[reply]foreign competition has incentivized American companies to produce better products at lower cost, benefitting the entire economy.[/reply]

ugh - incentivized. I fear for the English language.

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http://pavlov.psyc.queensu.ca/~psyc382/rockgold.html
(Norman Rockwell's "Do Unto Others")

Ok, whatever they want to call themselves is fine with me, as long as they don't call themselves liberal. Most of what they believe in has nothing to do with classical liberalism. The founders are probably turn in their graves every time Ted Kennedy is called a liberal...

I'll put it in better words later.

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-- Every morning brings opportunity;
Each evening offers judgement. --

Does anyone really believe the NEA doesn't want accountability? Yep.

all schools are being forced to be gauged by the same standard. That's why it's called a "standard."

The schools with students from lower socioeconomic backgrounds, higher rates of single parent families, higher rates of minorities and english-second language students, higher numbers of special-ed, IEP, and aminstreamed students, etc ... are going to continue to slide See, that last bit is what concerns me- "continue to slide." What's the NEA's plan to stop that slide? Doesn't have a viable plan? Then I say get the heck out of the way and lets see if having a standard works. Clearly the status quo does not.

Any labor union or professonal business going to stand for the same action in their industry? Other industries do have minimum standards of performance. I can't imagine why you think otherwise.

remove the politicians from the equation. Not only are they a roadblock, but an oncoming train. Provide the funding, get out of the way, let the educational experts do what they do, watch the progress. Really.

I don't know whether to laugh or cry. "Give us your money, then shut the hell up, you're bothering us."

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"People think it must be fun to be a super genius, but they don't realize how hard it is to put up with all the idiots in the world."

Well, your argument falls into what George Bush calls the "Tyranny of Low Expectations." Minority students families do not support teachers in educating their children so we can't do a good job and therefore they will always fail. (A little cheese with that whine?) When a manufacturer cannot get good raw materials, they work with their suppliers to improve their processes. There is a way to do it, it has been done in some school districts, and accountability is part of it. My wife's school has a large minority presence in the student body, but gets an "A" rating every year from the state of Florida. In the next county over, schools with similar minority populations are failing. Why?

I have lived with teachers almost all of my 50 years (my mother and my wife.) I know for a fact that teachers UNIONS (NEA) don't want any accountability, never have, and never will.

Obviously I wasn't expressing my views correctly, as I was percieved to be making excuses ... or I just have no clue what I am talking about (I don't feel that is true). Since I am for increasing qualifications for teachers and for more comprehensive evaluations ... even for tenured teachers, and for doing away with the "step-stone" payscales and pay for quality, I don't feel I am for minimum standards, or schools "just getting by", etc.

The standards set up by NCLB are far from "minimum standards". The schools that need help the most are going to be the ones to have "help" taken away.

Too often the moeny is spent on "new schools" rather than fixing the problems at the old school. so, what you get is a new building with the same problems. The government readily offers grants for new buildings, but not for funding things that could fix the problems of the actual school (truancy, more teachers, lower class sizes, after school programs, tutors, etc).

I know for a fact that teachers UNIONS (NEA) don't want any accountability, never have, and never will.

I have not seen that personally. I really, really, hope that is not the case nationwide. I know very few teachers that are not embarassed by poor performance of schools and poor teachers.

I agree quality teachers can teach anyone. I teach at a school that is middle level, but the science department has exceeded state standards for the last 4 years (starting the year I was hired. I jokingly point that out whenever possible) The major problem at our school is truancy. Bad problem.

I guess I typed so much, I don't need to go back and rewrite anything. =)

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-- Every morning brings opportunity;
Each evening offers judgement. --

>"Ok, whatever they want to call themselves is fine with me, as long as they don't call themselves liberal. Most of what they believe in has nothing to do with classical liberalism. The founders are probably turn in their graves every time Ted Kennedy is called a liberal..."

No argument here. But then, the Conservatives shouldn't use the name conservative either. I don't consider anything the current administration is doing or proposing to be conservative in nature (e.g., huge deficit spending, large tax cuts for the wealthy, 'preemptive' invasion of foreign countries (a charitable characterization of the Iraq situation), Patriot Act, proposals for Federal constitutional amendments covering marriage (clearly and traditionally a state issue), federal educational standards (same), etc...)

