in psychological ways. Really? I’m not saying teachers/principals should have the right to beat a child. That would be insane! But a little correction never killed anybody and now more than ever is very, very necessary.
Unless all this money being pumped in is somehow going to change the mindset of people toward education, I’m not so sure I back it completely.

Good for you Jackie, if more parents would get involved in their childrens school and homework and not just look upon the school as babysitters and make sure that the teach the children the 3 R’s then it would be better for everyone.

Ha-ha, walter, yes, my point exactly. The same points made over decades are not taken up. American superiority in education is a pretty lie; our own federal studies say we’ve been waddling to catch up since Sputnik. As to “lusory,” the WIKI definition is adequate; but basically, “accepting an artificial constraint to play a game.” As to “for or agin’” educational reform; of course an EASA budget will be issued, and there are changes, some positive and some negative, and NCLB will be gone, no matter what foot-dragging you are doing. Thanks for responding.

After decades of starving the educational system of funding, does anyone think that imposing more rules is going to help?
Why should kids do well in school if they aren’t going to be able to afford college?

In The seventies I taught in an inner city ethnic Catholic elementary school. Forty-five kids in each class. If there was any problem, the problem was taken care of THAT NIGHT. Those kids went on to college and careers and are leading productive lives. Until those days come back through morality and religion. FORGET IT. WHY WASTE MORE MONEY ON A DYING BREED?? FED GOV in educatION – more bull!!

My personal belief is that the focus on standardized testing is wrong. We need to focus on fundamentals such as reading, spelling, mathematics..
I wonder if the money spent is more to support the school’s vendors and employees than to educate the students.

Dontget: your comment carries an error in logic – namely, that standardized testing and fundamentals (reading, writing, math) are mutually exclusive. They’re not. You can have both. I think it’s likely you don’t understand the role of standardized testing. A test is standardized because it measures academic achievement against a standard. And a standard is a level of achievement that a wide body of academics agree is a realistic target for a particular grade level.
Let’s say a school focuses on teaching fundamentals, just like you want. Let’s say you are paying tuition for your children to attend that school. Wouldn’t you want to know that your children are learning the fundamentals you value? Of course you would. You’d want to make sure that if nothing else, you’re at least getting your money’s worth. You’d ask for test results, right? And what if the school produced test results for your children with good grades on them? Good, right? But what would you do if you examined the test and saw that the hardest question on your 5th grader’s math test was “what is the sum of 5 + 5?” Bet that would get your attention! See the point? Any school can make their own test scores look good. That’s why you need standardized testing that is professionally constructed to measure performance against a standard.
If you take away standardized testing, you’ll never know whether your children are getting an education that will allow them to compete for college and, more importantly, jobs.

jobs…jobs

“My personal belief is that the focus on standardized testing is wrong. We need to focus on fundamentals such as reading, spelling, mathematics..
I wonder if the money spent is more to support the school’s vendors and employees than to educate the students.”
Spending money… More on “Edumakation” each year and test scores still go down.

jobs…jobs
Posted by: catman | Mar 13, 2010 3:59:31 PM
catman, what do you want the President to do to get jobs besides the usual Republican mantra of tax cuts? If he ordered the Federal government to produce jobs, you people would have a hissy fit. How about demanding the banks that received bailouts do what they can to start lending or helping small business owners to expand their hiring? What about those that received the Bush tax cuts weren’t they somehow going to benefit us all by producing jobs? How about asking what your Governors, Mayors or State Senators and Representatives are doing to create jobs in their states. Why must you people blame the President for something he has no real control of. How about stop whining about President Obama and start demanding that your Senator and Representatives begin to work with this President rather than working to destroy him at the cost of destroying our country.

as always, the real danger to any educational reforms in America is what’s happening in Texas with their ‘new’ need for selective textbooks featuring christian/conservative revisionism of US History.
These idiots in Texas are as great a threat to the US as any we face, as they will doom the upcoming generations to repeating the same american mythology that led Bush to invade Iraq and claim that ‘intelligent design’ is science.

