LAT: Standing Bush in a Corner (education as campaign issue)

[DeepModem Mom]

THE RACE TO THE WHITE HOUSE
Standing Bush in a Corner
Foes of the president's reelection bid seek to shape voters' perception of his education record. His supporters cite significant reforms.

By Nick Anderson, Times Staff Writer


WASHINGTON — The new commercial jabs Jeb and George W. Bush, suggesting the Florida governor call on his brother, the president, to "fix No Child Left Behind so Florida's kids can get ahead."

In other advertisements, schoolteachers identified as Michelle, Nanci and Rosemary complain that President Bush's landmark education law forces them to "drill students for standardized tests" instead of funding smaller classes and other programs "we know work."

These television spots, broadcast in several politically competitive states, are part of an increasingly sharp struggle to shape voter perceptions of Bush's education record — a fight that could have a significant impact on his reelection chances. Their sponsor, a little-known group called Communities for Quality Education, is financed in part by teachers unions.

According to data compiled for The Times, the new interest group has spent more on televised political ads this month than any group other than the Republican and Democratic presidential campaigns. An independent monitor, TNSMI/Campaign Media Analysis Group, estimated the interest group's spending at $2.9 million from June 2 through Wednesday....


http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-na-education26jun26,1,1922739.story?coll=la-home-headlines

[Momof1]

1. LOL, LOL, LOL, LOL LOL

Did you see the movie?

:nopity:

[struggle4progress]

2. Education Secretary's Allies Depart Under Cloud in Houston

By SAM DILLON
Published: June 26, 2004

HOUSTON, June 25 - Three years after Rod Paige left his job as schools superintendent in Houston to become the federal secretary of education, his successor and several of his closest associates are stepping down, some amid questions about how business dealings have been conducted in the district.
<snip>

Others who have recently resigned include Laurie Bricker, a member of the Board of Education, and Cathy Mincberg, the district's chief of business services. Ms. Bricker was an ally of Dr. Paige as he carried out his pro-business vision, which included privatizing many services in the district. Ms. Mincberg helped engineer Dr. Paige's rise to superintendent in 1994 while she was on the board and before she became a paid administrator.
<snip>

... in 2003, a state audit of records at 16 middle and high schools in Houston showed that more than half the students who should have been reported as dropouts in the 2000-2001 school year had not been. Those findings were followed by the discovery that Houston had also failed to report thousands of schoolhouse crimes, raising doubts about the district's credibility with all kinds of data and attracting nationwide attention from the news media. Last fall, Dan Rather and Bill Moyers made reporting trips here.
<snip>
The string of resignations by onetime associates of Mr. Paige began on May 13, when Ms. Bricker announced that she wanted to devote more time to her family and to a consulting business. Ms. Bricker stepped down after her board colleagues voted against awarding her husband, a prominent architect, a new school design contract. District records show that he received millions of dollars in school contracts while Ms. Bricker was a board member.
<snip>

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/06/26/education/26houston.html

[tlcandie]

3. Let me give you this personal account on "no child left behind".

My daughter-in-law was laid off not long after the first of the year without warning from a chemical plant where she was a lab tech after about 5 years on the job. She has a bachelor's in science. She's extremely smart and her dad is some scientist something or another from an old Russian background.

She decided that she would apply for a teaching position at a couple of the schools in the small town area in north central Texas. One school led her on for well a couple of months and then told her they would not be hiring her.

She finally gets the scoop of why she isn't being hired once she applies to an even smaller school where they, too, say they will be hiring her. Then she gets a call that says, we decided to hire a teacher who has more experience in the TAS testing instead... sorry!

So, there you have it folks! They want someone who is more experienced in testinng the children to perform well on the stupid tests than they want experienced and educated teachers who can teach the children how to think for themselves, etc.

They don't care whether they can function in the real world!!

Why don't they hire ONE person for the school to oversee this friggin' testing and allow the EDUCATED teachers to teach with guidelines about what will be in the test so the subjects can incorporate this into the course? Doh!

In fact, if this is all our education is boiling down to...we don't need any teachers, we only need trainers to teach the testing method. Maybe that's how they will save the education system! Privatization is a wonderful thing! /sarcasm off in case you couldn't tell

EDIT: typo and more typing..!

[DeepModem Mom]

4. kicking your personal "testimony" about education policy -- n/t

[Disturbed]

5. What can we expect?

Bush disdains educated people. They intimidate him because he is a dumbass. This Admin. seeks to destroy the Middle Class and make them the Working Class. Only the rich deserve education in their view. Yet, another reason among hundreds to throw BushCo out!!!!