Every Child Left Behind

[bhallg2k]

At this rate, kids won't know enough when they get to high school to be able to graduate, and probably won't be able to go to college. Which is fine, I guess, since W slashed financial aid.

Aside from W's insane treatment of the environment, this is definitely his most heinous act. But I guess it doesn't matter since the generations to come won't know any better.

I thoroughly hate this president. And fuck Ted Kennedy for going along with it.

New York Times
March, 26
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/03/26/ed...rtner=homepage

SACRAMENTO â?? Thousands of schools across the nation are responding to the reading and math testing requirements laid out in No Child Left Behind, President Bush's signature education law, by reducing class time spent on other subjects and, for some low-proficiency students, eliminating it.

Devars Dean, left, and Inerik Salas, seventh graders at Martin Luther King Jr. Junior High in Sacramento, Calif., where intensive reading and math classes have raised test scores.

MartÃ*n Lara, a math teacher at King Junior High, said the intense focus was paying off for one of his students, whose skills were solidifying.

Schools from Vermont to California are increasing â?? in some cases tripling â?? the class time that low-proficiency students spend on reading and math, mainly because the federal law, signed in 2002, requires annual exams only in those subjects and punishes schools that fall short of rising benchmarks.

The changes appear to principally affect schools and students who test below grade level.

The intense focus on the two basic skills is a sea change in American instructional practice, with many schools that once offered rich curriculums now systematically trimming courses like social studies, science and art. A nationwide survey by a nonpartisan group that is to be made public on March 28 indicates that the practice, known as narrowing the curriculum, has become standard procedure in many communities.

The survey, by the Center on Education Policy, found that since the passage of the federal law, 71 percent of the nation's 15,000 school districts had reduced the hours of instructional time spent on history, music and other subjects to open up more time for reading and math. The center is an independent group that has made a thorough study of the new act and has published a detailed yearly report on the implementation of the law in dozens of districts.

"Narrowing the curriculum has clearly become a nationwide pattern," said Jack Jennings, the president of the center, which is based in Washington.

At Martin Luther King Jr. Junior High School in Sacramento, about 150 of the school's 885 students spend five of their six class periods on math, reading and gym, leaving only one 55-minute period for all other subjects.

About 125 of the school's lowest-performing students are barred from taking anything except math, reading and gym, a measure that Samuel Harris, a former lieutenant colonel in the Army who is the school's principal, said was draconian but necessary. "When you look at a kid and you know he can't read, that's a tough call you've got to make," Mr. Harris said.

The increasing focus on two basic subjects has divided the nation's educational establishment. Some authorities, including Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings, say the federal law's focus on basic skills is raising achievement in thousands of low-performing schools. Other experts warn that by reducing the academic menu to steak and potatoes, schools risk giving bored teenagers the message that school means repetition and drilling.

"Only two subjects? What a sadness," said Thomas Sobol, an education professor at Columbia Teachers College and a former New York State education commissioner. "That's like a violin student who's only permitted to play scales, nothing else, day after day, scales, scales, scales. They'd lose their zest for music."

But officials in Cuero, Tex., have adopted an intensive approach and said it was helping them meet the federal requirements. They have doubled the time that all sixth graders and some seventh and eighth graders devote to reading and math, and have reduced it for other subjects.

"When you only have so many hours per day and you're behind in some area that's being hammered on, you have to work on that," said Henry Lind, the schools superintendent. "It's like basketball. If you can't make layups, then you've got to work on layups."

Chad Colby, a spokesman for the federal Department of Education, said the department neither endorsed nor criticized schools that concentrated instructional time on math and reading as they sought to meet the test benchmarks laid out in the federal law's accountability system, known as adequate yearly progress.

"We don't choose the curriculum," Mr. Colby said. "That's a decision that local leaders have to make. But for every school you point to, I can show you five other schools across the country where students are still taking a well-rounded curriculum and are still making adequate yearly progress. I don't think it's unreasonable to ask our schools to get kids proficient at grade level in reading and math."

