Posted on 06/17/2007 9:23:23 AM PDT by SmithL
WHEN educrats call for "a broader definition of rigor," beware. What they really want is to broaden the definition of rigor until it includes dumbed-down drivel.
National Education Association President Reg Weaver used those words in March when he spoke to Congress as it sets out to reauthorize President Bush's No Child Left Behind legislation. The NEA's idea of rigor, of course, is to make it harder to tell if schools are failing students. How? By going after standardized tests, because Weaver regurgitated, their scores "reflect little more than a student's ability to regurgitate facts."
As Don Soifer, education analyst for the Lexington Institute noted, such talk harbors "a worse case scenario for the American public -- all of the money for NCLB and none of the accountability."
According to NEA documents, the association wants states to be able to adopt standards and assessments that "include more than what can be assessed on a paper-and-pencil multiple choice test." "Multiple measures" are needed because: "Schools are held accountable based solely on a one-day snapshot of student performance on a standardized reading test and a standardized math test."
The NEA has recommended that states be allowed to add portfolios -- collections of student work that can include essays, drawings and reports -- to their NCLB assessment, along with other measures, such as attendance rates and the number of students enrolled in advanced classes.
It sounds so reasonable that it is easy to forget that Washington passed President Bush's NCLB measure because too many public schools produce students who cannot read at grade level and are semi-literate in math. Or that standardized tests were needed to push schools away from fuzzy content that promised higher learning and critical thinking, but instead delivered middle-school students who could not comprehend what they read, spell or...
(Excerpt) Read more at sfgate.com ...
My experience with school districts is that all they really want is a way to obfuscate numbers to their advantage.
Public schools may have served a purpose when they were first introduced (although I’m not completely convinced), but it’s time for people to stop using them.
Incidentally, many homeschool tutors refuse to use public school textbooks when giving lessons because they are so badly written.
If you're taking a poll, put me down for the latter.
-————their scores “reflect little more than a student’s ability to regurgitate facts.” —————
I would be happy with students who could regurgitate facts. All I see are kids who don’t know the location of any of the 50 states and can only regurgitate leftist propaganda.
Geroge Bush’s No Child Left Behind should be scuttled! Though it sounded good on paper, it is not doing what is sounds like it will do. An albatross to learning! A nightmare of paperwork, taking teaching time better spent teaching mathmatics, reading, unrevised American history, for Heaven’s sake!
Just the fact that the NEA is FOR renewing it is reason enough to know it is BAD for our kids, BAD for our teachers, and ultimately BAD for our country!
It’s also time to snip the wings of the NEA!
I would be happy with students who could regurgitate facts. All I see are kids who don’t know the location of any of the 50 states and can only regurgitate leftist propaganda.”
I am sooooo glad that I am 67+ yrs old and beyond the stage of hiring and firing “employees”. Today’s students are totally useless. The only thing alot of them are good at is dealing and taking drugs and spraying grafitti.
Geroge Bush’s No Child Left Behind should be scuttled! Though it sounded good on paper, it is not doing what is sounds like it will do. An albatross to learning! A nightmare of paperwork, taking teaching time better spent teaching mathmatics, reading, unrevised American history, for Heaven’s sake!
Just the fact that the NEA is FOR renewing it is reason enough to know it is BAD for our kids, BAD for our teachers, and ultimately BAD for our country!
It’s also time to snip the wings of the NEA!”
Snipping the wings of the NEA isn’t enough, IMO. I want to see it totally disbanded.
The “teachers” cannot teach math or writing when most of them cannot do any decent work in same themselves.
Last night “ribbon” on local tv said we should be on the lookout for convict who “EXCAPED”. I just want to scream when I see that kind of crap on EVERY station I can get.
They are actually paying people to spell like that.
I agree with you 100%. But first things first. The dumbing down has been going on for decades, and this can’t be fixed in a day. First scuttle NCLB, then give teachers the prerogative NOT to belong to the NEA at all. Next, pay teachers according to their own education, ie: spelling, teaching abilities and require a severe test before granting tenure to all teachers.
Vouchers and the ability for parents to choose the school where their kids go would quickly weed out the lower achieving schools. There is nothing like competition to bring out the best in all of us, right?
Congressman Duncan Hunter did vote for W’s NCLB, but he has become extremely disenchanted with it’s dismal results. Duncan Hunter intends to scuttle NCLB, and to return the control of public schools to the state and local levels immediately.
Our schools can improve, our children can learn, and our country can benefit greatly with Duncan Hunter as President.
Please contribute to his chances of advancing to a higher tier by June 30. Email your generous donation to the future of your country to:
Or send a hefty check by snail mail to:
Go Duncan Hunter ‘08, 9340 Fuerte Drive, Suite 302, La Mesa, CA. 91941-4164
Thank you, and HAPPY FATHER’S DAY TO ALL YOU WONDERFUL FREEPING FATHERS!
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