The candidate I am looking for will DUMP "no child left behind"

[Cheswick2.0]

Is there such a candidate? If not can we get someone to take that position by appealing to them? I will be voting for whomever gets rid of that horrendous garbage initiative.

Interesting fact: Pa's standards were already fairly high, so we have to have 58 percent of all students falling in the above average ranges for testing. Our average has to be above average! Tell me how that works? The state even went to Bush and asked that our standards be lowered and he said no.

Guess what to states have no failing schools? Arkansas is one and I think the other is Wyoming. Why? Because their standards were low already.

So tell me, which of the candidates will DUMP this shit? I don't mean change it or enable it or whine about it... I MEAN DUMP IT. That and school vouchers have to go.

[elperromagico]

1. Bush dumped it on 1/20/01

It's a lot of bullshit rhetoric.

[Classical_Liberal]

2. I agree

.

[mandyky]

3. What I find odd is that only

public schools have to take tests. If we are gonna test kids to see if they should be moved, shouldn't the schools where they're moving them to.
Leave No Child Behind is just the start of privitization of US education. Some of the ideas in the act are good ideas, such as parental involvement and reading to young children, but our educational system is not failing as much as our culture has gone from industrial to information production.

I think early education, preschool thru 2nd grade, is very important.
If teachers, parents and mentors can install a love of reading and learning by second grade, half the battle is won. That is one reason why the teacher to student ratio is so important, especially in elementary school.

[onebigbadwulf]

4. Not sure what it is

Doesn't "no child left behind" punish teachers who don't produce awesome kids? I'm not sure what it does, but I have a simple yet provable and effective formula...

If you want awesome teachers give them awesome salaries.
If you want awesome students give them awesome schools.
If you want awesome national education statistics... awesomely fund it.

Conservatives need to stop blaming others for their own screw-ups. Here's a question, did a DIME of Bush's 12 trillion dollar spending go to schools?

As far as I know... my college tuition went up, the price of books went up, the cost of living went up, and bush just made it harder for kids caught with drugs to go to school.

Thanks president A** F**K

[KG]

6. that's the point that is always overlooked.

why the assumption that 'private' schools are better? and how are they better? without testing private school students too, who's to know?

[Yupster]

8. I only know about my kid and my kid's private school

It's better than any other school in the city. How do I know? Well, we visited the local public schools and the three best choices for private schools, so this was the informed decision of my wife and I. Of course we could be wrong.

Why would you think private schools aren't tested. Our scheel certainly is each year. The parents would insist on it if they weren't already doing it. How else would we know how are kids stack up against other kids in other districts or states?

[alcuno]

9. It depends upon the state.

Not all states require the testing of private school students. It's just a fact. And not all private schools, in turn, do testing. In fact, depending upon the state, monitoring of whether or not private schools are adhering with state curriculum can be very sketchy.

[Cheswick2.0]

17. your school is doing better because it doesn't have to take everybody

public schools have to educate everyone, private schools do not. AND your school is not being tested the same way public schools are. Your school is not being taken over by the state. Your school can get rid of the kids that drive down the average.

[Jason600]

23. private does better.....

Not because I think they are inherently better systems, but for more obvious ones. Having worked(not directly) with most schools in my area, I would say that the private school do a better job. The public schools would under the same conditions. Lower student/teacher ratios, only take the children they see fit to. Those two alone would show a dramatic difference.

[Yupster]

27. So many reasons so many different people have

as to why private schools do better.

My own view is that I'm just happy my kid got out of our local public school system. Having taught there, I knew I didn't want my kid anywhere near it.

We put him in the most expensive school in town, and for $ 7,800 this year, he's getting the best education we have available to us. That's less than Washington DC pays per student and those poor parents don't get nearly as much for their money.

I wish all kids could have as fine a school to go to as my kid, but while society argues and works that out, I'll make sure my kid gets the best education possible.

