Education Sec. Paige Blasts NAACP Leaders

[Mcleanhatch]

http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=sto...715/ap_on_go_ca_st_pe/paige_naacp_1&printer=1
Education Sec. Paige Blasts NAACP Leaders

Thu Jul 15,11:22 AM ET Add White House - AP Cabinet & State to My Yahoo!


By BEN FELLER, AP Education Writer

WASHINGTON - Rod Paige, the nation's first black education secretary, condemned NAACP leaders Thursday for saying some black groups are fronts for white conservatives.



"You do not own, and you are not the arbiters of, African-American authenticity," said Paige, who rose from segregated Mississippi to become President Bush (news - web sites)'s education chief.


Paige's comments, in a Wall Street Journal column titled "Naked Partisans," appeared on the same day Bush's challenger, Democrat John Kerry (news - web sites), was speaking at the annual convention of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (news - web sites) in Philadelphia. Bush is at odds with the NAACP and has not spoken to the civil rights group since his 2000 campaign.


Paige took aim at two NAACP leaders, chairman Julian Bond and president Kweisi Mfume, for what he called "hateful and untruthful rhetoric about Republicans and President Bush." At the convention, NAACP officials have described some black organizations as mouthpieces of white conservatives and have said Bush's education law disproportionately hurts minorities.


The No Child Left Behind law of 2001, Paige said, is dedicated to closing the learning gap between blacks and whites and giving school choice to poor and minority students. Paige said he is a lifelong NAACP member, yet now sees the organization betraying its origins.


"The civil-rights movement has historically been multicultural, and many of its founders, including those who established the NAACP, were in fact white," Paige said. "I long for the day when our nation's education policy will not be grist for the partisan mill — when we can work together, black and white, rich and poor, for the sake of our children."

 

[WHITE DEVIL]

White Devil blasts No Child Left Behind

Taken directly from NCLB wording:

• A Title I school that has not made adequate yearly progress, as defined by the state, for two consecutive school years will be identified by the district before the beginning of the next school year as needing improvement. School officials will develop a two-year plan to turn around the school.
• If the school does not make adequate yearly progress for three years, the school remains in school-improvement status, and the district must continue to offer public school choice to all students.
• If the school fails to make adequate progress for four years, the district must implement certain corrective actions to improve the school, such as replacing certain staff or fully implementing a new curriculum, while continuing to offer public school choice and supplemental educational services for low-income students.
• If a school fails to make adequate yearly progress for a fifth year, the school district must initiate plans for restructuring the school. This may include reopening the school as a charter school, replacing all or most of the school staff or turning over school operations either to the state or to a private company with a demonstrated record of effectiveness.

So in Bush's amazingly successful plan, schools that do not, in 5 years, increase benchmarks of testing based on raw SAT-like data will be subject to "restucturing"; takeover, firing of staff, scrapping of books and programs, etc.

Nowhere in No Child Left Behind are there details or ratings for truancy, crime or violence in school, extracurricular student participation, gauges of parental participation, or student achievement in completion of homework or large projects. So basically, only your SAT-like "area achievement" scores matter.

This has led already to cheating by teachers and students, an environment of apprhension and paranoia among staff, and cutting of funds in badly-needed schools. NCLB, in its raw data collection mandate, promotes kicking low-scorers out of school. Poorly behaved children, who typically tend to score lower than those of average or above average standards of behavior, have been subject to more common expulsions by NCLB schools.

Schools that ultimately fail "i.e. 5th year, no improvement" can even be privatized. While there is no mandate of pay structure, it could be easily imposed upon parents, giving the "your children's test scores are increasing" rationale. Such test result-hungry schools have already been proven to cheat, will most likely slack on art classes, "remedial" classes such as woodshop, and optional classes often taken by children who perform well in school.

Furthermore, not every student is a "test taking" type. Some do much better given "homework", or a real life application to handle. Colleges, which used to weigh heavily on a student's SATs, will now also factor in activities, mission statements, community service, and other measures of personal worth beyong the judge of pencil marked bubbles judged by a machine. NCLB makes none of thse assessments.

In short, while it may sound better just to give statewide SATs and punish the losers, a simplified, black-and-white plan like this (Similar to George Bush's Cowboys vs. Indians worldview) leaves many more left behind than before.

