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August 30, 2007
August 30, 2007
One school can't schedule students in right classes, "highly qualified" testing keeps teachers away, Margaret Spellings Q&A with NCLB critics ...
Education Reform Outrage in the news ...
Naples Daily News, FL: Students, others complain problems still exist with high school classes - Students' schedules remain unfixed, and officials say, "We need to look at the academic problems. But you can’t change a high school schedule when school has started based on a ripple of things.” In the meantime, one student gets weightlifting credits, but she's tutoring other students, another student was supposed to be taking biology, but was forced into journalism where the grade is based on selling advertisements for the yearbook. Several students expecting to take engineering are being denied because of unknown prerequisites.
The Evening Bulletin, PA: Students Blamed For Low Results - National, state and local authorities are not blaming teachers, schools or lawmakers who refuse to adequately fund education for declining test scores. They're blaming the students. Officials agreed this week there are just too many students, and particularly too many underperforming minority students, taking the tests and dragging down scores.
The News Virginian: Southern schools slipping - Fifty years after federal troops forced the desegregation of a high school in Little Rock, Ark., schools in the South are re-segregating at an increasingly rapid pace.
Falls Church News Press, VA: Jim Moran's News Commentary - One of the main problems for Northern Virginia schools under NCLB is that the testing requirements have major negative impacts on Limited English Proficiency students (LEP) and disabled students – a sizeable portion of Northern Virginia’s student body. NCLB requires these special needs students to be tested and graded at the same level as other students after only one year in the U.S. It’s an unreasonable requirement which sets them up for failure. Current research estimates it takes at least five years for even the best English language learners to catch up to their peers in all subjects.
Keene Free Press, NH: 1,995 People Control Your Life - Government schools have no incentive to innovate or compete as it doesn't matter to them how satisfied you are with their performance. The system is too entrenched. We'll never be able to change it. You can't fight City Hall, or in this case the Teachers Union. The school board voted to use taxpayer dollars to fund an advertising campaign to push a new Teachers Contract? Isn't that amazing?
AZ Central: 'Highly qualified' requirement keeping people out of teaching, some say - Some teachers and administrators believe requiring teachers to be highly qualified contributes to the teacher shortage. He said highly qualified teachers don't want to teach because of the low salaries.
School Choice in the news ...
EarthTimes.org: Back-To-School Time Finds More Choices Than Ever - New evidence shows that school choice is more popular than ever before. More families are choosing charter schools and voucher programs to meet the educational needs of their children.
Seattle Times, WA: "When will NCLB recognize there are two more wheels in the mix?" - The teacher is just one wheel of the tricycle. Parents are the other rear wheel. The child is the big front one. If one wheel is broken or missing, the tricycle won't go — no matter how hard the teacher pushes or how shiny and new the teacher is. When will NCLB recognize there are two more wheels in the mix?
USA Today: NCLB is working, but it's a 'journey' - Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings answers questions from critics, laying it all out.
GMToday.com: Virtual school may soon be a reality in West Bend - As virtual schools begin to slowly draw students away from traditional schools across the state, West Bend is readying its own product for the market.
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