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Re: Fw: [eddra] C-Span Program (Fighting Back)

I think that those who saw NCLB as a means of privatizing schools were operating from the Politics of Disaster or, as Naomi Klein puts it, Disaster Capitalism. They were opportunists. Recall that the original bill called for vouchers usable at private schools, which, at the time, some voucher proponents thought would spring up just like gas stations and fast food restaurants.

Miller is no longer behind it. He has seen its problems. "I can tell you there are no votes in the U. S. House of Representatives for continuing NCLB without making serious changes to it...What I really want is to be the proud co-author of a law that works" (from a Miller speech, July 30, 2007). Kennedy dropped it functionally as soon as Bush failed to fund it at proper levels (no level would ever make it work).

I say that the capitalists were simply opportunists because the educational world was moving very much in the direction of NCLB at least as it pertained to poor kids.

Consider this:

"As to schools that fail to make adequate progress, the enforcement process initially will involve a series of graduated stateps to be taken after a school is identified as failing, but before sanctions are imposed--including technical assistance, consultations in the school community about corrective steps, and visits from an inspection team that can requisition any needed resources--should enable many schools to come into compliance without the imposition of sanctions.

"Where school systems continue to fail, despite assistance, sanctions may include institutional penalties uch as loss of decision-making authority and, ultimately, claosing the school, as well as individual penalties, such as reductions in pay and dismissal and/or transfer of the principal and other staff."

That is from the "Enforcement" section of "Making Schools Work for Children in Poverty, the report of the Commission on Title I, often called the Hornbeck Commission for Dave Hornbeck, the former Philly Supt who chaired it.

December 1992.

All you need to do to get to NCLB is to lay out a timetable for progress (AYP), specify precisely what constitutes a failing school, specify more concretely the sanctions and set up a calendar for them, too.

While some of the members of the commission were the usual suspects--Kati Haycock, Marc Tucker, and Cynthia Brown, for instance, many were not: Henry Levin, Hayes Mizell, Joe Nathan, Bella Rosenberg, Ramsay Selden, Bob Slavin, Mike Smith, and Anne Wheelock (this is not an exhaustive list).

You can get the 31-page document itself via Google, but I didn't see any listing for the document with commission commentary and supplementary statements of individual members such as George, Bella and Anne, all of whom obejected to varius components, especially the assessment system which they saw as unworkable. The Commission argued for performance tests that would measure higher-order skills. Ha. George Miller has currently plumped for the same stuff.

I don't recall how I got the full document, but I think it was through my JSTOR access via AERA.

You definitely want the full document if you can get it.

The document that contains the commission's proposals is ERIC ED 362 618.

The document that contains the proposals and commentary (about 3 times as long) is ERIC ED 373 120.


Jerry

----- Original Message ----- From: <aburke5054@aol.com>
To: <arn-l@interversity.org>
Sent: Friday, July 04, 2008 10:32 AM
Subject: Re: [arn-l] Fw: [eddra] C-Span Program (Fighting Back)


You think you're being flattered because someone finds your argument
incredible? Flat-earth theorists must be basking in the glow all over
the place.

Taking Susan Neuman at face value might show that some of the law's
misguided supporters had bad intentions. But that does not mean that
is why the law came about or that the law is working as a tool to
destroy public education. You are still left with the fact that the
nation's leading civil rights groups are standing by NCLB's
accountability provisions - the very part of the law that you claim is
destroying public education - that Miller and Kennedy are behind it, as
are many liberal and progressive groups, and the nation's leading media
don't see NCLB as a tool to destroy public education.

You are also left with the facts that more money is going to public
education and that the public is reasonably satisfied with public
education. Charles Barone, who served as a staff director for Miller
and for the House committee and who actually wrote parts of NCLB, gives
no credence to Neuman. During the campaign, Hilary Clinton said she
herself wrote the teacher-quality part of NCLB. In the face of all
this, am I really supposed to believe that the last word on NCLB
belongs to Susan Neuman? Jerry says to take her testimony to the bank
because she was there, but, sorry, this is beyond incredible.

Art

-----Original Message-----
From: Tauna Rogers <taunar@plateautel.net>
To: arn-l@interversity.org
Sent: Thu, 3 Jul 2008 8:22 pm
Subject: Re: [arn-l] Fw: [eddra] C-Span Program (Fighting Back)


Gosh Art, I'm flattered. I was worried my idea was stupid and too
forward of
me, yet you found my post "totally incredible".


Have you forgotten Susan Neuman and Time magazine? I think Neuman has
barely
touched the tip of the iceberg, which is not to say that I don't think
some
of the lnaw's misguided supporters had good intentions.


