States rush to leave No Child law behind

Washington Times ^ | 9:40 p.m., Tuesday, August 9, 2011 | Ben Wolfgang

[Pan_Yan]

States are rushing for the No Child Left Behind exit door.

Within hours of Education Secretary Arne Duncan’s announcement Monday that he will grant waivers from federal mandates, several states announced that they would apply for relief. Many others are expressing interest, pending the release of more details next month.

Tennessee didn’t wait for Mr. Duncan’s news conference: The state sent its waiver request two weeks ago.

The mad dash to escape high-stakes testing and gain more flexibility represents “a sense of desperation” among states, said Dan Domenech, executive director of the American Association of School Administrators.

“There’s no question that school districts and the states themselves are looking for anything that will provide a break,” he told The Washington Times on Tuesday, adding that states and school leaders are taking a “we’ll do whatever it is you want us to do” attitude toward Mr. Duncan’s waiver proposal.

...

The mystery surrounding the details of the plan doesn’t appear to be deterring states.

Minnesota Gov. Mark Dayton announced Monday, while the ink was still drying on the transcript of Mr. Duncan’s announcement, that his state will take part in the waiver program.

He said in a statement that No Child Left Behind “has harmed, not improved, the quality of students’ learning experiences,” and he will gladly accept an escape route.

[Pan_Yan]

The mystery surrounding the details of the plan doesn’t appear to be deterring states.

I wonder what little goodies the Administration has tucked in there. As much as everyone hates NCLB the governors better read what they're signing very, very carefully.

[FlingWingFlyer]

All part of Arne’s “Creating Leftist Morons One Child At A Time” program.

[Steamburg]

Unions vs. Accountability. Where have we ever heard that before?

[G Larry]

Dems at the state level made sure that the money never made it to the schools, so Bush would never get credit for helping education.

[Venturer]

The States that apply for Waivers are admitting that they cannot teach the children.

[ClearCase_guy]

If the government gave a blanket waiver to everything ever said or done by the Dept of Education, Energy, EPA, DHS, USDA, etc. I think we'd see this country really take off.

Government is the problem. Everyone wants a waiver. Everyone wants to be free from the repression and the regulations.

Let my people go.

[AppyPappy]

Or they are tired of “teaching to the test”. Also standardized tests tend to expose glaring truth that we are trying hard to ignore.

[RedEyeJack]

Since DOE is staffed to manage NCLB they should lose funding for at least 100 employees for every state granted a waiver. No program to manage... no job.

[Siena Dreaming]

An example of Obama desperately shoring up the most faithful of his supporters...the teachers' unions.

Until the debt debacle, he and Arne Duncan supported testing.

Now that his poll numbers are plummeting, Obama has changed his position. No surprise.

[DBrow]

Ah, the legacy of Ted Kennedy! I bet the news articles are full of the fact that this was Kennedy’s bill, passed in a “bipartisan” way!

[org.whodat]

States trying to protect the incompetence of affirmative action. Giving college students open book tests, gives you the sorry state of education.

[paint_your_wagon]

Or maybe that top down centralized planning and a one size fits none approach not only fails in politics and economics, but also in education.

Remember, one of the real goals that educrats are failing at include “closing the gap”....i.e. equal outcomes for all demographic groups. They have dumbed down the system and called it “excellence in education”.

[Pan_Yan]

(crickets) Chirp. Chirp.

[Pan_Yan]

No program to manage... no job.

From what I've read, and it's all very obscure, this is not a waiver from the whole program, only certain requirements. And it comes with strings.

[longtermmemmory]

If every state can have a waiver then why bother with the department of education?

[Condor51]

Most cite unrealistic expectations of No Child Left Behind as their motivation. The law calls for 100 percent of students to be proficient in reading and mathematics by 2014, a goal widely viewed as unattainable.

'Unrealistic expectations'?

How can mathematics, i.e.: adding 150 + 25, or multiplying 12 x 12 be "Unrealistic"?

Ditto for reading:

"See Spot run. See Jane chase Spot. See Billy chase Jane."
"See Jane's father get his shotgun. See Billy marry Jane."

Is that an unrealistic expectation?
(Maybe to Billy, but not for Jane's father )

'Series'. They only have to 'proficient'. Not solve the Grand Unification Theory in Physics. Or write a tome like War and Peace. So really, what's the big deal?

[paint_your_wagon]

The Bush/Kennedy NCLB law was designed to beef up state education bureacracies.

Another way of looking at it would be to say “NCLB is a really good idea, but we just don’t have the right people implementing it yet. Once we have the right person, group, or whatever in charge then our situation will improve.”

I wholeheartedly reject this argument.

The NCLB still leaves education reform and decision making in the hands of the very same people that have created the mess.

[DBrow]

So we can’t achieve what Cuba constantly brags about? lol Maybe not enough sugarcane in our diet?

[DarkSavant]

Or maybe that top down centralized planning and a one size fits none approach not only fails in politics and economics, but also in education.

Exactly. This is a good thing. They should not be dictating what should be done at the local level. We need to go back to local school boards having leverage as opposed to the State and Federal government. If you're whining about local school boards being leftist, do something about it. Increased government intrusion in education is one of the prime factors that created its shoddy conditions today. Break the government stranglehold, break the unions, and you'll start to see real improvement.

[momincombatboots]

Absolutely not. I have talked to a dozen teachers who do not give Ted the credit. They either do not know or they deny it. Accountability is not part of their values, I specifically mean accountability for themselves. I admit they have shoddy material to stRt with sometimes. Children are in serious trouble directly Ttributed to liberal family values and the attack on families and faith. Until that is fixed you can educate them for 60 years and they will struggle to survive.