Having just read about Brian Dubie’s plan to redirect federal funds intended to support education into a property tax boondoggle, I received with great interest the latest news that, Senators Leahy and Feingold are introducing two bills to reform the notoriously underfunded and ill-conceived “No Child Left Behind.” A legacy of the Bush years, “No Child Left Behind” has only succeeded in obscuring the very real issues that public education faces in a world of dwindling resources and growing need.
According to a press release:
The Improving Student Testing Act would:
o Increase competitive grant funds for states to create higher-quality, authentic measurements of student performance. Examples include computer-based adaptive tests and innovative performance-based tests that can incorporate formats like science experiments and written essays and that require students to demonstrate their knowledge.
o Clarify that existing federal funds for assessments can be used to develop better assessments and train teachers in the use of those assessments.The Flexibility and Innovation in Education Act would:
o Reform NCLB’s testing mandates and reduce its focus on high stakes testing.
o Provide states and local districts with more power over the day-to-day decisions in classrooms by allowing states to use multiple measures of student achievement in classrooms in addition to reading and math tests and provide states with the flexibility to lessen the testing burden in their schools.
o Revise the one-size-fits-all approach and provide states with flexibility to develop alternative accountability models such as growth models where schools receive credit for the growth students make throughout the academic school year.
o Improve the Department of Education’s peer review process to ensure states have the ability to interact directly with peer review teams.
o Include important measures to help ensure the privacy of students’ personal information contained in state education data systems.
With regard to funding concerns, we are assured that both bills are fully funded through offsets and will not represent any additional burden to the taxpayer.
The bills have the support of a number of educational peer groups:
the Wisconsin Education Association Council, the NEA, the Wisconsin Association of School District Administrators, the Association of Wisconsin School Administrators, the American Association of School Administrators, the School Social Work Association of America, the National Association of Secondary School Principals and the Vermont Principals Association.
You can count on this drawing out all the usual suspects who believe public education is a “waste” of public monies, promotes a “liberal” (read: informed) agenda, and undermines the stability (read: defacto class system) of America.
State education ranking shows Vermont #1, South Carolina Last
Vermont Business Magazine
We need to start every conversation about education in Vermont with the acknowledgement that we’re doing very well. Why? Because the standard Republican playbook is to:
1. Undermine public support for a targeted institution through constant criticism (true or not).
2. Push “reforms” that funnel public money to private institutions.
3. Solicit direct donations from the owners of those private institutions to get re-elected.
4. Search for next target and repeat Steps 1-3. (or retire and take a job with one of the private companies)
No single measurement captures every aspect of a child’s learning, surely. I thing we could measure constantly, foregoing actual teaching, and still not have anything close to perfect reliability. But if we don’t remind ourselves that we’re doing very well, we’re likely to buy into the Dubie/Vilaseca reforms that will do to our top-notch schools what we’ve done to our prisons: outsource, lose quality and funnel profits to $5000 suit corporate honchos outside the state.
…is to do a better job of supporting and enhancing early childhood education. Early starts are crucial to long-term well being of children and providing additional support such as increased subsidized care, improved support for early childhood educators, and stronger resources for new parents that will help them learn to better improve their child’s early starts, are crucial to improved intellectual and social development for children down the line.
Sorry, I started this chain by trying to note that VT gave kids a great education… it was not about the merits of testing, but rather tried to tie back in to the original post concerning Dubie’s desire to cut funds … seems like we all went off on a tangent, when in fact our schools are great no matter how they are measured. Lets keep spending on our kids.