[Pavlovs DiOgie]

13. They tend to be better because

the student to teacher ratio is substantially lower than in public schools. Even a mediocre teacher can teach pretty well with only 10 students. Compare that with teachers in public schools with 35 students, even in elementary school.

Also, public school teachers are burdened with substantially more paperwork, thus decreasing the time they spend teaching and planning.

Finally, consider that standardized tests aren't always true indicators of a child's success in school.

[October]

30. Private School Experience

My daughter was in one of those so-called "elite" private schools in Princeton, NJ. We thought we were giving her the best, and were willing to make financial sacrifices.

Our experience and things we learned:

- Teachers do not have to be certified.

- Teachers often do not have degrees in their field of teaching.

- Some teachers/aides have no training/experience in child development.

- Many teachers take the position partly because their own children received 50%-60% reduced tuition.

- There are some major gaps in the curriculum when a private school does not have to answer to anyone or meet any requirements.

- An inordinate amount of children in these very pricey schools receive private tutoring (on top of $14K tuition costs), which artificially inflates any testing (usually private) done at the school.

- They recruit older children (My daughter's classmates were turning 7 coming out of Kindergarten!)

- All but one set of parents in our daughter's class had Ivy League degrees. (In other words, these kids are already pretty well set and often have a "leg up" when the time comes time to choose a college.)
(On the application forms, parents are asked which college(s) they attended.)

(Edited to add last sentence.)

[hedda_foil]

5. Dean wants to dump it.

[Eloriel]

11. Yeah, he refers to it as

The "No School Board Left Standing" initiative, a term he said he got from teachers and others.

Eloriel

[Cheswick2.0]

18. I am glad to hear this

Good for Dean. I will go look and see if he is talking any specifics. I would love to read some real objectives for improving education that ashcans that ridiculous program.

[gulliver]

7. Wait! Then kids will get left behind!

Right now it's against the law for kids to be left behind. Thanks to Junior, no children are being left behind. Our compassionate president has used his bully pulpit to make sure that kids are priority number one.

Remember, Bush talks about "no child left behind" every single day -- with great big tears welling up in his handsome, manly eyes. He has fought tooth and nail to make sure all of the money needed to "leave no child behind" is there. Can anyone doubt Bush's commitment on this? His compassion? His honesty?

You would be willing to give all that up?

[elperromagico]

16. That gave me a chuckle

Mr. Hannity, don't you have a "fair and balanced" TV show you ought to be doing "research" for? ;-)

[GiovanniC]

33. That's How They'll Spin It

Any candidate that is against "No Child Left Behind", by sheer logic, MUST be FOR leaving children behind.

Just like anyone who isn't "Pro-Life" is "Pro-Death".

[dsc]

10. dean is

against it.

[ElsewheresDaughter]

12. Kucinich

[diamondsoul]

14. Yes, I think Kucinich said he would,

in the very first debate I ever saw him in back in March. He talked about how the testing was such a waste of time, energy and resources.

[JohnKleeb]

15. very nice

:) thats good, I hate testing, I can stand the SATs but nothin more.

[Cheswick2.0]

19. Really? Great!

I hope one of them will make some promises. People are leaving the profession right and left.

[JohnKleeb]

21. Are you a teacher yourself Ches?

I am glad that teachers hate the standarized testing as well, actually Ive known this, I know students do, go DK!

[Cheswick2.0]

24. I will be by this time next year

I went back to school 2 years ago to get an education degree. It has been a long road and I don't want to get there just when teachers are being forced to be robots.

[LWolf]

28. If we don't get NCLB taken care of,

you definitely don't want to be here.

I was looking for a candidate who would speak up against it. I started looking for red flags in their ed platform; calling for "accountability" is one. Not that I mind being accountable! But these days, "accountability" is a buzzword for the test-obsessed.

I didn't find a candidate who publicly opposed it. I think that's because there are many good things in the legislation; it's the high-stakes testing piece that is destroying us.

