Obama Administration Exempting Schools From Federal Law’s Testing Mandate

AP/CNS News ^ | Monday, August 08, 2011 | DONNA GORDON BLANKINSHIP

[markomalley]

State and local education officials have been begging the federal government for relief from student testing mandates in the federal No Child Left Behind law, but school starts soon and Congress still hasn't answered the call.

Education Secretary Arne Duncan says he will announce a new waiver system Monday to give schools a break.

The plan to offer waivers to all 50 states, as long as they meet other school reform requirements, comes at the request of President Barack Obama, Duncan said. More details on the waivers will come in September, he said.

The goal of the No Child Left Behind law is to have every student proficient in math and reading by 2014. States have been required to bring more students up to the math and reading standards each year, based on tests that usually take place each spring. The step-by-step ramping up of the 9-year-old law has caused heartburn in states and most school districts, because more and more schools are labeled as failures as too few of their students meet testing goals.

[markomalley]

Can't meet the standards, so remove the standards. Sounds perfectly logical to me (/s)

[battlecry]

In their eyes, this must be better than teachers cheating. Too much work otherwise.

[SC_Pete]

Public schools lower standards, refuse to maintain discipline, and exclude parental involvement. The results are predictable.

[Jedidah]

My cynical side suspects that those exempted schools will be those whose students the law was designed to not “leave behind” but whose parents are more interested in the free breakfast and lunch programs than in whether Jr. can read or multiply.

[SumProVita]

Losers attempting to ensure an increasing number of losers.

(If we want an intelligent electorate, education MUST be reformed.)

[Jedidah]

My experience with public schools — and it is considerable — is that they have little control over students whose parents don’t care.

And they are many.

They not only encourage, but beg, for parental involvement, but parents have better things to do than rear their own kids.

And, as you said, the results are predictable.

[Misplaced Texan]

I am still wondering why we have a Federal Education law for STATE schools to be concerned over.

[livius]

Incredible. While a lot of Freepers criticized this program on principle, this was one of Bush’s few effective measures and did result in improvements in state-run schools educational standards and the use of education dollars.

So now because a bunch of fat-butted loser government teachers in Atlanta got caught cheating - cheating the kids more than anybody else - we have to get rid of the main objective of the law. Of course, the extra money they got to assist with compliance will keep on coming.

[nuconvert]

Maybe because the states have done such a crappy job that it’s affected the country as a whole, causing the Feds to step in?

[MichaelP]

NCLB is a joke! You can't teach kids who do not want to be taught. In past years these kids would simply drop out. Now they stay in the classroom, and waste teachers time with misconduct. It hurts the kids that are there to learn...

Mike

[nuconvert]

I see.....so we should just get rid of truancy laws? Maybe we should get rid of compulsary education all together?

[aruanan]

Can't meet the standards, so remove the standards. Sounds perfectly logical to me (/s)

Can't meet the standards, ignore the standards. Obama is one of the biggest ignoramuses ever to occupy the White House.

[AlphaOneAlpha]

No Child was legislation that was passed into law. I really have to question another one of these Obama by fiat being a legal move to bypass legislation. It would seem that another bill would have to be written approved by both chambers and signed by a president.

[ilovesarah2012]

That is why they have “alternate” schools for the kids who don’t want to learn. It gets them out of the way of those who do.

[pepperdog]

Standards are so mean! What about self esteem, those nasty standards make some kids fail and that damages their self esteem. s/

[goodwithagun]

I teach American and British literature at an inner-city style high public school. I say inner-city style because we are a small Ohio Valley public school (around 700 high school students total), yet we have issues with gang violence, truancy, pregnancy, drugs, and firearms. What you stated is very true. My comrades make the same claim, yet they do not acknowledge that their politics are part of the problem. The problem is that for decades schools and unions have hailed “free” money for more social programs: free preschool, free daycare for students’ kids, free lunches and breakfasts, free snacks for school and home, free school supplies, and fines and fees waivers. Schools and unions have taken these handouts which make parents obsolete, and then bi+ch when parents aren't involved in their children's academic lives. Heck, most preschools in our area no longer require a child to be potty trained. Why would a parent potty train a child? That is not a problem that a parent should concern themselves with! My husband and I will be homeschooling our children by the way. Of course, that has already begun with our (almost) three-year-old son. We consider him an average kid, but he is above average in our area because he knows his ABC's, 123’s, and is beginning phonics. Most parents, which is a loose term for them, do not teach their children these things. That is what Dora, Diego, and free preschool is for.

[quintr]

later

[TexasFreeper2009]

Exactly, many parents just use school as a daycare center

[nuconvert]

They must not be in the ‘alternative schools’ if they’re “ kids who do not want to be taught” and “waste(ing) teachers time with misconduct”

[SC_Pete]

The voucher movement is the only rational way to break the cycle—and after 60 years of Teacher Union control and liberal indoctrination, the effects on our society will take another 60 years to undo.