NCLB Strikes Rich Suburban Enclaves

[Peter Farruggio <pfarr@cal.berkeley.edu>]

> From: "Horn, James" <jhorn@monmouth.edu>
>
> (Chart from 
> <http://www.massteacher.org/news/headlines/news_2005-06-23.cfm>a 
> study of Massachusetts schools)
>
> Greenwich and other wealthy towns are no longer immune to the 
> assured failure that thus far has only affected the poor, the brown, 
> the special populations, and the immigrants. As AYP requirements 
> rise toward that unattainable mark of 100% proficiency, suddenly 
> suburban parents are becoming shocked to find out that there is 
> something out there called NCLB that has just labeled their school 
> as not good enough. This 
> <http://www.newstimes.com/opinion/edit.php?id=1011482>from 
> NewTimesLive.com in Danbury, CT:
> School systems across the nation jump through the hoops created by 
> the federal No Child Left Behind legislation, and their reward is to 
> be slapped down and labeled. It is a discouraging exercise that 
> drains energy and financial resources as educators and local 
> taxpayers try to make sense of this federal education law.
>
> An article in Friday's News-Times opened a window into just how 
> inflexible, just how bureaucratic, the No Child Left Behind 
> evaluation system has become. Successful local school systems, 
> successful local schools, are now being listed under NCLB guidelines 
> as not making adequate yearly progress. Bethel, Brookfield, Danbury, 
> New Fairfield, New Milford, Newtown and Ridgefield -- the list is a 
> puzzlement locally, as are similar lists in other regions and other states.
>
> There are 806 public elementary and middle schools in Connecticut; 
> 290 are listed as not making adequate yearly progress -- double the 
> number of schools labeled in that fashion last year. . . .
>
> What's to be done? Well, if you are the interim Connecticut 
> Commissioner of Education, you ignore the elephant that is stomping 
> around your living room while you go about emptying the ashtrays and 
> serving drinks:
> Last year, 145 schools did not make AYP. This year, of the 290 
> schools that did not make AYP, more than 30 percent were in 
> Hartford, New Haven, Bridgeport and Waterbury, state education 
> officials said. Schools in Norwalk and Stamford also appeared on the list.
>
> "These results point to the hard work that has to be done," said 
> George A. Coleman, the state's interim education commissioner. "We 
> have to focus on more effective strategies, a more surgical 
> approach, more targeted to the unique learning needs of students."
>
> Does anyone else know in-denial bullshit jargon when you read it? 
> But some communities like Greenwich, the richest in the country, are 
> not just resorting to "targeting more effective strategies"--they 
> are paying a detective to target the "intruder" immigrants who are 
> bringing down their town scores and then running them out of their 
> schools. 
> <http://www.nytimes.com/2006/08/26/nyregion/nyregionspecial2/27ctcol.html>From 
> the Times today:
> The school district would not identify its Sam Spade, except to say 
> he's a former Greenwich police officer and that he is paid $15,000 a 
> year. He also does the shoe-leather sleuthing of confirming whether 
> students live where their leases and utility bills say they do. In 
> the 2004-5 school year, Greenwich investigated 62 cases and found 20 
> intruders. Dr. John Curtin, assistant superintendent, told of one 
> student whose address was a golf course and who, upon inquiry, 
> turned out to be the child of a maintenance worker legitimately 
> housed on the greens.
>
> Lovely, isn't it? That's what I call real courage from the people 
> who can most afford it.
>
> Finally, <http://www.newstimes.com/opinion/edit.php?id=1011482>there 
> are those who believe that if this NCLB were funded fully, then 
> their woes would disappear:
> What was not anticipated was the failure of the federal government 
> to provide promised financial aid to cover the costs of NCLB 
> requirements. Those costs, including substantial amounts for 
> gathering and reporting school test data, have put a new burden on 
> local school budgets.
>
> Hellllooooooooo. All the money in the Federal treasury is not going 
> to help the majority of America's schools meet a demand that was 
> known to be impossible when it was shoved into NCLB legislation? 
> Wake up, America.
>
> Any politician running for office who is unwilling to support the 
> repeal of the 100% proficiency demand in NCLB deserves no votes. 
> Saving public education cannot be achieved without repealing, at 
> least, this part of the law that the privatizers will fight tooth 
> and nail to keep in.
>
>
> --
> Posted by Jim Horn to 
> <http://schoolsmatter.blogspot.com/2006/08/nclb-strikes-rich-suburban-enclaves_26.html>Schools 
> Matter at 8/26/2006 11:33:00 PM