catmom….i am an independent. if it were me running the show. our streets and highways would b paved in gold for all the money wasetd to date. nuclear power plants, many not one but many, would be started . the levee system in louisanna would be fixed, dams in california would be raised and elsewhere, oil exploration would be increased domestically, anything that illegals do would also be turned over to americans, then i would start thinking about some green jobs. i would legalize pot immeadiately, tax it and reduce prison size as a result. then if there is anything left over i would entertain some of the utopian dream projects that we currently put in front of the logical choices.thats what i would do.instead of giving money away build something or fix something…its not tooo difficult.

the key too education is discipline at home pure and simple. if mom and dad or mom and mom or dad and dad or whatever you got going on do not demmand effort from their children nothing will happen. teachers are somewahat hammstrung by the talent they have to work with. rarely does the apple fall far from the tree. we are asking teachers to do the immpossible and no amount of money can fix it. its all at home.

I’m hoping this reform passes. Something has to be done with our educational system, with almost 30% of our kids not graduating high school.
While I admire teachers for the difficult job they do, their unions have made it too difficult to fire bad teachers. My 3 kids have had a few great teachers, some good ones, some poor teachers and a few damaging ones. When you multiply the effect one bad teacher does in their career, 30 or more years times 20 children a year, the loss is tremendous. I’ve seen confident kids reduced to shy, unmotivated, or angry children after a school year with a bad teacher. This is too great a loss for our society, as well as for those kids.
Surely there must be a way to fire incompetent teachers in a fair way. There was a story in the news that there are ‘rubber rooms’ in n.y.c. where dozens of bad or predatory teachers sit daily, with full pay for years. They aren’t safe to be around kids but their tenure protects them. This is a huge financial drain. Even in our small town there was one middle school teacher who kept touching kids. They actually assigned a paid ‘assistant’ to remind him not to and if he did to write down notes! And yes, he had tenure. There isn’t any other job that has so much protection for incompetence.

If standardized tests were produced by the federal government and were not dumbed down by respective states, it would be interesting to see how the states would compete to produce results…

catman, I disagree that local school boards having the power to fire would be the answer. In our town, they have too much power and are inept. For instance, the school board gets to pick the texts to be purchased. They go against the recommendations of the teachers and even the department heads of the high schools. One school board member was overheard saying she chose a history book because it had a lot of photos and she likes books like that. Even though the history teachers found it poorly written, they are now stuck teaching with it for the next 6 years.
I think firing could be handled with a system of a few warnings and then a hearing with a union rep and the superintendent, as well as hard evidence and witnesses.

obama really has spread himself way to thin. he cant finish anything, and he really cant do more than one thing at a time. the country is SCREAMING jOBS JOBS JOBS, not all of this if we were rich ideas.

local schoolboards need more authority
Posted by: catman
where I live in Pa, the local school board does whatever it wants, as we have no vote for what they authorize and want budget wise, plus they keep on building and raising taxes in an area with no businesses to support the increased taxes, so the residents are bled to death with increasing school and property taxes.

It’s so nice to have a President that can actually do 2 things at once. And he pronounces things correctly, too! I couldn’t help notice all the idiots that didn’t read the article, just posted crap about Obama, they just couldn’t resist saying something BAD, just had to insult his ideas….by-the-way…what was your ideas?

We are teaching to the test! Everything is geared towards benchmarks, that do not accurately assess our students’ learning. The students are tested so frequently that they no longer see a purpose in testing and therefore, do not try. Over testing our children is not going to fix the problems in our education system.
We need to change a culture! Performing well is no longer “cool” and children leave school to a home that does not support their education, nor protect them from criminal activity that offer a “quick fix” to financial struggles. The truth is, we are being out performed because the general population no loner values education or our teachers.