On a related note, I read an article this weekend that the Religious Right does not want to be called by that name anymore. Instead, they want to be called Evangelical Christians. Whatever.

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What a drag it is getting old. -- Stones

Evangelical Christians is better than calling them Republicans IMO. I sometimes feel like referring to myself as a Secular Republican or liberal Republican so people don't associate me with some born again zealots (not that all born again christians are zealots...)..

Does that make the opposition party the "regressives"?

A label is a label. Both sides are out of touch with the real problems in America and are pandering to the extremists in each party.

Education reform should be the number one priority. We spend more than enough money on education. The school districts that spend the most per student have the lowest or near the lowest perfromance scores(washington DC, Cincinnati(where I live)).

I think most teachers can teach, want to teach, but the parents, the students and the administration put obstacles in their way. The NEA does oppose standards, the teachers I know do not but the union leadership is looking out for their own jobs, as most union leadership does, rather than what is best for their members or the product(education) that they are producing.

Social security-My mind was made up to vote for Bush when Kerry stated in the 3rd debate that he would look at social security in 3-4 years if someone came to him and told him that there was a problem. I may not agree with Bush's idea to privatize social security but at least he has the common sense to realize that there is a problem that needs to be addressed.

We spend more than enough money on education.

The problem is not enough of that money reaches "the kids". I could on with this forever. Very little money goes to "teacher training" and "student programs". Quite a bit of money goes to "making the building look good". Too often, it seems the administration views the "school" in terms of the building, whereas the staff views the school as those that "work and attend here". So, true ... quite a bit of money goes to education ... not enough actually goes toward helping kids.

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If we're going to discuss the issue, we might as well discuss it. [I hope I don't scare anyone away with the amount of written material ... I'll likely use some of this ... and some of your comments for a paper in one of my master's classes].

No Child Left Behind drastically raises the bar on standards. Drastically. It is far from a "minimum standard" mandate. Currently, it is acceptable for 50% of a school's students to meet or exceed the state standards as measured by the state exam, the Prairie State Achievement Exam (PSAE) in my state (IL). The percentage goes up around 5% each year (with NCLB), culminating at 100% in the year 2014.

The problem teachers &administrators have with the raised standards is that there is no increased funding for programs that would enable more students to meet this goal. It's the same old "do more with less" type of thinking that has been all too prevalent in education. Factor in that your whole school's evaluation comes down to "one standardized test", and it's not hard to see where some of the adversity comes from.

As I have mentioned before, I am currently working towards my master's degree in Educational Administration (principal, superintendent, etc). We discuss, evaluate, rationalize, etc NCLB every week. We look at critical statistics and try to come up with ways of meeting the challenge with nothing more than our raw materials. We are literally the future administrators that will work with No Child Left Behind (unless the president in '08 does away it). It is THE HOT TOPIC everyone in education is talking about.

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-- Every morning brings opportunity;
Each evening offers judgement. --

Here are some suggestions that we routinely come up with. We get all sorts of input from deans of students, principals, teachers, parents, and students.

1. Drop the ACT portion from the state exam. I don't know what percentage of students in most high schools, aspire to go to college, but at our school it's right about half. The current state exam is testing the college-thinking skills of students who have no desire to ever go to college. Test us on what we teach (Day 1 of the test ... content-based), not something we have little to no control over. This costs no additional funding ... and still evaluates what the student knows from their high school career.

2. Come up with some miracle way to get students to value the test. Some students are done in 2-minutes ... yeah they just fill in answers then put their head down and take a nap (think they value the negative ramifications of lower test scores for the school?). Some schools have received incentives, like gift certificates from Wal-Mart, etc for exceeding on the state test. Trying to get failing students to be inspired with the goal of "earning an A" is a tough, tough, task .... it's like getting all triathletes to shoot for a sub-11 hour Ironman, regardless of their initial situation. I'm open for all suggestions here. Some have suggested that certain scores earn exemptions from final exams, etc.

