Free Republic

"In the first place God made idiots. This was for practice. Then he made school boards." In 1897 Mark Twain wrote that and it came to mind last week as I read former Cardiff School Board member, Francine Busby's editorial criticizing Rep. Brian Bilbray for supporting an effort to hold public schools in California accountable for the progress, or lack thereof, made by students with learning disabilities. She said, "One of the most-needed changes (is the need to) waive the requirement that test scores for students with learning disabilities … be included in determining the overall performance of a school."...

A skirmish between powerful teachers’ unions and President Barack Obama over nearly $5 billion in education spending is shaping up as a preview of the battle to come over No Child Left Behind in Congress early next year. But the tables are turned: now the unions are worried that Obama, a Democratic ally, is going to be just as tough on them as President George W. Bush, a longtime foe.

The debate over No Child Left Behind re-authorization is upon us. Except it isn’t. In his recent speech kicking off the discussion, education secretary Arne Duncan asked not whether the central federal education law should be reauthorized, he merely asked how. Let’s step back a bit, and examine why we should end federal intervention in (and spending on) our nation’s schools… in one thousand words or less:

<p>"Laura and I are saddened by the death of Senator Ted Kennedy. We extend our condolences and prayers to Senator Kennedy’s wife, Vicki, and all of their family. Ted Kennedy spent more than half his life in the United States Senate. He was a man of passion who advocated fiercely for his convictions. I was pleased to work with Senator Kennedy on legislation to raise standards in public schools, reform immigration, and ensure dignity and fair treatment for Americans suffering from mental illness. In a life filled with trials, Ted Kennedy never gave in to self-pity or despair. He maintained his optimistic spirit, his sense of humor, and his faith in his fellow citizens. He loved his family and his country – and he served them until the end. He will be deeply missed."</p>

Government: States are scrambling to rewrite educational laws solely to qualify for federal stimulus payouts. Is this pork really about helping schools — or extending federal power?The thickest slice of Congress' $787 billion stimulus package goes to the bureaucrats of the Department of Education. Under Secretary Arne Duncan, they now have $55 billion to play with — the biggest stimulus chunk for any federal department. With cash comes power. For the latest payout, $4.3 billion for a program called "Race to the Top," states have been told that to get their share, they'll have to accept two big changes. One...

Minnesota Rep. John Kline expects Congress to pull back on federal testing requirements during an upcoming rewrite of the No Child Left Behind education law. Kline will have a prominent voice in the debate as the senior Republican on the House Education and Labor Committee, a role he assumed this month. Speaking to reporters Monday, Kline said the law passed under then-President George W. Bush came with too many demands from Washington. He said states should have more say over the frequency of student testing.

Posted by: Matt Lewis at 11:13 AM I'm reading my advanced copy of Senator Jim DeMint's new book, Saving Freedom. I'm still not finished, but wanted to share one part with you. When Bush was trying to pass his No Child Left Behind bill, he called then-Congressman DeMint into the Oval Office and pleaded with him to avoid a blood bath" over an amendment he had added to the bill. DeMint still voted against NCLB, but dropped the amendment because of Bush's "gentle persuasion." ... But things were different when it came to passing Medicare. As DeMint recounts the story,...

Surrounded by elementary students from the Green School in Baltimore and charming critters – including an armadillo, cheetah and an Asian Toddy Cat – Democrats declared that the introduction of the “No Child Left Inside Act of 2009” was “historic” legislation that would connect children with nature. Some critics, however, said it is a way to spread environmental propaganda in the public schools.

The United States was founded, formed and grew to international prominence and prestige without compulsory schooling and with virtually no government involvement in schooling. Before the advent of government-controlled schools, literacy was high (91-97% in the North, 81% in the South), private and community schools proliferated, and people cared about education and acted on their desire to learn and have their children learn.  Mr. Matthew J. Brouillette, President of the Commonwealth Foundation in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania and former Director of Education Policy for the Mackinac Center for Public Policy, wrote: From the outset of the first settlements in the New World, Americans...

The U.S. Department of Education has just released the latest findings from the “Nation’s Report Card,” the leading nationwide measurement of educational outcomes. The findings contained good news for critics of the 2001 federal education law No Child Left Behind (NCLB). But supporters of the law got good news of their own. The good news for the critics is that the Nation’s Report Card shows reading and math scores still have not substantially changed since 1971. The good news for supporters is that the Nation’s Report Card shows reading and math scores still have not substantially changed since 1971. Welcome...