Since America's public schools began taking shape in the early 1800's, shifting fashions have repeatedly reworked the curriculum. Courses like woodworking and sewing joined the three R's. After World War I, vocational courses, languages and other subjects broadened the instructional menu into a smorgasbord.

A federal law passed after the Russian launching of Sputnik in 1957 spurred a renewed emphasis on science and math, and a 1975 law that guaranteed educational rights for the disabled also provoked sweeping change, said William Reese, a professor at the University of Wisconsin and author of "America's Public Schools: From the Common School to No Child Left Behind." But the education law has leveraged one of the most abrupt instructional shifts, he said.

"Because of its emphasis on testing and accountability in particular subjects, it apparently forces some school districts down narrow intellectual paths," Dr. Reese said. "If a subject is not tested, why teach it?"

The shift has been felt in the labor market, heightening demand for math teachers and forcing educators in subjects like art and foreign languages to search longer for work, leaders of teachers groups said.

The survey coming out this week looks at 299 school districts in 50 states. It was conducted as part of a four-year study of No Child Left Behind and appears to be the most systematic effort to track the law's footprints through the classroom, although other authorities had warned of its effect on teaching practices.

The historian David McCullough told a Senate Committee last June that because of the law, "history is being put on the back burner or taken off the stove altogether in many or most schools, in favor of math and reading."

The report says that at districts in Colorado, Texas, Vermont, California, Nebraska and elsewhere, math and reading are squeezing other subjects. At one district cited, the Bayonne City Schools in New Jersey, low-performing ninth graders will be barred from taking Spanish, music or any other elective next fall so they can take extra periods of math and reading, said Ellen O'Connor, an assistant superintendent.

"We're using that as a motivation," Dr. O'Connor said. "We're hoping they'll concentrate on their math and reading so they can again participate in some course they love."

At King Junior High, in a poor neighborhood in Sacramento a few miles from a decommissioned Air Force base, the intensive reading and math classes have raised test scores for several years running. That has helped Larry Buchanan, the superintendent of the Grant Joint Union High School District, which oversees the school, to be selected by an administrators' group as California's 2005 superintendent of the year.

But in spite of the progress, the school's scores on California state exams, used for compliance with the federal law, are increasing not nearly fast enough to allow the school to keep up with the rising test benchmarks. On the math exams administered last spring, for instance, 17.4 percent of students scored at the proficient level or above, and on the reading exams, only 14.9 percent.

With scores still so low, Mr. Harris, the school's principal, and Mr. Buchanan said they had little alternative but to continue remedial instruction for the lower-achieving among the school's nearly 900 students.

The students are the sons and daughters of mostly Hispanic, black and Laotian Hmong parents, many of whom work as gardeners, welders and hotel maids or are unemployed. The district administers frequent diagnostic tests so that teachers can carefully calibrate lessons to students' needs.

Rubén Jimenez, a seventh grader whose father is a construction laborer, has a schedule typical of many students at the school, with six class periods a day, not counting lunch.

Rubén studies English for the first three periods, and pre-algebra and math during the fourth and fifth. His sixth period is gym. How does he enjoy taking only reading and math, a recent visitor asked.

"I don't like history or science anyway," Rubén said. But a moment later, perhaps recalling something exciting he had heard about lab science, he sounded ambivalent.

"It'd be fun to dissect something," he said.

MartÃ*n Lara, Rubén's teacher, said the intense focus on math was paying off because his math skills were solidifying. Rubén said math had become his favorite subject.

But other students, like Paris Smith, an eighth grader, were less enthusiastic. Last semester, Paris failed one of the two math classes he takes, back to back, each morning.

"I hate having two math classes in a row," Paris said. "Two hours of math is too much. I can't concentrate that long."

Donna Simmons, his mother, said Mr. Lara seemed to be working hard to help Paris understand math.

"The school cares," Ms. Simmons said. "The faculty cares. I want him to keep trying."

