Barack Obama’s choice for education secretary, Arne Duncan, said Tuesday that the No Child Left Behind law should stop punishing schools where only a handful of kids are struggling.
At his Senate confirmation hearing, Duncan said kids with disabilities or kids learning English might struggle while the rest of the students make gains. But No Child Left Behind requires progress across every group, even special education kids or English language learners. Read More
We sure didn’t hear this back when black kids were being left behind did we, now we are hearing that kids with disabilities does not count and Arne Duncan could care less about them! Is this what you voted for Americans? Don’t we care about the kids with disabilities anymore? Shame, Shame, Shame on you!
LINKS:
(1) Michelle Obama’s Adventures in Chicago Pay to Play Politics
Duncan is not a good choice.
That is not the problem at all, GTP. One of the biggest problems with NCLB is that it labels a whole school as “failing” if a handful of kids fail. That is not to say that it’s OK to “leave a child behind” but it’s stupid.
Actually, in a way, it’s not stupid at all. The ulterior motive by the Bushies is that they wanted as many schools as possible to be labelled as “failing” so that they can push for vouchers, to fund their private parochial schools.
Is that the ulterior motive? Smart! Because NCLB sucks, but if it ends up freeing us from the government school monopoly, it’ll be worth it.
Yeah, that’s the ticket.
Seriously, do you really think Bush was playing that deep a game? I mean, Ted Kennedy was a co-sponsor of NCLB, and Teddy’s not going to do anything to imperil the government/union lock on the schools. Or do you think he was another victim of Bushian mind tricks?
A mistake frequently made by people like yourself, subscribers to the community-based reality, is thinking of Bush as a conservative. The fact is, we conservatives have had to put up with a lot for the last eight years. Bush was good on taxes, judges, abortion, and the war. Bush was terrible on spending and immigration. He’s basically a big government kinda guy, a “compassionate conservative,” and he’s genuinely proud of the extra billions he’s thrown at our miserable schools.
A “compassionate conservative”? He’s neither. That creature was put on the endangered species list a decade ago, and there are no survivors.
It’s Xmas in di-land! The “stimulus” will include $80 billion to stimulate education!
http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/campaign-k-12/2009/01/stimulus_update.html
I predict that test scores for elementary and secondary students will rise … not at all.
Throwing more money at education won’t necessarily increase test scores, if that’s what you’re getting at.
But starving the beast by withholding funds a la Bushie will certainly hurt our kids’ education.
But starving the beast by withholding funds a la Bushie will certainly hurt our kids’ education.
Just out of curiosity, how much do you think federal spending on education has decreased under Bush?
di- seriously? I get it, you don’t like Bush, but without the parental involvment you can’t get the kids to really care. why do you keep blaming the person that has no real control over it? All he can do is provide the funds to them, they have to have a plan. They have to THINK for themselves.
“Actually, in a way, it’s not stupid at all. The ulterior motive by the Bushies is that they wanted as many schools as possible to be labelled as “failing” so that they can push for vouchers, to fund their private parochial schools.”
-prove it. Schools with money don’t always produce good kids. Do you have any idea how many serial killers went to private school? We’re back to the parents.
My kids are in school in Chicago, this is a big thing to me and I have many issues with it. A teacher actually told a child not to talk about who they were voting for in the elementary election because they voted for McCain. THAT’S what Chicago schools are teaching. No amount of funding is going to change how the teachers teach.
In fact, there is only a very weak correlation between per-pupil spending and students’ performance. Above some minimum level of spending, throwing more money at schools is pretty close to a pure waste. Teachers matter, parents matter.
Send some of these illegals back home and the school spending could go down with the student’s performance staying about the same or maybe go up maybe a %