 

[phil]

its funny you criticize but you cant counter with a reasonable or effective plan to change schools around. oh wait, let me guess, give more money to teachers unions and public schools. thats gotta be it. raise taxes and throw more money at the problem. seriously though what are we supposed to do for these kids in failing school districts. its not just the schools fault, theres just so many other factors involved with the main one being parenting. you honestly think bush is trying to steal education from kids? i think his intentions are good in this area. at least he's trying. something you cant say for any of his opponents.

 

[JoMoDo]

Anybody who still promotes the no child left behind act definately isn't concerned b/c they themselves attend private school, or plan on having their children attend private school.

Question for no child left behind supporters...

Have you ever interviewed, surveyed, or conversed w/ public school teachers in regard to the no child left behind act. Once you do, you will gain some legit insight unto how this b.s. really applies to real life shit-uations, and see who, how & what it really affects...

 

[tadou]

What it really effects? It "really effects" liberals and cheaters (who are one in the same) who feel that, since the act is against their personal political views, that they are going to purposely facilitate dishonest practices, give answers away, et al.

There IS NO act that is going to stop people from bringing weapons to school. There IS NO act that is going to stop people from selling drugs at school. There IS NO act that is going to stop violence in schools.

The LEAST they could have done was make one that will protect the academic standards and set those students who would go to college up for their future yers, and that is precisely what they have done. I for one am going to laugh my ass off when, in my home state of Washington, kids will need to pass all their classes AND a standardized test to get their diploma. Again, the only people bitching are teachers who would rather have their students take tests with "open notes, open books", rather than making them study the material.

Which is why i also laugh at people in college who can't cut it and end up getting horrible grades. 3 or 4 tests being worth 90% or more of the grade = LOL....homework being worth 10% or less = ROFL.

 

[JoMoDo]

Silly me, why would a teachers opinion matter when it comes to school & education, what do they know. Leave it to the beaureacrats (who are 3 times removed) to set all the policies. I forgot, everybody learns the exact same way. There are no such things as different learning styles, I must of been beside myself.

We must standardize everything, eliminate all forms of culture so we can franchise the education system. We need standardized programs to become drones to create a monoculture. Loose all forms of diversity & creative thought. Franchise, franchise, franchise, standardize, standardize, standardize.

You've made such a great point (especially about how all liberals are cheaters, that bold sweeping statement is actually quite insightful). Since you have made such a solid concrete point, I now almost see the light...

 

[TOKZTLI]

The No Child Left Behind title is an exemplary view of the Bush Administration's gift of DoubleSpeak.

It should be No Child Left Behind Unless Your School Is In A Ghetto Act.

 

[phil]

hold on, how are these kids left behind? they are given money to go to private or charter schools which outperform public schools overwhelmingly. the only people losing anything are the teachers and the unions/politicians.

 

[phil]

and look how they get you SHEEP all riled up for THEIR cause under the guise (common and overly used liberal tactic) of "doing it for our children" GIMME A FUCKIN BREAK!!!

WHAT IS KERRYS PROPOSAL????? HAS HE EVEN PROPOSED ANYTHING OR IS HE JUST CONTINUALLY BASHING BUSHES POLICY WITHOUT COUNTERING WITH A BETTER DEAL?????

 

[TOKZTLI]

^^^ its the political way of getting elected. When has any politician ever countered with a better proposal at a national level?

 

[WHITE DEVIL]

What it really effects? It "really effects" liberals and cheaters

NCLB is creating cheaters out of students and teachers. Read the report posted before on this board about teachers, who fear for their jobs, giving the answers to childen in testing.

There IS NO act that is going to stop people from bringing weapons to school. There IS NO act that is going to stop people from selling drugs at school. There IS NO act that is going to stop violence in schools.

But there are SOME acts that take this into account. There are SOME acts that tally overall school behavioral trends and reward the administrators. Putting the focus entirely on SAT-like scores is an extremely narrow minded approach to schooling.

The LEAST they could have done was make one that will protect the academic standards and set those students who would go to college up for their future yers, and that is precisely what they have done. I for one am going to laugh my ass off when, in my home state of Washington, kids will need to pass all their classes AND a standardized test to get their diploma.