Sydney Smith, a vice principal who oversees instruction at the school, said she had heard only minimal grumbling from students excluded from electives.

"I've only had about two students come to my office and say: 'What in the world? I'm just taking two courses?' " Ms. Smith said. "So most students are not complaining about being miserable."

But Lorie Turner, who teaches English to some pupils for three consecutive periods and to others for two periods each day, said she used some students' frustration to persuade them to try for higher scores on the annual exams administered under California's Standardized Testing and Reporting program, known as Star.

"I have some little girls who are dying to get out of this class and get into a mainstream class," Ms. Turner said. "But I tell them the only way out is to do better on that Star test."

bhallg2k Reviewed by bhallg2k on 03-26-2006. Every Child Left Behind At this rate, kids won't know enough when they get to high school to be able to graduate, and probably won't be able to go to college. Which is fine, I guess, since W slashed financial aid. Aside from W's insane treatment of the environment, this is definitely his most heinous act. But I guess it doesn't matter since the generations to come won't know any better. I thoroughly hate this president. And fuck Ted Kennedy for going along with it. New York Times March, 26 Rating: 5

[Euphoric]

"It'd be fun to dissect something," he said.

[Breukelen advocaat]

Once again, the parents show that they are not interested in their children's education enough to take advantage of free government programs.

As usual, the government is to blame - and nobody asks where the parents were.

Here's somebody else's comments from a childfree website, and the article is below it.

http://childfreeghetto.blogspot.com/

Low-income parents are supposed to get a free tutor for any child who goes to a school that gets federal poverty aid but has not made steady progress for three straight years."

Parents get to pick the tutor they want -- even a private one -- from a state list.

But that central pledge of the 2002 No Child Left Behind law is often not being met."

The article places blame on the following factors for this lag in tutoring:
Publicity materials that parents don't understand (if you get much more complex than "free tutoring," they can't grasp it)

*Registration sessions conducted during typical working hours, when parents can't attend (OK, that's a valid complaint)
*School administration and board members making it difficult for tutors to meet with parents or secure time and space inside schools to conduct tutoring

I'm interested in knowing how many parents care about the free tutoring, expressed interest in it, or followed up beyond casual initial interest. The article says nothing about this. The article doesn't even quote any parents or mention any parent complaints. All the information is coming from civil rights advocates and private tutoring companies.

Do parents know this is an issue? Do they even care? Are those civil rights advocates and tutoring companies pushing House and Senate education committees to improve tutoring access for children who won't take advantage of it anyway because of parental disinterest?

Where are the parents in all this?


Parents, kids getting shut out of free help
Tutoring companies and advocates point to unkept promise
Friday, February 17, 2006; Posted: 11:07 a.m. EST (16:07 GMT) http://72.14.203.104/search?q=cache:...s&ct=clnk&cd=1

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Schools are blocking huge numbers of poor children from getting free tutoring, civil rights advocates and private tutoring companies said Thursday.

In a Capitol meeting sponsored by House and Senate education leaders of both parties, tutoring providers pointed to what they called an unkept federal promise.

Low-income parents are supposed to get a free tutor for any child who goes to a school that gets federal poverty aid but has not made steady progress for three straight years.

Parents get to pick the tutor they want -- even a private one -- from a state list.

But that central pledge of the 2002 No Child Left Behind law is often not being met.

Only 11 percent of eligible children, or 226,000 out of nearly 2 million students who qualify, received tutoring in the 2004 school year, according to the Education Department.

The numbers of underserved kids could be even higher because data collection is not always strong.

"There are millions of eligible students who are not getting services," said Jeff Cohen, president of Catapult Learning, which is providing tutoring to roughly 50,000 children this year. "We have got to correct that. At its face value, it's wrong."

The low numbers of tutored students are not because of a lack of interest, but because some schools make getting help nearly impossible for parents, tutoring advocates said. Their examples:
Publicity that is so filled with jargon that parents don't understand it. "It needs to say two words: free tutoring," said Leigh Hopkins, vice president for education at Public/Private Ventures, a nonprofit think tank.