Dean has some one-liners criticizing it; if I remember, his issue with it is the over-riding of state's rights. In other words, the actual provisions are fine if they are legislated by states instead of the feds. And we have plenty of states that do; NCLB is nothing more than a clone of high-stakes "standards and accountability" movements in CA under Pete Wilson, TX under *, and FL with Jeb. They've been with us for almost a decade.

I took it straight to Dennis Kucinich when I met him last summer. His speech to the big crowd was over, and he was meeting with a small group of us inside the courthouse we were at. I went up and said, "Congressman, I'm a big fan. I'm so glad to get the chance to meet you today. I'm also a teacher, and I have to ask you what your position on high-stakes testing is." He said...not a direct quote, just from memory...

"These testocrats have got to go. They're testing us to death, and kids can't learn like this. We need to put the creativity, the love of learning, and the love of school back into what we're doing, and get rid of the tests and the testocrats."

Something like that. The meaning is there, if the words are not exact.

In case you don't have them, here are a few links for you to join the battle:

http://www.nochildleft.com/

http://www.america-tomorrow.com/bracey/EDDRA/

http://www.fairtest.org/arn/arn.htm

http://www.susanohanian.org/

http://interversity.org/lists/arn-l/k0310bra.pdf

[Evanstondem]

37. Dean publicly opposed it back in 2002

Kucinich voted for it.

http://www.issues2002.org/2004/Howard_Dean_Education.htm
http://www.issues2002.org/2004/Dennis_Kucinich_Education.htm

[Yupster]

26. I taught 9 years

but left 13 years ago.

[Evanstondem]

36. Then why did Kucinich vote for it?

I was surprised and disappointed to learn that he voted for NCLB in 2002.

[quaker bill]

20. You got it right

It was never anything more than cover to give $ to religious schools.

In Fla under JEB when there were not "enough" failing schools on the first test to justify many vouchers, they upped the standards and changed the grading. They have done so each year since.

You have to have failing schools to keep JEB's buddies in the money.

Better yet, JEB runs the teacher retirement fund. Guess what, it is now heavily invested in a company working to privatize schools.

"we will get those teachers unions one way or another"

[gottaB]

22. Carol Moseley Braun: "I support NEA's position"

From the NEA candidate questionnaire:

1. NEA supports moving toward full funding of TITLE 1 over eight years, as called for in the Elementary and Secondary Education Act.

I support the NEA's position and agree that full funding of Title I should be a national priority. Full funding will help relieve the local property tax, and expand federal support of elementary and secondary education.

2. NEA supports a one-time grant of $50 billion in unrestricted aid to states.

Unrestricted revenue sharing was successful in the past, and states are currently experiencing record deficits due to general economic slowdown and the tax cuts that have diminished state revenue sources. However, during the last economic boom, states rarely showed fiscal restraint. As such, I would propose earmarks consistent with national priorities, such as education.

3. a. NEA supports limiting the definition of "highly qualified teacher" in ESEA to include only those teachers who have achieved licensure/certification under state standards.

I support NEA's position.

b. NEA supports granting states flexibility in measuring schools' Adequate Yearly Progress.

I support the NEA's position. The Bush administration's preference for mandates and testing, instead of financial assistance and support is not only counterproductive, but hurts state and local efforts to provide quality public education.

c. NEA supports granting states flexibility in applying sanctions to schools identified as in need of improvement.

The one-size fits all approach by the Bush Administration is unfair and inadequate. The "savage inequities" in educational resources are not resolved by sanctions. The goal of educational improvement and system accountability is more appropriately addressed by national support of local efforts.

d. NEA supports requiring states and local school districts to use funds (including federal Title I and Title II funds) to help paraprofessionals meet new quality standards in ESEA by fully funding the costs of testing, continuing education and training.

I support NEA's position. Paraprofessionals must be ready to meet the needs of students, and can only be ready to do so when they are fully trained and receive continuing education, and when adequate leadership and support is available.

e. NEA supports requiring all entities receiving federal ESEA funds, including community based organizations and supplemental service providers, comply with all federal civil rights laws that prohibit discrimination on the basis of race, color, religion, sex (except as otherwise permitted under the Patsy Mink Title IX Act of the Education Amendments of 1972) national origin, or disability.