The achievement gap between white and minority students has not narrowed in recent years, despite the focus of the No Child Left Behind law on improving black and Hispanic scores, according to results of a federal test considered to be the nation’s best measure of long-term trends in math and reading proficiency. Black and Hispanic elementary, middle and high school students all scored much higher on the federal test, administered last year, than did their counterparts decades back. But nearly four decades of scores on the same test show that their most important academic gains came not in recent years,...

A 10-year-old Westmoreland County boy "playing school" cracked the tight security surrounding Pennsylvania's standardized assessment tests by obtaining the codes to place an online order for a box of the closely guarded exams. State Education Department officials were shocked by the events involving the student, a fifth-grader at Bovard Elementary School in the Hempfield Area School District. "We've never had a security breach of that nature," Education Department spokeswoman Leah Harris said. "Only the school district's test coordinator can order tests. It's a very secure system." But Rebecca Costello, director of pupil services at Hempfield, confirmed the student simply faxed...

The managing editor of Budget & Tax News says no money for education should have been included in the recently signed economic "stimulus" bill. In a recent press conference, Education Secretary Arne Duncan warned that if the economic stimulus bill did not pass, up to 600,000 education workers could lose their jobs as states face enormous budget shortfalls. But Steve Stanek of The Heartland Institute argues that the bill should not have included the allotted $87 billion for education. Stanek argues that the stimulus basically amounts to a payoff for teachers and teachers unions who supported Obama. "The teachers unions...

No Compromise Left Behind by: Heather Latham, February 17, 2009 In a room with five educational experts discussing the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB), opinions fly. But with a particular group of five experts at the American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research (AEI), one thought rang loudest—NCLB can work, but it will take some work. These experts were Michael J. Petrilli, vice president of national programs and policy at the Thomas B. Fordham Institute; Dianne M. Piché, the executive director of the Citizens’ Commission on Civil Rights; Williamson M. Evers of the Hoover Institution; Andrew J. Rothersham, cofounder...

For Quadir Askew, having girls in his sixth-grade class at Hawthorne Avenue School in Newark was just "drama" all the time. "Now it's real easy to concentrate with all boys," said the 12-year-old. "We don't have a lot of distractions and we get good grades." Hawthorne is one of only a handful of schools in New Jersey to have same-sex classes. Though prohibited by state and federal sex discrimination laws, a provision in the federal No Child Left Behind act gives public schools the flexibility to implement such programs as they try to improve academic performance. "We were failing and...

Before he was a war president, George W. Bush fashioned himself as an education president. He campaigned as a school reformer and held his first policy speech at a Washington elementary school, where he began laying the groundwork for the controversial No Child Left Behind education law. Nearly eight years later, Bush devoted his final public policy address to the same topic, traveling to an elementary school in Philadelphia yesterday to claim success in education reform and to warn President-elect Barack Obama against major changes to the landmark federal testing program. Bush argued that No Child Left Behind has "forever...

President George W. Bush marked the anniversary of his No Child Left Behind law, Thursday, Jan. 8, 2009, during a visit with students, teachers and national educators at the General Philip Kearny School in Philadelphia. Mrs. Laura Bush accompanied her husband. TRANSCRIPT Vice President Dick Cheney presided over a Joint Session of Congress today for the certification of the Electoral College votes. United States Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice returned to a meeting on the situation in Gaza at United Nations Headquarters in New York.

As I type this article, I think of the figurative-millions of both mundane and serious things I’ve done over the past seven-and-a-half years with absolute confidence in America’s safety. That confidence was inspired by the steadfast leadership and unblinking courage of President George W. Bush, as he faced our country’s most deadly enemies and succeeded in preventing another ghastly attack on American soil after September 11th. I know, I know. Let me count the ways that Republicans and conservatives have railed against our 43rd president’s deficit spending, his refusal to pardon the American border-guard heroes Ignacio Ramos and Jose Compean,...

The Chicago Public Schools, whose superintendent, Arne Duncan, has been tapped by President-elect Barack Obama to be the next education secretary, failed to meet the Illinois state standards set under the No Child Left Behind Act every single year the standards have been in force. For the last five school years (2004-2008), the Chicago district (District 299) failed to make “Adequate Yearly Progress” (AYP) in key areas, according to the district’s progress report on the Illinois State Board of Education Web site. Under the No Child Left Behind Act that Congress passed in 2003, each state must “develop and implement...

Parental education is a strong predictor of socioeconomic status and children's educational environment. Nevertheless, some children continue to experience reading failure in spite of high parental education and support for learning to read.

