Re: nclb and civil rights communities

[aburke5054@aol.com]

So, that + Susan Neuman = America's civil rights establishment 
expressed overwhelming opposition to attempts to weaken NCLB's 
accountability requirements, the same requirements that you claim are a 
fear-mongering, profit-motivated, stealth attempt to privatize the 
public schools.  Exit the paranoia superhighway and join the rest of us 
in the real world.  NCLB is imperfect, for sure, but it is not and 
never has been what you say it is.

Art

-----Original Message-----
From: gbracey1@verizon.net
To: arn-l@interversity.org
Sent: Sun, 27 Jul 2008 12:10 pm
Subject: Re: [arn-l] nclb and civil rights communities

 The Alliance for Excellent Education is a
consulting/advocacy/money-making scheme headed by former West Virginia
governor turned professional fear monger, Bob Wise. 
 

JB 
 


On Sun, Jul 27, 2008 at 12:19 PM, aburke5054@aol.com wrote: 
 

> Here's an excerpt from a statement by groups that advocate for etnic
> and language-minority children opposing the recent attempt to limit
> NCLB accountability requirements, the same requirements that you 
claim
> constitute the "racist texture" of NCLB and that you claim are 
somehow
> trumped by the JOS: 
 

"We believe that it is critical that the No Child Left Behind Act be
improved through a full reauthorization process to do more to help the
nation’s low-income and minority students achieve and graduate prepared
for college an
d the workplace. However, it is also critical that as a
nation we maintain focus on improving educational opportunities for
low-income and minority students and not fall back into accepting the
status quo for our nation’s schools. The NCLB Recess Until
Reauthorization Act would render the goals of the No Child Left Behind
Act and the nation’s commitment to achievement for all students
meaningless by eviscerating accountability for improving—or even
identifying—low-performing schools. It undermines those essential 
goals,
as well as the legislative process, and, thus, it must be defeated." 
 

Mexican American Legal Defense and Education Fund 

National Council of La Raza 

Southeast Asian Resource Action Center 

Alliance for Excellent Education 

National Urban League 
 

___________ 
 

Your anti-accountability ship rests with the Titanic, along with your
pathetic claims that there is a "racist texture" t 

o NCLB. 
 

Art 
 

-----Original Message----- 

From: pwmjoy@earthlink.net <mailto:pwmjoy@earthlink.net>  
<mailto:pwmjoy@earthlink.net>  <pwmjoy@earthlink.net
<mailto:pwmjoy@earthlink.net>   <mailto:pwmjoy@earthlink.net> > 

To: arn-l <arn-l@interversity.org <mailto:arn-l@interversity.org>  
<mailto:arn-l@interversity.org> > 
 

Sent: Sun, 27 Jul 2008 12:12 am 

Subject: [arn-l] nclb and civil rights communities 
 

Civ
il Rights communities support NCLB for two reasons: firstly, that 
the 

legislation has been argued to be legally within the civil rights 
domain
and to 

dump it is to set a precedent for dumping other civil rights
legislation; 

secondly, the core goal or value of NCLB is to even the playing field
for all 

kids. 
 

Unfortunately, people who grab the NCLB debate and point at these two
rationales 

as proof that any  movement to dump NCLB is a form of racism, ethnic
denial, and 

disregard for the poor record schools have of dealing with minority
group 

educational needs are using the educationally needy as a front for 
their
own 

condescending world view in this regard. 
 

Often such people pay no serious attention to the Joint Organizational
Statement 

now signed by 144 groups. That statement calls for major (not minor or 

superficial) changes to NCLB. As soon as this fact is placed on the
table, it is 

dismissed by a focus  on the word, "accountability", which, in turn,
directs the 

argument back to standardized testing. It is that misrepresenting of 
the
JOS 

that reveals the ultimate fixation on standardized testing which the
NAACP does 

not share at all. 
 

Who hears the call for essenti 

al and deep rooted change in NCLB required by the 

0AJOS? Certainly not people who, in effect, pretend the document does not
exist, 

does not call for fundamental changes in NCLB, and does not represent
serious 

criticism by black and Hispanic communities. 
 

Dismantling NCLB as an insincere, propagandized attempt to address
failure in 

low income, urban communities, born from what we now know was a con job 

regarding the so-called "Houston Miracle" is important for the civil
rights 

movement and does serve the civil rights communiites in our country.
However, we 

enter the world of semantics with the use of  the word, "dismantling",
as if it 

means "doing away with". The JOS goes  a long way toward  protecting 
the
civil 

rights communities by preserving the core of NCLB, its reference to 

accountability. However, it also recognizes  the Trojan Horse of
standardized 

testing as destructive, and redirects "accountability" toward a variety
of 

methods by which  to track student accomplishments. 
 

My own hope is that the JOS will eventually call for a serioous look at
much of 

the racist texture of NCLB, i.e., that NCLB can and already has become 
a
means 

of continuing what it claims to have been created to cure. 
 


pwmjoy@earthlink.net <mailto:pwmjoy@earthlink.net>  
<mailto:pwmjoy@earthlink.net> 

EarthLink Revolves Around You.=C
2
 

 

----------------------------------------------- 

Report list problems to listmom@interversity.net
<mailto:listmom@interversity.net>   <mailto:listmom@interversity.net> 

----------------------------------------------- 

Report list problems to listmom@interversity.net