Registration sessions are held in the middle of the work day, when parents cannot attend.

School administrators and school board members who make it difficult for tutors to get time or space inside schools, or even to talk directly to teachers.

Panelists also spoke of schools and districts that dissuade parents from accepting tutoring on grounds that it would eat up federal aid that schools need for other reasons.

There are separate problems with tutoring, a review by the independent Center on Education Policy shows. Many states say they have little ability to oversee the quality of the tutoring providers, and little proof that tutoring has boosted academic achievement.

The Education Industry Association, a lobbying group for more than 800 corporate and individual members who provide services, organized the meeting. The tutoring provision is a lucrative opportunity for the industry, particularly as the doors to more schools open.

But the event was also sponsored by the Republican chairmen and top Democrats of the House and Senate education committees, who have heard complaints that the law isn't working.

None of those lawmakers attended.

In its new public relations campaign, the industry lobbying group plans to spotlight districts that have embraced tutoring -- and expose ones that deny access.

The Education Department has also sought to publicize school systems that have been successful in enrolling students. Education Secretary Margaret Spellings has even bent the federal rules in Boston, Chicago and New York City to try to expand access for children.

Advocates want more aggressive federal enforcement, but deputy assistant secretary Holly Kuzmich said it's hard for the department to "resolve problems in 15,000 school districts."
Copyright 2006 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

[bhallg2k]

I think you're missing the point, Breukelen.

It's not about free tutoring. But if it is, where's the money to pay for it? Every single one of W's budgets have underfunded his own initiative.

It's about the fact that kids are being screwed by not getting even a minimally expansive education. How are Americans to compete in a growing technologically-dependent marketplace when they aren't even being taught science?

The smartass in me wants to say that W just doesn't want those who finished elementary school to be smarter than his dumbass, but I honestly don't think he or anyone else cares.

This will be our downfall.

[Psycho4Bud]

It's not about free tutoring. But if it is, where's the money to pay for it? Every single one of W's budgets have underfunded his own initiative.

.

There gets to be a lot of finger prints on this shit by the time it goes through the house and the senate. Add on their own special programs and knock cash from what it was intended. I remember disaster flood relief in "93" that was held up because of "special programs" that the house and senate were trying to tack on.

[mfactor420]

I think you're missing the point, Breukelen.

It's not about free tutoring. But if it is, where's the money to pay for it? Every single one of W's budgets have underfunded his own initiative.

It's about the fact that kids are being screwed by not getting even a minimally expansive education. How are Americans to compete in a growing technologically-dependent marketplace when they aren't even being taught science?

The smartass in me wants to say that W just doesn't want those who finished elementary school to be smarter than his dumbass, but I honestly don't think he or anyone else cares.

This will be our downfall.

I'm not sure Breukelen missed the point. Maybe if the parents were taking advantage of the free tutoring for math and reading, presuming the other bureaucratic obstacles were removed, then there could be more time for the expansive education you are thinking of.

bhallg2k, I like the smart ass in you.:thumbsup:

[bhallg2k]

There gets to be a lot of finger prints on this shit by the time it goes through the house and the senate. Add on their own special programs and knock cash from what it was intended. I remember disaster flood relief in "93" that was held up because of "special programs" that the house and senate were trying to tack on.

Believe me, I understand that. Pork spending is brutal and is sucking the life out of anything good our government tries to accomplish.

I was saying that the budgets W has submitted to Congress since No Child Left Behind became law haven't included the level of funds he promised and that the law dictates. So states are left with an unfunded mandate.

But if you really break it down, NCLB is atrocious from start to finish and needs to be scrapped completely.

[bhallg2k]

I'm not sure Breukelen missed the point. Maybe if the parents were taking advantage of the free tutoring for math and reading, presuming the other bureaucratic obstacles were removed, then there could be more time for the expansive education you are thinking of.

bhallg2k, I like the smart ass in you.:thumbsup:

I still don't believe that it's a lack of tutoring that's holding these kids back.