After 36 years teaching in Holyoke public schools, Bernard Healy ’72, here with his grandson Henry, reflects on his time at UMass Amherst, where he also received a certificate of graduate study in 1980. He regards education funding by property taxes as fundamentally flawed. Teaching for 36 years in Holyoke hasn’t dimmed Bernard Healy’s devotion to public education, but it has convinced him that schools are getting shortchanged. A veteran of cuts and school closings and shuffling teachers around to cover the gaps, Healy decided to hang up his hat and retire last spring. “Do I miss it? Yeah. I...

Another unsung accomplishment by Bush that the MSM won't tell you about. http://thebulletin.us/articles/2008/12/12/top_stories/doc4941f4f8cbc70008686389.txt

Talking to [NPR], Melody Barnes, a spokeswoman for Mr. Obama’s campaign, said recently that Mr. Obama supports “portfolio assessment” of student performance. Portfolio assessment usually requires a student to perform various classroom assignments, like write essays, do individual projects, participate in group projects. These assignments are put into a portfolio for that student and evaluated. In a debate earlier this month, Linda Darling-Hammond, education adviser to Mr. Obama, pointed to other countries where students are assessed based on “kids doing science inquiries, research papers, technology products.” Portfolio-assessment supporters claim that this method gives a broader view of a student’s knowledge...

Stratford (WTNH) -- There will be no ghosts or goblins wandering the halls of Stratford schools on Halloween. The school superintendent has banned Halloween in the classroom. It's clear Halloween is a big deal at the Tripodi family home. "My son is gonna be Janga Phet from Star Wars, my youngest daughter's gonna be a witch and my oldest, or my youngest is gonna be Tinkerbell and my oldest is gonna be a witch," Rick Tripodi said. But not at Nichols Elementary, or any school in Stratford. "We can't afford to use our instructional time for things that are not...

WASHINGTON -- Your child is less likely to graduate from high school than you were, and most states are doing little to hold schools accountable, according to a study by a children's advocacy group. More than half the states have graduation goals that don't make schools get better, the Education Trust says in a report released Thursday. And dropout rates haven't budged: One in four kids is dropping out of high school. "The U.S. is stagnating while other industrialized countries are surpassing us," said Anna Habash, author of the report by Education Trust, which advocates on behalf of minority and...

Stephen Knolls School suffered the ignominy of failure under federal law in 2006 and 2007 for low test scores. This year, the Kensington school finally made the grade in reading and math -- only to be sanctioned for poor attendance. The challenge in this case is not truancy. Stephen Knolls serves medically fragile children with severe physical and cognitive disabilities, such as cerebral palsy, spina bifida and Rett syndrome. SNIP Nine Stephen Knolls students missed 50 or more days of school last school year, some to complications from surgery, others from prolonged respiratory illness or the pain of muscle contractures....

SACRAMENTO — Prairie Elementary School had not missed a testing target since the federal No Child Left Behind law took effect in 2002. Until now. The school, perched on a tidy, oak-shaded campus in a working-class neighborhood here, has moved each of its student groups — Hispanics, blacks, Asians, whites, American Indians, Filipinos, Pacific Islanders, English... --snip-- Meanwhile, the law has had other unintended consequences — including its tendency to punish states, like California, that have high academic standards and rigorous tests, which have contributed to an increasing pileup of failed schools. A state-by-state analysis by The New York Times...

No Loophole Left Behind by: Bethany Stotts, October 09, 2008 Just as the 2001 No Child Left Behind Act was passed under bipartisan leadership, so too criticisms of its flawed structure span the gambit of political persuasions. As previously documented, opposition to the NCLB provisions on annual yearly progress (AYP) and school sanctions have raised significant ire from some conservative policy analysts such as Michael J. Petrilli and CATO’s Neal McClusky, as well as representatives from the progressive National Education Association (NEA). Daniel Koretz, Harvard Professor of Education and author of Measuring Up: What Educational Testing Really Tells Us, recently...

WASHINGTON, Sept. 27 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Senators John McCain andBarack Obama squared off last night in Mississippi for the first presidentialdebate. During one segment, the candidates were asked about which prioritiesthey would adjust if elected president in hopes of improving the currenteconomic crisis. The following can be attributed to NEA President Dennis Van Roekel: "In the midst of the worst economic crisis America has faced since theGreat Depression, Sen. John McCain tonight showed that he still does notunderstand the needs of working Americans. He still fails to grasp the directlink between a 21st century education system and a robust economy. McCain...

The researchers report in the Sept. 26 issue of Science that mathematical models they used in their analysis predict that nearly all elementary schools in California will fail to meet the Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) requirements for proficiency by 2014, the year when all students in the nation need to be proficient in ELA (English Language Arts) and mathematics, per the "No Child Left Behind Act of 2001" (NCLB).