3. Start a funded "breakfast program". This sounded silly to me at first, but the rationale provided (by an elementary-school principal) changed my mind. We have a significant and increasing number of students that come to school with much more to worry about than grades or some state test. They haven't eaten, are not well kept, have serious home problems, etc. Anyone with a basic familiarity with Maslow's Need Hierarchy knows that certain needs must be met, before additional needs can be achieved. Let's fulfill these kids' most basic needs, before we expect them to answer the challenge of further achievement. Society has changed, and with it, so have the responsibilities of schools. This requires additional funding.

4. State funded after-school learning-tutoring programs. This is THE ticket IMO. All the statistics say that "time spent outside of class on schoolwork is the #1 indicator of academic success". With the increasing number of single-working parent homes (a significant number of 2nd and 3rd shift workers), this is critical. Too often, the teenage student is "on their own" and in charge of caring for younger siblings. They need a place to study (not provided at home) and they need some help with the information (also not provided at home). They also need bus rides home (parent(s) at work) from these programs. This obviously requires quite a bit of additional funding.

5. Funding for teacher seminars to improve teaching quality. The "skills" you learn in college for teaching are minimal. Teachers need to be continually educated, and far too many schools lack the funds to send teachers to seminars where they [1] get the latest teaching techniques (particularly with lower level kids) and [2] valuable teaching materials from these seminars. Additional funding also.

6. Funding for furthering teacher professional-formal education. Teachers need to continue education. Simple as that. Currently, teachers pay for this themselves. Mixed opinions on this issue. More additional funding.

7. More teachers. My average class size has increased from 22 to 27 students. With the additional science requirement for graduation ... this number will increase. Not just in my class, but all science classes. Common sense says fewer students per class means more time for those that need it. More additional funding.

8. More classes. There are going to be an increase in the number of students per class. Furthermore, these students are not going to be there by choice. They are going to be there because their Guidance Counselor signed them up so they can graduate. They do not want to go to college. They are not interested in the subject matter. They want to do the minimum. Teachers are faced with the proposition of slowing class down, in order to aid and encourage them ... or go the regular pace and leave them behind (pun intended). Guess what? More additional funding.

9. More "Level-Appropriate" Classes. Not all kids learn at the same pace. Kids need classes that do not hold them back or move right past them. This is the biggest "teaching challenge" for teachers. How do you teach a class that has "8 smart kids, 14 average kids, and 8 not-so-average kids" in one-hour a day, 5-days per week ... while getting each one what they academically and socially need?

10. Enforce the parental fine for truant students. This is currently a joke at our school. The Dean calls parents and contacts the Truancy Officer, but nothing every really happens. The law says it's an $80 fine for having a truant child. Many parents can't deal with it from work, let alone leave work. I don't know what to do here. It's a big issue, because state funding is tied to attendance percent and dropout rates. Schools do what they can to make sure kids are in school and keep them there for 4 years. This doesn't even bring up the fact that a student cannot learn what he/she is not there to hear, read, observe, experiment, etc.

The list could really go on .... but this usually starts it off.

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In short, too much money is spent in the "facade of school improvement", rather than actually doing the simple things to improve the quality of education. Too much concern with how pretty/mechanical the school is, not enough concern with how effective it is. The difference between successful schools and unsuccessful schools is their "point of emphasis".

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-- Every morning brings opportunity;
Each evening offers judgement. --

Let me clarify my previous statement. We budget enough money for education to be available for every child in this country at a high standard. I agree with you that our prioritization of how this money is allocated is the issue.

Bloated administration, no hard facts just opinion, is the first thing that has to go. Education should be run just like a business. Your position needs to contribute to the bottom line or it is eliminated. Administrators need to show that they contribute to the education of the child if they can't their position is unnecessary. Teachers need to show that they are effective in their methods. Pay for performance is an idea that needs to be reviewed. Again, just my opinion, but there are teachers(as in any profession) that are just going through the motions. Our kids futures are too important to allow less than the "best and the brightest" to teach them. How the "best and the brightest" are to be recruited is the issue that I have no answers.

