John J. Vial has written a hilarious spoof of school reform. You will enjoy reading it
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Archives for category: Arne Duncan
The waivers offered to states by Arne Duncan removed the NCLB deadline of 2014, in exchange for states agreeing to accept punitive mandates and loss of state and local control.
The waivers took the heat off Congress to repeal NCLB. NCLB is a train-wreck. By removing the deadline, Congress can now tinker around the edges. The punishments, the firings, the school closings, the toxic testing–goes on. Thanks, Arne.
From Wendy Lecker in Connecticut, civil rights lawyer and fighter for equity:
“The waiver mandates increase the over-emphasis on standardized tests. They require implementing a teacher evaluation based in significant part on standardized test scores- for every teacher; in every grade and subject. They require impementation of the Common Core State Standards, and the computerized standardized tests that are the main feature of CCSS. They continue to base school and district performance on standardized test scores. To move away from the obsession with standardized tests, don’t look to the “waivers” for help.”
You earlier read the press release from the National School Boards Association here, reasserting the importance of federalism, a concept unknown to the U.S. Department of Education these days.
Here is a great summary and a link to the NSBA’s proposed legislation, which tells the federal government to abide by its federal role–not as the boss of the nation’s schools, but as a support.
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