I support NEA's position. Compliance with federal civil rights laws is a requirement that should be enforced.

4.a. NEA opposes any federal voucher plan, including a voucher demonstration program.

I oppose vouchers as detrimental to public education.

Find the full questionnaire and more here. I hope that answers some of your questions, but if it doesn't, I know Carol has been an outspoken critic of NCLB, and a strong advocate for increased federal spending in public education at all levels.

[Cheswick2.0]

25. I should have known

Carol is just one fabulous Democratic woman! Thank you for posting that information.

[gottaB]

29. Let's hear from the morning crew

This is a vital issue. Where do all the candidates stand? What about those who voted for NCLB? What about those who support vouchers? Have they given up on public schools? What are the Dems proposing to do for public education?

[Le Taz Hot]

31. Don't dump the baby out with the bathwater

(Sorry for the cliche') Standards-based education has long been in the works and will be for the foreseeable future. The problem, of course, is that there are no universal standards. Some states, such as California, have excellent, very detailed standards for each grade. Others have very low and/or nebulous standards and one state has none at all.

My husband's company is trying VERY hard to sell our product, which includes a set of universal standards to ensure all students are offered the same educational opportunities.

Another problem, of course, are the textbooks. There are backroom deals with the DOE and the big boy publishers who are solely interested in making billions and not at all interested in educating students. One of the things we do is analyze textbooks and compare them to state standards. We recently finished one series of textbooks for a particular state and found that only 28% of the textbook cover the standards upon which students are being tested.

We have the software, texbtook analysis, universal standards and curriculum to solve this problem. Unfortunately, we're having a difficult time getting into the DISTRICTS much less the states or the feds.

Everytime I hear anything about the problems with standards-based education I want to jump up and down screaming, "We have the solution!"

[sybylla]

32. Then the more appropriate solution to NCLB is

to establish standards but leave the enforcement and testing to the states. My state has always had very high standards, higher than the feds. Now our kids spend large parts of the school year preparing for fed tests in addition to the state tests rather than experiencing all the possibilities of a relaxed learning environment.

Limited testing is fine, but it should be used to bring schools up, not tear them down as in NCLB. Unfortunately, what testing does is reduce the aims of teaching to get all kids to meet a "least common denominator" goal. In other words, the focus in the classroom becomes getting everyone the basics while so many kids who could go farther are actually left behind.

[Le Taz Hot]

34. I am in full agreement with you

The whole NCLB concept took a great educational tool, standards-based education, and failed to address existing problems (universal standards for one), implementation, adequate guidelines OR funding.

Lack of universal standards are only part of the problem. Assessment, of course, goes hand-in-hand, or should, with standards-based instruction and curriculum. In defense of texbook publishers (and I loathe to do this), how can you write a textbook that meets one state's standards but falls woefully short for another state? Publishers' solution has been to write texbooks based on low-standard states. Obviously, an inadequate solution as teachers are forced to spend too much time "teaching" to the dumbed-down standards/tests.

Standards don't have to be the "least common denominator." If you're a teacher, you know that students will rise to your level of expectation -- at least that's been my experience. The solution is to adapt a set of universal standards for each grade, ensure textbooks meet those standards and that assessments test the standards being taught.

[Evanstondem]

35. Dean came out early against it

Some of the other Dem Presidential candidates may be criticizing NCLB now, while the candidates who are in Congress voted FOR this terrible bill.

I absolutely agree with your opinion of NCLB. A lot of the current criticism focuses on its funding, but its unrealistic standards are an even bigger problem. Many good public schools are already being labelled by NCLF as "failing", and the standards become more ridiculous every year. By 2014, NCLF requires that schools have EVERY child test at grade level, with no exceptions for learning disabilities, English language proficiency, etc.