SALT LAKE CITY — Salt Lake City police have arrested an award-winning West High School teacher for the alleged sexual abuse of a 17-year-old student. Jose Bernaf Fajul was arrested on campus Tuesday after classes ended for the day. The 46-year-old social studies and world language teacher was booked into the Salt Lake County jail for investigation of forcible sexual abuse and forcible sodomy. Salt Lake City police spokeswoman Lara Jones says the department had been working with the teenage girl and her father prior to the arrest. ... This outstanding "teacher" won Utah's 2007 No Child Left Behind American...

California schools, required by the federal No Child Left Behind Act to lift more students over a higher academic hurdle this year, instead stumbled and slipped back, as nearly 1,400 fewer schools met test-score targets. The number of schools making "adequate yearly progress" plunged from 6,488 to 5,113 since last year, according to state educators who released school progress reports Thursday. That's a drop from 67 to 52 percent of the state's public schools. Officials said more schools faltered because No Child Left Behind requires a higher percentage of their students this year to have proficient scores in English and...

Congress has several concerns as it moves toward reauthorizing the No Child Left Behind Act of 2002. Whatever else they do, lawmakers need to strengthen the requirement that states document student performance in yearly tests in exchange for federal aid. The states have made a mockery of that provision, using weak tests, setting passing scores low or rewriting tests from year to year, making it impossible to compare progress — or its absence — over time. [snip] Most states that report strong performances on their own tests do poorly on the more rigorous and respected National Assessment of Educational Progress,...

...On the subject of elementary and secondary education, the two seem to have gotten their roles completely mixed up. Obama is the staunch defender of the existing public school monopoly, and he's allergic to anything that subverts it. John McCain, on the other hand, went before the NAACP last week to argue for something new and daring. That something is to facilitate greater parental choice in education....

....The original No Child Left Behind law recognized the importance of teacher quality but did not properly emphasize teacher performance in the classroom. The reforms in the District and elsewhere offer a lesson for national policymakers: To best serve our nation's children, Congress needs to fix No Child Left Behind rather than abandon it. Lawmakers can do this by identifying, promoting and rewarding successful teachers; by better targeting professional development; and by strengthening provisions that hold teachers accountable for the performance of their students. Congress should encourage states to develop programs that attract the best and brightest teachers to the...

Randi Weingarten, the New Yorker who is rising to become president of the American Federation of Teachers, says she wants to replace President Bush’s focus on standardized testing with a vision of public schools as community centers that help poor students succeed by offering not only solid classroom lessons but also medical and other services. Ms. Weingarten, 50, is running unopposed for the presidency of the national teachers union, whose delegates at an annual convention in Chicago are expected to elect her Monday. In a speech prepared for delivery after the vote, Ms. Weingarten criticizes No Child Left Behind, President...

President Bush has often spoken about education reform as a civil rights issue. So we're not entirely surprised to see civil rights groups now defending the No Child Left Behind law against attempts to gut its most effective provisions. Last month, Representative Sam Graves, a Missouri Republican, introduced the NCLB Recess Until Reauthorization Act, which would essentially suspend the law's accountability provisions but not the funding. Under Mr. Graves's bill, schools would no longer have to file progress reports that expose achievement gaps between kids of different races, ethnicities and socioeconomic backgrounds. Since NCLB passed in 2002, minority parents in...

If New York’s commissioner of education, Richard Mills, is to be believed, one of the great success stories in the history of American public education is unfolding in the Empire State. The commissioner has released 2008 state test results showing that a stunning 97 percent of the 708 third-graders in upstate Warren County are achieving “proficiency” in math. Only five of the county’s third-graders scored at level 1, defined by the test protocol as reflecting “serious academic difficulties.” The state’s other third-graders aren’t doing quite as terrifically as those in Warren County, but they’re pretty close—with 90 percent demonstrating proficiency...

Students are performing better on state reading and math tests since enactment of the landmark No Child Left Behind law six years ago, according to an independent study [by the District-based Center on Education Policy] released yesterday.[snip]Because standards vary from state to state, some analysts have questioned the reliability of state tests as a gauge of academic performance. The study, which included data from 50 states, found that achievement on state reading and math exams has improved in most of them. The trend is largely mirrored on national exams, the study found, although the gains tend to be smaller. One...

