Re: Obama Bribes States to Misuse Tests

[aburke5054@aol.com]

 I like the way you changed "coaxes" to "bribes", you old spin-master smoothy you.

Art

-----Original Message-----
From: Bob Schaeffer <bobschaeffer@earthlink.net>
To: arn-l@interversity.org; ARN State <ARN-state@yahoogroups.com>; ARN State <ARN-state@yahoogroups.com>; epata@interversity.org; rethinkaccountdc@yahoogroups.com
Sent: Wed, Nov 4, 2009 4:09 am
Subject: [arn-l] Obama Bribes States to Misuse Tests









OBAMA COAXES STATES TO CHANGE WITH SCHOOL DOLLARS 

Associated Press -- November 3, 2009 

By Libby Quaid 
 

Washington -- Using stimulus dollars as bait, President Barack Obama is 
coaxing states to rewrite education laws and cut deals with unions as 
they compete for $5 billion in school reform grants, the most money a 
president has ever had for overhauling schools. And it may end up going 
to only a few states. 
 

In Wisconsin, where Obama will visit Wednesday, lawmakers are poised to 
change a law to boost their state's chances. Nine other states have 
taken similar steps. 
 

And states can't even apply for the money yet. 
 

"There is an appetite out there for change," Education Secretary Arne 
Duncan said in an interview with The Associated Press. 
 

"There's been really dramatic movement in a number of states," said 
Duncan, who will travel to Madison, Wis., with the president. "This was 
the goal, but we didn't know if anyone was going to respond." 
 

Respond they have. 
 

Wisconsin lawmakers planned to vote Thursday to lift a ban on using 
student test scores to judge teachers. That helps clear the way for an 
Obama priority, teacher pay tied to student performance. 
 

California lifted a similar ban last month. And before that, charter 
school restrictions or budget cuts were eased in eight states â 
Louisiana, Illinois, Tennessee, Delaware, Indiana, Ohio, Connecticut and 
Rhode Island. 
 

Duncan had repeatedly warned that such restrictions would hurt a state's 
chances at the money. The administration can't really tell states and 
schools what to do, since education has been largely a state and local 
responsibility throughout the history of the U.S. 
 

But Obama has considerable leverage in his nearly $5 billion competitive 
grant fund, dubbed the "Race to the Top," that was set aside in the 
economic stimulus law. 
 

"If you put a very large, $5 billion program in front of the entire 
country, everyone eyes that as an opportunity," said Wisconsin state 
Sen. John Lehman, a Democrat who chairs the state's Senate Education 
Committee and a former high school teacher. 
 

No president has ever had that much money for schools at his discretion. 
Only Duncan â not Congress â has control over who gets it. And only some 
states, perhaps 10 to 20, will actually get the money. 
 

Obama will use the trip to Wisconsin to call attention to the actions 
states are taking, one year after his election, to put his vision of 
reform in place, Melody Barnes, Obama's domestic policy director, told 
reporters Wednesday on a conference call. 
 

Obama sees the test score data and charter schools, which are publicly 
funded but independent of local school boards, as solutions to the 
problems that plague public education. 
 

The national teachers' unions disagree. They say student achievement is 
much more than a score on a standardized test and that it's a mistake to 
rely so heavily on charter schools. 
 

"Despite growing evidence to the contrary, it appears the administration 
has decided that charter schools are the only answer to what ails 
America's public schools," the National Education Association, the 
largest teachers' union, said in comments submitted to the Education 
Department. 
 

The NEA added: "We should not continue the unhealthy focus on 
standardized tests as the primary evidence of student success." 
 

At the state level, unions have made deals with lawmakers on test 
scores. In Wisconsin, the state teachers' union agreed that test scores 
could be used to evaluate teachers â as long as they couldn't be used to 
fire or discipline teachers. 
 

Teachers' unions are an influential segment of Obama's Democratic base. 
Obama is encouraging states to get their support; the Education 
Department says a state can win extra points in the "Race to the Top" if 
unions support their efforts. 
 

The Wisconsin agreement is only half a loaf, said Amy Wilkins, a 
lobbyist for Education Trust, a children's advocacy group. 
 

"There are lots of ways to use the data aside from firing and 
discipline," Wilkins said. "That said, unless you figure out a fair but 
fast way to remove truly incompetent teachers from classrooms, they're 
going to continue to be cycled into the highest poverty schools." 
 

Charter schools and test scores fit into four broad goals that Obama 
wants states to pursue â tougher academic standards, better ways to 
recruit and keep effective teachers, a method of tracking student 
performance and a plan of action to turn around failing schools. 
 

A state will have to meet a series of conditions to earn points and 
boost its chances. Applications will be available this month, and the 
first round of grants will be awarded early next year.