This was your fourth post on the topic, and you’ve still failed to back up your assertion that “No Child Left Behind is a walking excuse for allowing the kid who comes in late every day, cuts and does no homework to sue the district or school for not passing his or her lazy ass.” There’s no shame in admitting your were just talking out of your ass.
[quote]kroc30 wrote:
Doogie - I just realized you’re from Texas - Home of the idiot that started all this (and probably should have been left behind when he was in school, but his daddy paid everyone off!!!).
I guess that’s why you have no comprehension of what this legislation does to the system. And no, I’m not a bleeding heart liberal before you go off on that tangent. I just can’t stand the moron in office and his father.[/quote]
I’m the one with no comprehension of the legislation? I’m teaching in the state where it all started. I’ve been dealing with it for close to a decade. Here, I’ll explain to you what your teachers’ union pamphlet failed to explain.
–Improving the Academic Achievement of the Economically Disadvantaged: Since 2001, it has increased Title I spending 52%,providing supplemental education support for students who are eligible for free or reduced-price lunches in school. The program serves more than 15 million students in nearly all school districts and more than half of all public schools, including two-thirds of the nation’s elementary schools. Do you have a problem with that?
–Preparing, Training, and Recruiting Highly Qualified Teachers and Principals: Under No Child Left Behind, all teachers must be highly qualified by the end of the 2005-06 school year. To be “highly qualified,” a teacher must (1) hold a bachelor’s degree, (2) hold a certification or licensure to teach in the state of his or her employment, and (3) have proven knowledge of the subjects he or she teaches. Under the president’s 2005 budget request, teachers receive $5.1 billion in support through training, recruitment incentives, loan forgiveness, and tax relief–up from $4.4 billion in 2004. I know this scares the hell out of 90% of the lazy ass teachers who show up to babysit and a collect a paycheck. Why does it bother you?
–Language Instruction for Limited English Proficient and Immigrant Students: The law ensures that all children–from every ethnic and cultural background–receive a quality education and the chance to achieve their academic potential. The president’s 2005 budget provides $681 million for English language acquisition funding for children who are learning the English language, so they can reach their academic potential and fully participate in the American dream. Do you have a problem with this?
–Giving Parents Choices and Creating Innovative Education Programs: No child should be trapped in an underperforming school. Under No Child Left Behind, students who attend Title I schools that do not make adequate yearly progress, as defined by states, for two consecutive years have the option of transferring to a higher-performing public school or a charter school within their district.
The promotion of charter schools is an important component of No Child Left Behind. These schools are held to the same accountability standards as traditional public schools, but they face fewer burdensome regulations. The result is more room for educators to be innovative and more choices for parents.
Funding for choice and options for students and parents expands to $504 million under the president’s 2005 budget request–an additional $113 million–to empower families to find schools that best meet the needs of their children, in particular those who need help the most.
I realize competition scares the hell out of the teachers’ unions. Why does it bother you?
–Making the Education System Accountable: Accountability is a crucial step in addressing the achievement gaps that plague our nation. For too long, the poor achievement of our most vulnerable students has been lost in unrepresentative averages. African American, Hispanic, special education, limited English proficient, and many other students were left behind because schools were not held accountable for their individual progress. Now all students count. Under No Child Left Behind, every state is required to 1) set standards for grade-level achievement and 2) develop a system to measure the progress of all students and subgroups of students in meeting those state-determined grade-level standards. For fiscal year 2005, President Bush requested $410 million to support the development and implementation of state assessments to ensure students, parents, and teachers receive vital information about the performance of individual students, schools, and school districts.
You see, in the past schools that were 90% white could write off their minority students and say,“90% of our kids are doing great!” Now schools are held accountable for the education of ALL their students: of all races, of all socio-economic status. Maybe you think it is just too hard to teach those pesky minority students.
–Making the System Responsive to Local Needs: In addition to being accountable, states and school districts have the flexibility to pursue educational excellence by the means that best meet their needs. No Child Left Behind provides unprecedented levels of flexibility regarding the management of federal funds.
For example, most school districts may transfer up to 50 percent of the funding they receive under four major formula grant programs (Teacher Quality State Grants, Educational Technology State Grants, Safe and Drug-Free Schools and Communities State Grants, and State Grants for Innovative Programs) to any one of these programs or to the Title I program for disadvantaged students.
Do you have issues with this? The teachers’ unions do because it eliminates a lot of their excuses for failure.
–Helping All Children Learn to Read: The administration has set the goal of making sure every child knows how to read at grade level by the third grade. Reading opens doors to children who otherwise would struggle through school, lacking the skills to succeed and grow. Literacy is a vital skill for a successful student.
Children who learn to read well early in life are more likely to be engaged in school and experience academic success. A deficiency in reading skills impacts achievement in all other areas of education. Under President Bush’s latest budget request, reading funding increases to a total of $1.4 billion, including $1.1 billion for the Reading First program, $132 million for Early Reading First programs, and $100 million for the Striving Readers program to meet the president’s goal of ensuring every child can read on grade level.
Do you have issues with making sure kids can read before they leave third grade? Do you think they should just be passed along, year after year without being able to read?
–Helping Children With Disabilities: The Department of Education is committed to ensuring that all children?including children with disabilities?receive a high-quality education. Before the passage of No Child Left Behind, the 1997 reauthorization of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) required that students with disabilities be included in state and district-wide assessment programs. No Child Left Behind builds on this requirement by ensuring that these assessments measure how well students with disabilities have learned required material in reading and mathematics. Students with the most significant cognitive disabilities can have results from specially designed alternate assessments used in accountability decisions instead.
Special Education Grants to States Program would receive a record $11.1 billion under the 2005 budget request. This represents the president’s fourth consecutive request for a $1 billion increase to support children with disabilities?a 75 percent increase over the funding level when the president took office and the highest level of federal support ever requested for children with disabilities.
There you go. Where does it make it easier for kids who skip school to sue when they fail? Where does it do anything to harm education? Where are the unfunded mandates?
[quote]
Ronald Reagan should be reborn. At least he gave you some confidence while he was fucking this nation up. Same with Clinton, just in different ways. By the way - What subject is it that you teach??? [/quote]
I teach Algebra to junior high kids in a charter school (started under Bush’s reforms here in Texas). We go to school from 7:30 to 4:00, with enrichment from 4:00 to 5:00. We have Saturday school for kids who come in behind from 9:00 to 1:00. We have 99% minority, low s-e-s, LEP, migrat children. We don’t make excuses for them, we just do what we have to do to get them an education.
http://ideapublicschools.com/content/view/13/27/
(The little girl in the picture on the left is my daughter. It’s a new website, so it’s still under construction.)
http://archive.parade.com/2004/0606/0606_wont_hungry.html