Because he WANTS people out of work, and dependant on the Government for their subsistence.
__________________________________
Sure he does . . .

Rob, No Child Left Behind is NOT a beginng point and Bush can only be credited with signing the bill, not writing it. NCLB is only the latest version of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA), which was first passed in 1965, I believe, under President Lyndon Johnson, as part of his Great Society reforms. The main gist of the law at the time was to mandate remedial reading and math instruction for kids whose families earned poverty wages. The intent of the law is good, but the way schools are mandated to recognize student achievement are flawed. I sincerely hope that the next version of ESEA will be a significant improvement over NCLB, and I really hope they get rid of that name, which is a slap in the face of educators – as if we get up in the morning and intentionally conspire to leave children behind.

Walter. I do not have to support it being that in what I have seen happen to the education in this country. In order for the states to keep up with a program that is a unfunded mandate and ties school districts hands in educating students. Programs have been cut to make sure that student’s meet certain criteria of the NCLB. I have worked with teachers and have talked with educaters because of my two children. They hate this NCLB. I have seen less time on math, reading and history disappear so they can mandate this FAILURE. America at one time had a great education system, yet when countries such as China, Japan, and even Eurpean countries have better accademics for their children to compete in this technology bound world. My point as much as you may not like to hear the truth, parent’s have along with massive tax cut’s (property tax) has hurt the young people. When it get’s through many BRICK HEADS, the only way to stay up with the changing world is by making sure that education in all forms is strengthened. Not a program like NCLB that focusses only on so much, that teaching chilldren a real education get’s back burnered. When young people cannot recite American History, nor Social Studies, when common writing skill’s are looked over. When math that should make them compete is minimal. Sorry this program stinks. Talk to your educators they’ll tell you.

What crap!! We do not need another round of the Dumbing Down of America. We all want people to finish high school, that should give us an electorate with basic skills. My suggestion is that without a High School education, a person should not be allowed to have a drivers license until they are 21, nor be allowed to vote, nor should the family get government assistance (welfare) if the kids cannot stay in school. If anyone cannot pass Public School in the USA they are too dumb to drive, vote (look at the mess we are in now), or be worth pouring taxpayer dollars into.

as always, the real danger to any educational reforms in America is what’s happening in Texas with their ‘new’ need for selective textbooks featuring christian/conservative revisionism of US History.
These idiots in Texas are as great a threat to the US as any we face…
Posted by: PO’d | Mar 13, 2010 4:41:49 PM
I agree that the news out of Texas is very disturbing. What the…????

In 1980, the Dept of Education’s annual budget was $14B. By 2001, the budget had risen to $42B. By 2006, the budget peeked at 100B during the “No Child Left Behind” program, and had settled back to $65B by 2009. —- So the question, did you notice how much better the schools were in 2006 with the budget DOUBLING within 5 years?? —No???? —– Then why do liberals think throwing more money at education is the amswer????

We need to have more technical high schools that will actually teach the kids a useful trade so they can get a decent job. Everyone does not need or want to attend college. Most kids start getting in trouble in middle school (grades 7 & 8)
The main problem in America that leads to kids not doing well in school is because they are allowed to be in charge instead of the teachers.
Posted by: Connie Jenkins | Mar 13, 2010 5:47:04 PM
I agree with the need for technical programs, trade schools and junior colleges as university education isn’t necessarily appropriate for everyone, nor should it be. Just like owning a new home wasn’t within everyone’s means. Equal opportunity and high expectations are important but there ought to be multiple paths to being successful as a productive member of society.
And, yeah, classroom discipline is ESSENTIAL for learning to take place.