I disagree with one item in your post. You state that 50% of kids are already meeting the standdrd for NCLB. You also state that to get to the goal of 100% you will have to do more with less. I do not understand that statement. If 50% of the students are already at goal, the question i would ask is why are the other 50% not at goal? It is not a question of doing more with less but reaching those remaining 50% with the methods you are already reaching the other 50%. I know I am oversimplyfying the issues but it is just like the real world where my budget gets cut every year but my profit goals are higher. I am required to do more with less or lose my job. It can be done.

I applaud you for dedicating you life to the kids. I thought about being a teacher when i was in college but was too selfish and wanted to make money. Thank you for being a future administrator of our childrens future. I hope you re-emphasize physical education at all levels.

By my definition I am a Liberal to the fact I actually believe in liberty and I am a progressive because with liberty comes progress.

Leftist are leftist do to their fear of liberty and conservatives are conservatives do their fear of change and anything different.

Words are worthless only actions matter.

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customerjon @gmail.com is where information happens.

TT,

I think you are confusing my criticism of the NEA/Democrat political machine with criticism of teachers. I DO NOT criticise teachers--as I said, my mother was one and my wife is one--I love teachers. My only criticism of teachers, if any, is that they generally do not have an understanding of business and economic principles and how they could be applied in education. My criticism of the NEA is that they oppose any reforms to current processes that place any accountability on anyone. Most teachers I know can tell you who is and isn't producing in their school. Lots of time, they are the school teacher's union rep! Most teachers wouldn't even join the NEA if not to get some of their insurance or maybe just to go along to get along, if you know what I mean.

I have been watching the CNBC show on Wal-Mart. Two points from it (whether you like Wal-Mart or not, their business practices are unequalled and being copied by almost every corporation in the world today) are that (1) they make their suppliers better suppliers, and (2) they know how to do more with less (it's called productivity and it is increasing in the business sector by 4-6% annually, but not in the public sector.) I think school districts (and all gov't agencies) need to look at what is going on there and see how they can adapt it to their business.

Back to the original point of my post, though. The NEA/Democrats/Liberals/Progressives do not have any "progressive" ideas about improving education. Their ideas, raise teachers pay and lower class sizes, will increase costs, but not in and of themselves, produce results. The NEA supports these ideas for obvious reasons. I manage a lot of public/private competition studies for a federal workforce of over 30,000 people. Competition (read "vouchers" in the case of schools) does lower cost and improve quality. In fact, the few schools in our area that initially were deemed bad enough to qualify for the voucher program have significantly improved their test scores, discipline, esprit de corps, and school appearance and no longer have to grant vouchers.

I disagree with one item in your post. You state that 50% of kids are already meeting the standdrd for NCLB. You also state that to get to the goal of 100% you will have to do more with less. I do not understand that statement. If 50% of the students are already at goal, the question i would ask is why are the other 50% not at goal?

I would basically say "because 50% of the students are not taking a 'college-prep- curriculum".

There is literally volumes written on "improving the bottom half". During masters classes, presentations to the staff, etc ... I always hear about the "importance of raising the standards for all" and "bringing everyone up to the middle", and similar themes. I'm the "pain in the butt, dreamer-in-the-sky" young teacher that always asks, "how can we do this?", "what more can I do?", "How can I better serve the lower level kids?" I get nothing ... not even in my master's classes. we have so many experts at pointing out the problematic situation, and so few with ideas/plans on how to achieve it. If I could will it to happen, it'd be done already.

As I read one principal say, "If there was a successful program that could raise the rsults .. it would already be in place".

Personally, I thikn the emphasis needs switched from "policies to people". That's a general statement, but I have elaborated on it earlier in some of my "10 things" post. You have to put the people that can raise scores (teachers and students) in the best position available to meet the goals. That's where I say "get out of our way, and let us get to work" ... I'm not saying that to be arrogant or anything like that.


In other words "give the teachers the training and support, the students the resources and motivation, and stop implementing policies/programs that take away from contact time between teachers-students, and let us see what we can do"

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-- Every morning brings opportunity;
Each evening offers judgement. --