Re: no cynic left behind

[aburke5054@aol.com]

A cynic might say that more than anything this letter indicates the 
cluelessness of someone in higher education who is charged with 
preparing teachers yet apparently is not aware that NCLB requires much 
more than testing - it requires states to provide support to schools 
where children have fallen behind.  The real problem with the law is 
that people like the letter writer see it as a spectator sport rather 
than a call to action.

Art

-----Original Message-----
From: Monty Neill <monty@fairtest.org>
To: ndsgroup@yahoogroups.com; ARN-state@yahoogroups.com; ARN-L 
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Sent: Mon, 24 Mar 2008 2:29 pm
Subject: [arn-l] no cynic left behind

New York Times
March 23, 2008
Letter
No Cynic Left Behind
To the Editor:

Re "U.S. Eases 'No Child' Law as Applied to Some States" (news article, 
March
19):

It appears that the United States Department of Education is trying to 
appease
critics of the No Child Left Behind law by giving some wiggle room to 
states in
identifying what it means to be a failing school.

If one were cynical, it might be possible to see this as a bribe to 
quiet some
vocal critics of the law - residents of more affluent communities where 
the
thought of a failing school in their midst would be viewed as a social 
and
economic disaster.

However, the real problem with the law is its obsession with preparing 
students
for tests, testing them and then agonizing over the test results. We 
will never
close the achievement gap if all we do is measure it.

Howard Miller
Dobbs Ferry, N.Y., March 19, 2008

The writer is director of the New Teacher Residency Program at Mercy 
College.

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

Monty Neill, Ed.D.
Deputy Director
FairTest
342 Broadway
Cambridge, MA 02139
617-864-4810 x 101;  fax 617-497-2224
monty@fairtest.org
http://www.fairtest.org
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