Obama to scrap testing requirements because too many students failing...
That is an inaccurate headline, as any reader who clicks on the link will learn - Obama has requested that his admin give waivers to schools who are in danger of failing the No Child Left Behind testing reuqirements, to give them a couple more years to reach their goals.
Is this an unreasonable request? Let us not forget that practically every mililtary contractor the US works with always gets to change the delivery dates of their products - and yet continues to get paid even if their schedule slips by years....
As for the school thing... one does have to ask why the schools haven't made any decent progress in the last few years (except those schools in Atlanta, of course).
Why are kids failing in school? Is it really the fault of the schools - with teachers who are no longer allowed to discipline the children? With kids who get no discipline at home and are not taught manners anywhere? Most kids in certain areas only go to school in order to get the free breakfasts and lunches that their mom can't afford to give them herself.
A responder to this article had this to say, and I include it here. We must remember, after all, that No Child Left Behind is a government program, with all the incompetence that implies:
A couple of things you should know about these NCLB scores: First, they mean NO child left behind. That means that special ed kids' scores count. English Language Learners (illegal aliens' kids) scores count. Not only do they count, but they have their own separate categories. The kids with learning disabilities must be scoring proficient. The illegals must be scoring proficient in English as well as math. 90% of the kids could all be scoring at an advanced level, but if the English learners aren't proficient, then the entire school scores in the 'failed" category. Wanna know the real catch 22? If an illegal's kid does make manage to score in the ADVANCED range, you know what they do? THEY REMOVE HIM FROM THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE LEARNER CATEGORY!! HIS SCORES DON'T FIGURE INTO THE AVERAGE OF THE REST OF THE ILLEGALS!! ITS A SYSTEM THAT WAS DESIGNED TO FAIL!! How do I know this? Because when I got my certificate, I was hired as an English teacher by a school that was at 9% proficiency for English. In two years, the school wide proficiency was 45%... but we were still considered failing because the ELLs weren't making progress. We weren't making progress because the ELLs are coming from south of the border faster than we can teach them.
The article I'm going to share below doesn't really go in-depth into why the schools are failing. Are they in areas where minority, non-English speaking students are a majority in the classrooms? Are they in areas where parents are usually only "parent" and don't really care about education?
What is the problem?
The article that the Drudge report linked to was from CNS news.com. Here's their headline.
Obama Administration Exempting Schools From Federal Law’s Testing Mandate
Frnkly, I'm not sure if that is an inaccurate headline as well. In the first paragraph it says that schools have been begging for these waivers but Congress has not answered the call, in the second paragraph it says that they are answering the call.
AP) - State and local education officials have been begging the federal government for relief from student testing mandates in the federal No Child Left Behind law, but school starts soon and Congress still hasn't answered the call.
Education Secretary Arne Duncan says he will announce a new waiver system Monday to give schools a break.
The plan to offer waivers to all 50 states, as long as they meet other school reform requirements, comes at the request of President Barack Obama, Duncan said. More details on the waivers will come in September, he said.
The goal of the No Child Left Behind law is to have every student proficient in math and reading by 2014. States have been required to bring more students up to the math and reading standards each year, based on tests that usually take place each spring. The step-by-step ramping up of the 9-year-old law has caused heartburn in states and most school districts, because more and more schools are labeled as failures as too few of their students meet testing goals.
Critics say the benchmarks are unrealistic and brands schools as failures even if they make progress. Schools and districts where too few kids pass the tests for several years are subject to sanctions that can include firing teachers or closing the school entirely.
Through the waivers, schools will get some relief from looming deadlines to meet testing goals as long as they agree to embrace other kinds of education reforms such as raising standards, helping teachers and principals improve, and focusing on fixing the lowest performing schools.
Duncan and Melody Barnes, director of the Domestic Policy Council at the White House, said the administration will encourage every state to apply and will work with them to meet the requirements.
Nothing in this plan for temporary relief from some aspects of the federal law will undermine what Congress is still discussing in terms of revising federal education laws, Duncan said. The long-awaited overhaul of the law began earlier this year in the U.S. House, but a comprehensive reform appears far from the finish line.
"What we do in terms of flexibility can be a bridge or transition," he said. "We all want to fix the law. This might help us get closer to that."
The chairman of the House Committee on Education and the Workforce, however, says he is worried about Duncan's waiver plan.
"I remain concerned that temporary measures instituted by the department, such as conditional waivers, could undermine the committee's efforts to reauthorize the Elementary and Secondary Education Act," said Rep. John Kline, R-Minn., in a statement, referring to the formal name of the No Child Left Behind law.
The Obama administration requested a revision more than a year ago. Duncan said another school year is about to start and state education officials have told him they can't keep waiting for relief from the mandates.
"I can't overemphasize how loudly the outcry is to do something now," Duncan said.
Duncan has warned that 82 percent of U.S. schools could be labeled failures next year if No Child Left Behind is not changed. Education experts have questioned that estimate, but state officials report a growing number of schools facing sanctions under the law.
Montana Schools Superintendent Denise Juneau said she welcomed the waiver proposal, as long as it offers relief from the 2014 deadline. She said her state isn't afraid of high standards and education reform but needs enough time to reach those standards and freedom to institute change in a way that works for Montana.
Montana decided to skip a planned increase in its testing goals this past school year.
"I don't mind the goals and we're certainly not afraid of accountability. They can set the bar wherever they want. They just have to let us have the flexibility to get there," Juneau said. "We can definitely meet any bar they throw at us."
The chairman of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee said he understands why it was time for the administration to take action.
"This Congress faces real challenges reaching bipartisan, bicameral agreement on anything," said Sen. Tom Harkin, D-Iowa, in a written statement. "Given the ill-advised and partisan bills that the House majority has chosen to move, I understand Secretary Duncan's decision to proceed with a waiver package to provide some interim relief while Congress finishes its work."
Harkin said he remains committed to keep working toward a bipartisan solution to reform the federal education law.
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