Please don't bother with your next smart-alecky remark.



----- Original Message -----
From: <aburke5054@aol.com>

To: <arn-l@interversity.org>

Sent: Thursday, July 03, 2008 9:13 PM

Subject: Re: [arn-l] Fw: [eddra] C-Span Program (Fighting Back)



Do you really believe that if NCLB had the horrible effects you say
it has
and that if it really were a tool to discredit and privatize public
education, the nation's leading newspapers would not have caught on,
so
much of the nation's civil rights establishment would not have caught
on,
so many African-American and Hispanic parents would be supporting it,
and
George Miller and Ted Kennedy would be supporting it? I find this
totally
incredible.



Art



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

From: Tauna Rogers <taunar@plateautel.net>

To: arn-l@interversity.org

Sent: Thu, 3 Jul 2008 10:29 am

Subject: Re: [arn-l] Fw: [eddra] C-Span Program (Fighting Back)



I could only stomach it in small doses. I listened to just a bit of

Hanushek, all of what Ladd said, and nothing from Bennett. I noticed
ED in

'08 was behind the fear mongering event.



How can we fight back and get some media coverage of our own to
expose the

myths and propoganda they are perpetuating? The massive scapegoating
and

efforts to undermine support for public education? As the election
nears,
we

can expect much more of this ED in '08 funded (choose your naughty
word).

And of course it isn't just ED in '08.



Maybe I'm naive and please forgive me if the following is
presumptuous of
me

but I just want to put something out there to kick around. I noticed
C-Span

accepts suggestions for events to cover. There are any number of

organizations and individuals seeking to save and strengthen public

education and democracy. A number of you on arn and eddra alone are
experts,

more than qualified to debunk and expose the propaganda. A lot could
be

exposed about NCLB too.Would it be practicable to unite, pool
resources,
and

organize an event for coverage?



If I'm being stupid here, let me down easy!



Tauna





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

From: "Monty Neill" <monty@fairtest.org>

To: <arn-l@interversity.org>

Sent: Thursday, July 03, 2008 8:16 AM

Subject: Re: [arn-l] Fw: [eddra] C-Span Program





not mine - I won't watch it either - was Solomon's critique. Be
well,

Monty

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

From: "Horace B Lucido" <hbl04@csufresno.edu>

To: <arn-l@interversity.org>

Sent: Wednesday, July 02, 2008 4:56 PM

Subject: Re: [arn-l] Fw: [eddra] C-Span Program





Monty,

Watch this program? Why get sick on such a nice day? I would much

rather

read your take....at least I got a good laugh out of that. Your

honest

appraisal is enough for me.

Rog



Rog ( Horace ) Lucido, Physics Instructor, Ret.

Program Evaluator

Adjunct Faculty, Fresno Pacific University

Educational Consultant

Educators and Parents Against Testing Abuse ( EPATA )

Assessment Reform Network Central Valley Coordinator

Phone: 559-277-1312

Cell: 559-355-4215

email: lucid4@cvip.net





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

From: Monty Neill <monty@fairtest.org>

Date: Wednesday, July 2, 2008 11:47 am

Subject: [arn-l] Fw: [eddra] C-Span Program

To: ARN-L <arn-l@interversity.org>, arn2-strategy

<arn2-strategy@yahoogroups.com>, ndsgroup@yahoogroups.com





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

From: mbsolomon@aol.com

To: eddra@yahoogroups.com

Sent: Wednesday, July 02, 2008 2:11 PM

Subject: [eddra] C-Span Program







In case you missed it, C-Span aired a 4-hour program on the

Economic Implications of the Crisis in American Education



Notice that the title tells you that it was not intended to be an

analytical discussion, but instead to try to explain why American

education is broken.



Unbelievably, they chose Bill Bennett, the great educational

bloviator and Eric Hanushek, the thin-air economist to help bash

public education.



You can watch the entire 4 hours below, but I want to simply,

quickly, point out how inane some of this stuff is. Hanushek, for

example thinks that if there is a correlation between two

variables, it proves cause and effect---and he gets to choose

which variable is the cause and which is the effect. He offered

the vacuous proposition that if the U.S. schools could improve

test scores by a small amount, it would raise the gross national

product such that it would pay for all of education in America

(at 2:20). He further told his audience that if the schools could

get rid of the worst 10% (as I recall) of teachers, U.S. students

would be near the top in international tests.



Of course, Bill Bennett gives rise to projectile vomiting, so you

should skip his blathering from 1:31 to 2:05. The bright light of

the entire show was Helen Ladd from Duke University who brought

some light into a reasonably dark day.



The program can be seen at:



rtsp://video1.c-span.org/15days/e062708_education.rm












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