It's many things; too many to list. One day I'd like to do a photo essay of two schools only some 20 miles apart. One in center city Philadelphia, and the other in a modest suburb north of the city. The differences are frankly appalling. Example: one school has its own television station on campus, the other doesn't have air conditioning. Can you guess which?

What do they say? Progress doesn't come from the barrel of a gun, or something like that? That's what these districts are feeling across the country. If their kids don't score well, they lose funds, and that helps no one. They have no choice but to hammer reading and math, reading and math, reading and math. And it's a travesty.

Here's an example of what can happen when kids don't get exposed to a breadth of material.

[Breukelen advocaat]

I went to a catholic school in the 60' s, where we had over 60 kids in the class for many years. We had NO tutoring, one teacher per year for all subjects, no fans (let alone air conditioning), no TV's (or TV station, lol), no gym, no science, no "class trips", etc. In the eighth grade, some of us took the entrance exam for Brooklyn Technical High School - a public institution that was, and still is, considered among the best in the country, and itâ??s counterparts are Bronx Science, and Stuyvesant H.S. in Manhattan. I did get accepted, but didn't attend.

The whole key is that the parents have to be involved - including WORKING parents. If the parents do not think that school is important, the kids fail.

When she in High School, my wife was employed, by the Dept. of Ed., City of NY, as a math tutor in her Coney Island (Brooklyn) high school, and privately to kids in Jr. High. If a kid cannot "catch on", they are not going to risk being ridiculed in class. Itâ??s important to have tutoring. These students of my wife, her own age, were more comfortable with her after school and during summer school. If you just cannot â??getâ?� something, such as multiplication and fractions, this is a tremendous help.

Somehow my cell phone number is mistakenly listed in the NY Board of Ed., for many kids. I get calls that are recordings telling me that "my" child was absent - and I have no kids. Iâ??ve tried to have it corrected, and the people at the Bd. Of Education are not able to help. Parents used to send notes home, and the parents had to sign it. This is over - now a machine automatically dials, and the kids erase the message(s).

It's the parents, and the people that run the schools that are the problem - not the amount of money that is thrown at the schools.

[Fengzi]

It's the parents, and the people that run the schools that are the problem - not the amount of money that is thrown at the schools.

Absolutely True:thumbsup:

My wife grew up in a level of poverty that few inner city Americans can imagine. The schools she went to would make any American school look luxurious. Yet she managed to go to one of the top universities in China and is now very well respected here in the U.S. as one of the top minds in her field. Ok, I will admit that she is one of those brainiac types. But her situation was pretty much the same as for 99% of all the other educated Chinese that now fill our high-tech industries. Poverty and poorly funded schools didn't hold them back either. Why, because Chinese, Asians in general, place an extremely high value on knowldge itself.

The big problem is that people here no longer value the knowledge that education brings. They want their kids to get good grades, to graduate high school, and to get a diploma but they don't seem to care whether or not those things are earned or not.

The big debate about hs exit exams are a perfect example. You hear the argument about how it's every kid's right to get a high school diploma. That's bullshit!. It's every kid's right to have the opportunity to earna hs diploma. Not have one handed to them on a silver platter.

The diploma is a representation of a person possessing a specific amount of knowledge. If you can't demonstrate that you posses this knowledge you shouldn't get the diploma. Does not graduating hold the kid back in life? Probably. Is it bad for their self-esteem? Most likely. Well, to damn bad. If we start just handing these out to every kid who's managed to spend 12 years in school, regardless of how much they've learned, where do we stop? Why don't we just carry it on to college diplomas? Graduate degrees? I don't know about you, but I'd hate to get the heart surgeon who only got his degree because it would have been bad for his self esteem if he didn't.

Bottom line, we can put all the money in the world into schools and it isn't going to help until parents start teaching kids that knowledge itself is what is important. Not a little piece of fancy paper.