Re: NCLB on YouTube

[<samlubell@verizon.net>]

It's very misleading to claim that NCLB says anything about closing achievement gaps.  Even if somehow, all students, of all races reach the "proficiency" goals of their state, a sizable gap could still exist in the average scores.

Think of a race in which all runners eventually reach the finish line.  There can still be sizable gaps in their times. 


>From: GERALD BRACEY <gbracey1@verizon.net>
>Date: 2007/09/06 Thu AM 07:52:23 CDT
>To: arn-l@interversity.org
>Subject: Re: [arn-l] NCLB on YouTube

>Thanks Elsa.  In my feedback to the producers, I mentioned the "systems 
>approach" comment, too.
>
>Jerry
>
>----- Original Message ----- 
>From: "ElsaHaas" <ElsaHaas@si.rr.com>
>To: <arn-l@interversity.org>
>Sent: Wednesday, September 05, 2007 11:00 PM
>Subject: Re: [arn-l] NCLB on YouTube
>
>
>Jerry,
>
>Overall, I liked it.
>
>The sixth-grade girl pauses and looks off at someone/something on the side
>for so long that it might look to some that she's getting a cue for what
>she's going to say next.
>
>I also think that you might need at least one kid who speaks about what it
>feels like to be tested. Some kids throw up over testing. Could you find a
>kid to talk about that, rather than just about whether testing is going to
>prepare kids for the future? That ends up being a speculation (and one that
>might have come to the kid from some adult). The strength of an interview
>with a younger child lies in the "insider's view" they have of reality,
>rather than theory.
>
>You say that there will be more interviews of students in other versions, so
>maybe this is already being thought about.
>
>I also thought there was a mismatch at one point (near the beginning, just
>after you were standing in front of that "little red schoolhouse" - a great
>visual, I thought) between the words on the screen (about the goal of 100%
>proficiency by 2014), and what you were saying at the same time (about the
>goal being to eliminate the achievement gap by 2014). This was just after
>you said something about NCLB being one of the weirdest laws ever.
>
>I think it is truly weird that anyone would ever imagine that every single
>child will be proficient by 2014. I think it's also weird that anyone would
>ever imagine that there will be no more achievement gap by 2014. But the two
>things are different, and I think the first one gets lost because of the
>mismatch.
>
>I especially liked what one woman said about imagining what's going to
>happen when these kids who have grown up learning to fill in the bubbles
>then have to face the real world and think outside of the bubble/box.
>
>Last thing: there was a one-liner about NCLB not being a systems approach to
>solving a systems problem. I don't think most people will know what that
>means (I don't). Maybe what follows this statement explains it by example,
>but I didn't get it.
>
>Elsa Haas
>
>-----Original Message-----
>From: arn-l-owner@interversity.org [mailto:arn-l-owner@interversity.org] On
>Behalf Of GERALD BRACEY
>Sent: Wednesday, September 05, 2007 1:11 PM
>To: eddra@yahoogroups.com; LiteracyForAll@yahoogroups.com;
>arn-l@interversity.org
>Subject: [arn-l] NCLB on YouTube
>
>There is now a 9:25 video about NCLB at www.youtube.com/watch?v=hSTzLILQx3c
>.  It was produced by a Fairfax County teacher, Katie Keier, and a
>videographer friend, Joe Landreth.  Let us know what you think--I'm sure
>constructive feedback will be welcome.  My initial understanding was that it
>was to dispel ignorance about what the law actually said, and I spent my
>time talking about the law's contents.  The video has me talking about AYP,
>100% proficiency, and the choice option, but it seems to me it came out more
>talking about the law's impacts which are not necessarily functions of the
>law's provisions--e.g., test scores arriving late, high performing students
>using the choice option, etc.
>
>Other versions are anticipated which make more use of interviews with
>students.  Katie and Joe are on the EDDRA list so they'll automatically see
>anything that turns up there.  I can relay anything from LFA or ARN.
>
>Jerry
>
>
>
>
>
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