Re: Fw: Pelosi Task Force is a hoax

[aburke5054@aol.com]

 The average African-American 12th grader achieves at the level of the average White 8th grader. Keeping the schools open longer for those children, together with running the schools better, seem terribly important and terribly sensible. Good luck with trying to convince people that sending African-American 12th graders out into the world with the skills of White 8th graders somehow does them a favor by giving them summers off. 
 
 Art 
  
 -----Original Message-----
 From: Bussardre@aol.com
 To: arn-l@interversity.org
 Sent: Thu, 4 Jan 2007 7:23 PM
 Subject: Re: [arn-l] Fw: Pelosi Task Force is a hoax
 
     Dear Folks:   Because of my time demands managing a campaign for a congressional candidate here in North Florida, I have largely been absent from commenting on as well as reading these posts. Well, she's b-a-a-a-ck!   I had to comment on this because of the Task Force report mentioned below. It is interesting that the first ---and largest portion--- of this report is devoted to making a case for a longer school year and specifically a year-round school calendar. As many of you know, year-round school, which I vehemently oppose, is my area of study/expertise. After more than a century of experimenting with this idea, there is little hard data to show reconfiguring the school year is academically beneficial. What we do know is it costs more.   The report also talks about aligning school with workforce objectives--which is the ultimate goal of school reforms.   This report is just one of many attempts by the business power brokers/elite who call the shots in both political parties to incrementally turn schools into workforce prep institutions that churn out compliant, complacent workers to specifications. As I have mentioned previously, one of the goals of these school-to-work and workforce preparation programs is to require some 17 million high school age children (the current enrollment ages 14 to 17) to get on-the-job training as part of their graduation requirement. This essentially will give industry a guaranteed pool of 17 million or more low-wage workers annually to fill low-wage jobs doing grunt work that is hard to fill because of the low wages and nature of the work. Adding 17 more million laborers to the workforce where millions of illegals already compete for these low-wage jobs will create more job competition and further suppress wages.   Task force members have either been duped about the ultimate end game (and the larger economic consequences for Americans) or are selling out the average American worker for their own personal financial/political gains.   Billee Bussard editor, www.SummerMatters.com           In a message dated 1/2/2007 3:57:22 PM Eastern Standard Time, campbellp@mail.montclair.edu writes: The task force mentioned below in Susan's message is one that was 
 formed in 2005:
 
 http://www.ourfuture.org/issues_and_campaigns/education/commbios.cfm
 
 It released a report called "Getting Smarter, Becoming Fairer: A 
 Progressive Education Agenda for a Stronger Nation" that can be found 
 at
 
 http://emailimages.ctsg.com/caf/edureport_gsbf_full_report.pdf
 
 So does this mean that Pelosi is going to re-convene this task force? 
 If so, this might give a good sense of how the Dems will try to 
 re-package NCLB.
 
 Key provisions: (see 
 http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/local/articles/ 
 0823governor23.html)
 
 1) Extend the school year in low-performing schools, expand 
 after-school programs, pay for universal preschool and full-day 
 kindergarten and increase federal college grants.
 
 2) Develop a uniform, but voluntary, set of nationwide student learning 
 goals, or curriculum, for core courses.
 
 3) Improve teacher training and offer financial incentives to entice 
 teachers to work in high-poverty schools.
 
 4) Link neighborhood schools with their communities and families by 
 providing such things as social services, English classes, parenting 
 skills classes and home visits.
 
 Estimated cost: the plan calls for a $325 billion investment in 
 education over the next 10 years. It would cost $39 billion annually 
 once it is fully implemented in 2010.
 
 Approximately $21 billion would go toward the flagship commitment of 
 expanding and redesigning learning time, including $7.2 billion to 
 extend the school year in low-performing districts; $3.6 billion to 
 expand after-school programs; $8.7 billion to support universal 
 preschool and full-day kindergarten and $8.4 billion to redesign and 
 connect high school to affordable college study, offset by a savings of 
 $7 billion by abolishing bank-subsidizing student loans.
 
 Additionally, $6 billion annually would put more highly qualified 
 teachers in classrooms; $6 billion would link schools to families and 
 communities and $6 billion would be set aside for investments in school 
 facilities, assistance to low-performing schools and the development of 
 national standards and high-quality assessments.
 
 The $39 billion annual investment would come from the federal 
 government and would be accompanied by additional increases at the 
 state and local levels. The proposal doesn't pinpoint a source for the 
 additional funds but suggests that by forgoing future tax cuts, such as 
 the elimination of the estate tax, the federal government could pay for 
 the plan.
 
 
 
 On Jan 2, 2007, at 9:14 AM, Monty Neill wrote:
 
 > Susan Harman had sent me the following last week:
 >
 > ----- Original Message -----
 > From: Susan Harman
 > To: Monty Neill
 > Sent: Wednesday, December 27, 2006 6:52 PM
 > Subject: Re: [ndsgroup] Fw: [prospect-l] NCLB and Nancy Pelosi
 >
 > I called Pelosis office in SF. There is a Task Force, co-chaired by
 > Janet Napolitano, Gov of Arizona; Philip Murphy, of Goldman Sachs 
 > (ug);
 > and Roger Wilkins, of George Mason University. The guy is finding out
 > more. Ill send bulletins.
 > Susan
 >
 > ----- Original Message -----
 > From: "Peter Campbell" <campbellp@mail.montclair.edu>
 > To: <arn-l@interversity.org>
 > Cc: <ARN-state@yahoogroups.com>; "arn2-strategy"
 > <arn2-strategy@yahoogroups.com>
 > Sent: Tuesday, January 02, 2007 9:52 AM
 > Subject: Re: [arn-l] Fw: Pelosi Task Force is a hoax
 >
 > > Can you say who is on the real task force?
 > >
 > > Peter C.
 > >
 > >
 > > On Jan 2, 2007, at 8:48 AM, Monty Neill wrote:
 > >
 > >> Per message from David Berliner, it certainly now appears that the 
 > Pelosi
 > >> task force is a hoax - she does apparently have one, however, but 
 > it is
 > >> packed largely with people who clearly favor NCLB.
 > >>
 > >> Monty
 > >> ----- Original Message ----- From: "Susan Harman" <
 > >>
 > >>>> From: "David Berliner" Subject: RE: Pelosi Task Force
 > >>>>
 > >>>> it was a fake. I agreed to serve and supected it was a hoax and 
 > it was.
 > >>>> d
 > >>>>
 > >>>> David C. Berliner
 > >>>> Regents' Professor of Education
 > >>>> Mary Lou Fulton College of Education
 > >>>> Arizona State University
 > >>>> Tempe, AZ 85287-2411
 > >>>> Phone: 480-965-3921
 > >>>>      
________________________________________________________________________
Check out the new AOL.  Most comprehensive set of free safety and security tools, free access to millions of high-quality videos from across the web, free AOL Mail and more.