News Nuggets

Meanwhile, back at the ranch, President Bush hangs on to the fantasy that NCLB was a "good law." (You can't be more "out of touch" than that.)

Look what our president says about NCLB…

"President Bush urged Congress to “strengthen this good law” by increasing accountability, adding flexibility for states and districts, reducing the number of high school dropouts, and providing extra help for struggling schools.

'Six years ago, we came together to pass [NCLB], and today no one can deny its results,' Bush said in his State of the Union address Jan. 28. 'Last year, fourth and eighth graders achieved the highest math scores on record. Reading scores are on the rise. And African-American and Hispanic students posted all-time highs.'"
Source:
eSchool News
http://www.eschoolnews.com/news/top-news/?i=51868;_hbguid=005bac94-074d-4991-a7f1-841695cf4778

But, not everyone agrees with this biased, political assessment of the law's success.

"'Instead of rushing to renew a broken law with fatal flaws, we need to first engage in a thoughtful debate about what is best for our nation’s children. While the president agrees that changes need to made to the law, we need to overhaul—not tweak—the law to help every child succeed,” said the American Association of School Administrators (AASA) in a statement.

'The six years since passage of NCLB have demonstrated that neither Congress nor the president had the will to finance an expanded federal role in education. We must continually examine our public schools and make system-wide changes to ensure schools are teaching children the skills they need to compete in the rapidly changing global environment. These 21st-century skills include collaboration, ingenuity, problem solving, creativity, and more—none of which is tested under NCLB.'

"The devastating effects of poverty have a significant impact on student achievement. While schools systems currently work hard to address the effects of poverty, they cannot eliminate the causes of poverty. Federal efforts to improve student achievement should coordinate with other systems, such as health care, housing and judicial systems, to alleviate the fundamental inequities that perpetuate poverty.'"
Source:
eSchool News
http://www.eschoolnews.com/news/top-news/?i=51868;_hbguid=005bac94-074d-4991-a7f1-841695cf4778

But, though some of the candidates had a hand in NCLB, voted for NCLB, and are using public disgust for the results wrought by NCLB to foster political animosity; no candidate seems to know how to fix the law.

To fix something, you have to know…

• What is wrong (why it is broken)


• What the real problem is


• What it takes to make things right


• That more of the same only results in the "same-old"


• What it takes to do things right


• Who knows how to do things right


• How to let the people who know what to do take charge

Who Knows What to Do?

Whether teachers know what to do to fix our schools is one thing. But, it is certain that our candidates and our politicians are ignorant of this objective reality.

But, our political process is polarizing, adversarial, win-loose, zero-sum…a circus.

Part of this problem is created by our political parties, not the candidates that pander to them. Our political parties polarize our country, and their zealots push their platforms (and the candidates that dance to them) to radical extremes.

And the party system fabricates "candidates" who represent a caricature of what real Americans believe.

And, all too often, voting is for the "Lesser of two evils", or "Voting for the Least-Worst" candidate.

True Conservatives

Sidebar

Our definition has nothing in common with the Republican-Democratic Polarities that battle each other from the extremes of common sense and practical action. These two sides could be more accurately described as "Reactionary and Over-Reactive.

Feel free to figure out which is which, or if the label applies to both parties at the same time.

Here is the "real" meaning of the term, conservative…

• Common sense first


• Practical solutions based upon common sense


• Decisions for the good of everyone


• Sticking to our American ideals


• Granting rights based upon responsibilities to everyone, equally

So, can teachers pull off repair and the management of our schools if given the chance?

Who knows until they try?

But a couple of ideas bode well in the favor of teachers. Teachers know…

• Something about education while the current crop of folks in charge know little or nothing about education


• That more bureaucracy, more tests, more external meddling and micro managing solves little


• That the problems are not the result of lack of funding, and teachers know that tremendous amounts of additional funding are necessary

So, since the folks in charge haven't been able to do the job, why not give teachers a "shot at cleaning up the mess?"

Hidden Agenda

Of course, much of the debate from the candidates about whether multiple tests instead of a single test, or that NCLB saddled school districts with "unfunded mandates" hides the real issue.

As Classroom Toolkit has noted in many previous issues, the real intent of the law was to provide public money for church schools.

This is the reason that the system sets school districts up to "look bad."

This is also the reason that President Bush proposed a "Pell Grant for Kids," yet another attempt to funnel our money to church schools who don't deserve to get it.

Diluting the already too tiny pot of school dollars so that church schools can spend it to compete with our public schools makes as little sense as spending school dollars on tests that are designed to blame teachers for our politicians' mistakes.

A Grain of Salt

So, when our candidates, and later, our nominees "cry wolf" about the "bad, old NCLB;" pay no attention.

The possible recession, the mortgage crisis, and a pop star who doesn't wear underpants have occluded even the "Iraq War" and "Immigration" in the minds and worries of our voting public.

Education is not on our political radar screen, and whoever wins the election won't know enough to do anything positive with NCLB's replacement.