May 10, 2006
THE METHOD TO THE MADNESS:
Rising number of schools face penalties (BEN FELLER, May 9, 2006, AP)
[T]here is growing concern that the number of schools in serious trouble under the No Child Left Behind law is rising sharply - up 44 percent over the past year alone - and is expected to swell by thousands in the next few years.Schools make the list by falling short in math or reading for at least five straight years.
In perspective, the total amounts to 3 percent of roughly 53,000 schools that get federal poverty aid and face penalties under the No Child Left Behind law.
"It's just a matter of time before we see upwards of 10,000 schools in restructuring," said Michael Petrilli, a former enforcement official at the Education Department.
"Unless all of these schools suddenly turn themselves around, or the states continue to find ways to finagle the system, you're going to see the numbers accelerate," said Petrilli, now vice president for policy at the Thomas B. Fordham Foundation, a school change advocate.
The genius of NCLB is that eventually every school in America will be failing--the requirem ent that Special Ed students meet standards alone assures that--and, when coupled with the voucher provision in the law, that will allow every parent/child in America to choose what public school to attend. Once the GOP gets to 60 Senate seats you can tweak the bill to allow the vouchers to be used in private and parochial schools and you've effected a universal school choice. Posted by Orrin Judd at May 10, 2006 1:16 PM
And so the public schoolteachers learn the import of the maxim, "Live by the sword, die by the sword."
Posted by: Lou Gots at May 10, 2006 1:45 PMI think the Democrats were banking on selective inforcement of the regs. They still haven't caught up with how the internet increases data transmission. They can't cull the taller corn like they used to.....
Posted by: Robert Mitchell Jr. at May 10, 2006 3:22 PMSelective enforcement is exactly what is making NCLB nearly useless.
So a few "boiled frog" Soccer Moms find out their schools suck. Most will shrug and vote for the next referenda.
In SilConVal, CA, the doped white mice are pulling their kids of public schools (and sending them to less rigorouse private options) because the Asians are ruining the curve for their pampered progeny, while in Mass, parents are complaining that their psychicly weak kids are scared of red felt tip corrections on their papers.
My faith in NCLB would be restored if the staff of schools in failing districts were marched off in handcuffs. But alas, all these 'failing schools' will get some sort of exemption.
Posted by: Bruno at May 10, 2006 3:47 PMBruno,
Re: Fear of Red Tipped Pens
I read a while back that teachers have been told not to use red pens when marking papers, but to use softer colors like purple or green.
Posted by: erp at May 10, 2006 4:00 PMerp,
And soon, Hijackers and Cartoon crazed nutjobs will topple the west with red markers.
OUr schools aren't producing ignorant people. That can be remedied. They are intentionally producing uneducable people. That can't be remedied (for those people).
Posted by: Bruno at May 10, 2006 4:25 PMBruno:
Yes, their schools are perfectly fine. The Reform isn't for them.
Posted by: oj at May 10, 2006 5:14 PMBut if Bush and the GOP don't clean up their act, improve their PR, and get a lot of conservatives and moderates back on board, we'll have a Democratic Congress that'll gut NCLB in the name of "the children" and it'll all be for naught.
Posted by: PapayaSF at May 10, 2006 6:04 PMIt's a midterm, nonme of the whiners would vote anyway.
Posted by: oj at May 10, 2006 7:45 PM