I am damned tired of hearing our President talk about folks getting college ready….all of them are not college material, and I, sure as hell, don’t want them to be “college ready.” (the President can explain to me what he means by “career ready”….does he mean a pro bowler, a fullback for the Patriots, a practical nurse, or what?
He’s already tied up subsidizing college loan expenses to his beloved Obamacare legislation……..a cheap political trick straight out of Cook County. The first thing we need to do is get a Secretary of Education from the ranks of public school teachers who know kids, their parents, other teachers, administrators and….yes, even unions who make our schools tick…and that ain’t Arne, is it? Second, we need to be wary of Washington’s involvment in the education of our youth…..until kids get to college … or trade schooling… or Mc Donalds….ALL EDUCATION IS LOCAL..if the feds want to throw in money they don’t have, that’s a different problem, but the education of our kids is our “thing,” not Washington’s……………in fact, since, Barack and Arne are right there, why don’t they focus for change in the DC schools?

HURRY! HURRY! Throw it in the reconciliation stew with the healthcare bill and the student loan bill!

Why is it about ALWAYS MONEY….. more taxpayers dollars for the feds to dump into that education black hole…

Yeah, Obama sure can do two things at once. For instance watch him do his health scam, and push for the crap and Tax scam at the same time all while pronouncing his lies all very well. Just lovely, and this is what you bots like about this guy? Geez.

Amusing that we are pushing our expectations of teachers higher and higher and higher and higher while — at the same time, due to budget cuts — cutting the number of teachers in our schools, increasing the number of students in each class, and entirely eliminating classes in art, music, and physical education.
Before long, we’ll be back to just teaching our children “readin’, writin’, and cypherin’.” Heck, why do they need to learn history? Seems we have an abysmal track record of learning from our mistakes anyway. Geography? All you need to know about geography is which countries we’re currently fighting wars in, right?

The big issues with it since its inception have been the two A’s– Assessment and Accountability. Basically, NCLB is a punitive program that uses flawed standardized tests– one size fits all assessment requirements that lead to undervaluing subject areas like science (which is only tested periodically) and social studies and the arts — to label schools as failures and punish them with counterproductive sanctions. Schools in certain areas– often urban and lower income– spend way, waaaay too much time teaching to the test, distorting the curriculum and curricular goals. The tests are very poor when it comes to individual assessments (diagnosing individual needs) and for assessing higher learning needs.

all the education ‘experts’ have appeared, just like all the economic ‘experts’, the health care ‘experts’ as well as the ‘foreign policy’ experts..
so, how many teachers do we have here ?
I would bet that most of the folks who post on this forum couldn’t pass the citizenship test that immigrants must take to become citizens..
nor… could they draw a proper map of America with the names of all the states in the right place.
re: My suggestion is that without a High School education, a person should not be allowed to have a drivers license until they are 21, nor be allowed to vote,
Posted by: LibertinTexas
Texas already has enough on it’s plate with regard to it’s insane educational policies without anyone from that secessionist state whining about what’s good for the rest of America.

All he ever says is NOTHING.
He told us NOTHING and the particulars of his new proposal. You can bet it is a payoff to his cronies.
Posted by: Tom Massey | Mar 14, 2010 1:49:00 AM
_______________________________
Tom you’ve told us nothing . . .

WE NEED TO LEAVE THE WHOLE FEDERAL DEPT OF EDUCATION BEHIND. WHENEVER THEY GET MORE INVOLVED – TEST SCORES GO SOUTH!!!!!
TO BE FAIR, OUR CULTURE (OR RATHER LACK OF) IS MOSTLY TO BLAME. THROWING MORE MONEY, STANDARDS OR PROGRAMS AT THE PROBLEM IS LIKE BLOWING FRTS IN THE WIND – TOTALLY USELESS.
I AM A RETIRED CATHOLIC ELEMENTARY TEACHER. OFTEN WE HAD FORTY-FIVE KIDS TO A CLASS THEN, SELF CONTAINED!!! KIDS WENT ON TO COLLEGE, CAREERS, FAMILIES AND BECAME PRODUCTIVE CITIZENS. DIFFERENCE? “CULTURE, PURE, SWEET CULTURE!!” AND ALSO, A MINOR POINT – A LITTLE RELIGION, TOO.

