The Nation - Bush Flunks Schools

[realFedUp]

http://www.thenation.com/doc.mhtml?i=20031201&s=ohanian

(this is worth e-mailing to your pals who supported
Bush because of this program)

Bush Flunks Schools
by SUSAN OHANIAN



The ESEA is like a Russian novel. That's because it's long, it's complicated, and in the end, everybody gets killed. --Scott Howard, former superintendent, Perry, Ohio, public schools

The Ohio Business Roundtable strongly supports the No Child Left Behind Act. --Richard Stoff, president, Ohio Business Roundtable


At first, many people liked the sound of "No Child Left Behind," President Bush's education plan. Who could object? The press and the public responded positively to the sentiment--until the failure-to-measure-up labels started rolling in. But now, New York Times education columnist Michael Winerip says NCLB (pronounced "nicklebee") "may go down in history as the most unpopular piece of education legislation ever created."

Across the country, thousands of federal scarlet letters have been posted on schoolhouse doors. According to a Machiavellian federal formula, many schools well respected in their communities didn't make Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP). In Florida, only 22 percent of the schools earning A's under the state's ranking system received the NCLB imprimatur; overall, 87 percent of Florida's public schools were judged inadequate. NCLB wonks are quick to point out that nowhere in the law is the word failure used. True. But everybody reads the "in need of improvement" tag as a euphemism for failure. And schools "in need of improvement" are penalized, so the distinction is a sham.

Note that these labels apply only to public schools. Private and parochial schools are exempt from the same requirements--even when they receive vouchers paid for with public funds.

continued-

[dfitzsim]

1. One campaign promise kept!

Afterall, Bush did promise to do for America's children what he did to Texas's children. ;-)

[realFedUp]

2. that's the truth

too bad voters didn't bother reading up on what
he did in Texas.