Re: American Diploma Project/Smoking Gun

[George Sheridan <learn@JPS.NET>]

Achieve, the Education Trust, the Fordham Foundation and the Ntl. Alliance
of Business want to make sure that states set the bar for high school
graduation requirements at a level that will "at the very least" "guarantee
all graduates...the ability to attend a state college or university without
the need for remediation." Another way of putting this is that they want to
deny high school diplomas to anyone who is not ready for university work.
This certainly is a way of "making standards-based assessment data matter
in the world beyond secondary education."

Seems to me this project is prima facie evidence that their goal is to deny
diplomas to the majority of the school-age population. Using the same
reasoning that proclaimed "We had to destroy the village in order to save
it," Achieve et.al. may claim that their ultimate goal is to  graduate all
students with diplomas that really mean something, and that "collateral
damage" in the short term is excused by the axiom that you can't make an
omelet without breaking eggs.

But, except for those who habitually accept the pronouncements of the Wall
Street Journal's editorial board, this "initiative" may be the smoking
gun--the conclusive evidence that clinches the case Dave Stratman has made
that standards-based reform is intended to worsen the job prospects of the
majority of working people.

By the way, for those who have tended to accept the bona fides of the
Education Trust, their association in this initiative with such partners in
crime as the Fordham Foundation and the NAB helps clarify their real role.

At 04:44 PM 1/30/2002 -0500, Monty Neill wrote:
> I think this is very dangerous... The link to Achieve's presentation of
> the ADP:
> <http://www.achieve.org/achieve.nsf/DiplomaProject?OpenForm>http://www.achieve.org/achieve.nsf/DiplomaProject?OpenForm
>
> From that:
> Achieve Initiatives
> American Diploma Project
> Aligning High School Academic Standards with Higher Education and New
> Economy Needs
>
> Goals and Objectives
> Achieve, Inc., the <http://www.edtrust.org/main/index.asp>Education Trust,
> the <http://www.edexcellence.net/>Thomas B. Fordham Foundation and the
> <http://www.nab.com/>National Alliance of Business have joined forces to
> establish The American Diploma Project (ADP), an effort to help states
> strengthen their ongoing standards-based reform efforts and analyze
> whether they have set the bar for high school graduation requirements in
> reading, writing and mathematics in the right place.
>
> The partners believe that an American high school diploma awarded in any
> state should, at the very least, represent a "greatest common factor" of
> basic literacy and numeracy, a level that will guarantee all graduates a
> range of choices beyond secondary school: the ability to attend a state
> college or university without the need for remediation, the assurance of a
> job that allows for promotion along a career path, or a professional
> placement in one of the nation's armed forces.
>
> Making standards-based assessment data matter in the world beyond
> secondary education is the best way to make good on the promise of
> standards-based reforms <SNIP>

George Sheridan

"They say that freedom is a constant struggle." - Song of the Civil Rights
Movement