Kennedy’s No Child Left Behind Act signed by Bush was a disaster to begin with, it has caused the “dumbing” down of all children so minorities could pass which did not help anyone. Minorities need to rise up to America’s standards and quite being given a free ride at the expense of everyone!!!!

impatience is not a virtue. It is the enemy of due dilligence, and more often than not leads to unforeseen disaster.
Posted by: cindy
curious no one bothered to explain that to Bush before he invaded Iraq, or just ‘had to’ roll out 2 unpaid tax cuts while 2 wars were being waged..

I am an educator and everything that I have read about this proposal seems to be heading in the right direction. It is important to remember that our students are over tested and class time has been completely ruined to prepare for test and to take them. On average 30 days are used for testing!!!!

My children pass state reading proficiency tests. My children can’t read.
My children don’t count in anyone’s statistics because they pass proficiency tests in Ohio and Tennessee. They not only pass them but they pass them at advanced proficient levels. Their reality is vastly different. My 6th grader reads at the first grade level in application, with a private tutor and according to other scientifically-proven achievement, phonological and reading measures given by school personnel. My freshman in high school reads at a forth grade level. My children have no cognitive impairment. My children are honor roll students. My freshman is taking honors classes with an AP pathway. I read course work to my children because they haven’t yet learned to adequately read so they may learn.
My children are either absolute freaks of nature, learning anomalies or the States of Ohio and Tennessee only expect children to be able to read five grade levels below average to exceed proficient standards.
“No Child Left Behind” was intended to help kids like mine learn to read and create some accountability. But NCLB was legislated and the Reading Panel’s findings were not communicated or educated. Over the years I’ve met not one single educator or school administrator that’s actually read the Panel’s findings. Districts clearly understand what must be done to get or keep funding but they still don’t get how to teach my children to learn to read. Schools are willing to purchase any reading program that’s documented to increase proficiency scores and care very little that they don’t move the needle on commonly accepted, scientifically-proven individual achievement, reading and phonological tests.
I feel like I’m experiencing a flashback to a Susan Powter infomercial. I want to scream “stop the insanity.” Do you know reading isn’t a pathway? And, now the administration wants to prepare and measure students for college readiness. My children attend one of the best schools in the state and reading isn’t offered in high school. If children can’t learn to read so that they can read to learn by the time they reach high school they might just be out of luck. I’m not going blind reading Chaucer but perhaps that might contribute to a kid dropping out of school.
As a matter of fact a department head for the district just a few short weeks ago asked me why did it matter if my child could read, after all, he’s passed his proficiency tests, he’s a gifted student, taking honors courses, has a 3.6 average and is in the top 20% of his class. Apparently she hasn’t been informed that every child that does not have a cognitive impairment can learn to read. It’s supposed to be simply a matter of frequency, duration and the right program. And, that if a reading program fails a child once it will fail that child again. But hey, she doesn’t have to care because again my children pass state proficiency tests. The truly sad part is that my kids still want to learn to read.
I would really appreciate if someone could help me understand state reading assessments because perhaps I just don’t get it. Are my children supposed to be able to pass a proficiency test but not be able to read when they graduate school?
Is the government just going to create some “new and improved” college readiness standards and measurements that again don’t really measure validity? Measurements and statistics can be skewed any which way a person desires but hey let’s throw billions more at something just to make education look effective.
The education of children has become a great American public relations campaign with very little meat and a great deal of sound bites. Educators are not allowed to educate. Students aren’t empowered to learn. But hey we look great on paper. We care about the socio-economically deprived. Seems to me we just don’t really care if the kids actually learn.

Where is a copy of this blueprint for Americans to read viewing the overhaul of NCLB ? “Free Bird Fly law….15 students per classroom for our American school buildings ! Is that in the blueprint ? Drive the money directly to the school buildings to benefit the students.