...they take lingering looks at Douglass’s teachers and administrators as they work and at its students as they, more often than not, don’t work. Though eventually the Raymonds (just barely) take sides — they seem not to be fans of Mr. Bush’s program — their dismaying film isn’t really asking whether No Child Left Behind can help Douglass. It’s asking whether anything can. The film finds a few success stories among the school’s 1,100 students, but it is filled largely with teenagers who are drowning in apathy and attitude, those who seem well beyond any “To Sir With Love”-style rescue....

His experience reflects a challenge felt in classrooms nationwide. Six years after the No Child Left Behind law was enacted, the lowest-performing students continue to improve while children in the top tier have hit a plateau, according to a report due out Wednesday. The findings renew concerns about how schools challenge their brightest students at a time when federal law, backed by sanctions and financial consequences, forces many districts to focus time and money on students at the bottom rung of the academic ladder.

A new study argues that the nation’s focus on helping students who are furthest behind may [be] yielding steady academic gains for low-achieving students in recent years at the expense of top students. The study...said those at the bottom moved up faster than those at the top.{snip}The report included results of a survey of a nationally representative sample of 900 teachers. Seven in 10 teachers said their schools were more likely to focus on struggling students than average or advanced students when tracking achievement data and trying to raise test scores. And about three-quarters of the teachers surveyed said they...

According to many of our elected federal leaders, in the year 2014 the United States will witness a miracle. At that time, 6 years from now, all children in this country enrolled in grades K through 12 will be absolutely “proficient” at reading. How can this be? Because, our federal education legislation has dictated it. Under the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) federal education policy, all public schools are required to ensure that all children enrolled in their schools meet this standard (without much thought to the required resources, of course). Wiping out social, economic and political realities in one...

Education Excellence, Choice, and Competition in American Education John McCain believes American education must be worthy of the promise we make to our children and ourselves. He understands that we are a nation committed to equal opportunity, and there is no equal opportunity without equal access to excellent education. Public education should be defined as one in which our public support for a child's education follows that child into the school the parent chooses. The school is charged with the responsibility of educating the child, and must have the resources and management authority to deliver on that responsibility. They must...

Or maybe not Because the 2002 No Child Left Behind Act imposed standards and accountability on the public schools, many conservatives were willing to support the law even though it was also a massive expansion of the federal government's role in education. It might be time for them to reconsider. On Thursday, the Department of Education announced that a key component of the measure -- the $6 billion Reading First program -- has been an utter failure.

The Bush administration proposed major changes yesterday in enforcement of the No Child Left Behind law, including some regulations meant to tighten oversight of public schools, as efforts to revamp the landmark education act have stalled in Congress. In the most significant shift, all states would be required by 2013 to use the same formula to calculate the high school graduation rate, an effort to shine a light on the nation's dropout problem and force schools to take steps to ensure that more students earn diplomas. The formula would be based on the number of students who graduate on time...

t's the 800-pound gorilla of U.S. education. The No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB), the sweeping legislation enacted six years ago to improve public schools, seems to make a lot of people unhappy. But President Bush, undaunted by the barrage of criticism aimed at this beleaguered measure by states, teachers' unions and politicians on both sides of the aisle, is pushing Congress to reauthorize it this year . Many Capitol Hill observers believe that it won't survive without the political clout a new president and Congress would bring -- but after a starring role in five straight presidential elections, education...

Opting Out of No Child Left Behind : Now Arizona must get its own house in order by Matthew Ladner, Ph.D. It looks like Arizona is set to opt out of No Child Left Behind. Arizonans need transparency and accountability in public schooling, but they do not need NCLB. The Goldwater Institute has written extensively about the flaws of NCLB. Chief among them is the fact that NCLB creates an entirely perverse incentive for states to lower their academic standards in order to meet a federal goal of 100 percent proficiency by 2014. A recent University of California Berkley study...

McGraw-Hill Cos. spent $960,000 lobbying the government in 2007 on a range of issues including education and oversight of credit-rating agencies. According to a disclosure form posted Feb. 14 by the Senate's public records office, McGraw-Hill spent $440,000 in the first half of 2007 and $520,000 in the second half on lobbying. McGraw-Hill, which publishes textbooks and rates credit quality, lobbied on issues including the protection of intellectual property, No Child Left Behind and legislation affecting oversight of credit-rating agencies.

Compassionate fascism is just as anti-liberty as the other kind Perhaps you wonder how society's self-appointed hall monitors got the right to make you feel bad about the fries on your plate or the cigarette you're smoking, or outlaw listening to iPods while crossing the street. If so, you may also be fed up with being nagged about recycling, and be wondering why just because you don't think we're all responsible for global warming, you have been designated a pariah through that infelicitous phrase -- climate-change denier. You know what that's supposed to sound like. Worse, some of your accusers...