The system of an equivalency test for a diploma was in place before Bush and the NCLB policy.

Again, the only people bitching are teachers who would rather have their students take tests with "open notes, open books", rather than making them study the material.

No, there are also people who realize that equivalency tests aren't the "end-all, be-all" of schooling. There are kids who get 1100 SATs but make it into prestigious colleges by virtue of hard work, community service, etc. There are those who score great on tests yet lack the ability to complete assignments in real life.

Which is why i also laugh at people in college who can't cut it and end up getting horrible grades. 3 or 4 tests being worth 90% or more of the grade = LOL....homework being worth 10% or less = ROFL.

There are some people who simply don't do well on tests. Your "test supremacy" mentality goes along with your narrow-minded views.

 

[tadou]

No....not really. When you know the material, there is no reason to have test anxiety. It is NOT MY FAULT that i can study the night before, and do a better job of cramming than other people. If you are a shit test-taker, DO THE WORK..READ THE READING...LEARN THE MATERIAL. Stop trying to make this into something it isn't, and giving procrastinators with ADD a free pass.

 

[WHITE DEVIL]

Alright, we will stop giving the procrastinators with ADD a free pass.

I propose that the 2004 election will be determined by equivalency test scores. Since real life work experience, projects, and non test-based work is insignificant, Bush and Kerry will sit down and take tests on English, Math, Science, History, and Literature.

And since it is common knowledge that Bush didn't exactly ace much of his schooling, (a 25/100 on the National Guard test after attending Yale, ouch!) doesn't do much reading (Bush stammered and flubbed answers to questions on books he supposedly was reading during his first campaign), and has never been a "high-falootin" speaker or writer, Kerry has the obvious advantage.

Since test scores are the real measure of what someone learns, let Election 2004 be decided on it. There would be little serious debate among academic circles about who is likely to win. And since this scenario wont happen, you will have to do the next best thing, tadou, and vote for the candidate most likely to win. Kerry 2004 you go. I hope to see your vote go the right way come November.

 

[tadou]

So now you're going to relate newly-educated 18 year old high school students to 50 and 60 year old men who already have 30+ years of work experience? Brilliant, friend...brilliant. Your irony was not missed on me...but you just fuckin' suck at it.

Once again...if you are not good at cramming before a test, LEARN THE MATERIAL BEFOREHAND. Test anxiety is a SELF-INFLICTED PROBLEM--NOT a medical condition. Do you even have a response to that, besides that we shouldn't require resumes or college degrees anymore, and that all workers should be hired based on test scores? Don't be a jackass.

 

[WHITE DEVIL]

Laughing my ass off at "but you just suck at it". What is the qualitative difference between gauging a high school student out the gate and Kerry or Bush based on intellectual merits?

You yourself admitted that work experience plays a factor in deciding the overall value of someone's overall contribution. Well NCLB takes a decidedly different view. Theirs does not account for work, experience, or projects, simply the results of statistical tests. And this is not some distant, inapplicable tandard when related to the presidential race. If test results are king, Bush should toe the line and accept the challenge.

 

[tadou]

Non sequitur, friend...non sequitur. Something needed to be done, and the one way to make sure students are learning the material is to test them. At the rate you're going...next, you'll be saying the Bar is unfair. Or that fitness tests for firefighters or policemen are unfair as well. I suppose you also think that people in Speech classes should be able to substitute written reports for oral presentations...you know, because they "get nervous" and it "wouldn't be an accurate reflection of their talents". Boo fuckin' hoo.

 

[WHITE DEVIL]

The Bar is a very focused, delineated, specific test for a specific industry, one in which verbal/english comprehension and application consists of the extreme majority of the work. Firefighters and policemen, as well, have tests suited to their specific more. And as for substituting oral for written reports...that sounds like some G Dubb would support...since the only real measure of ability/acuity is in written testing.

 

[tadou]

Written tests are good too. You can't even test subjects like Spanish or English [composition] without written tests, because anything else wouldn't make sense.

But as far as, English grammar, spelling, definitions; math; science; these are EASILY tested with standardized tests. And if someone can't pass...95% of the time its going to be because they have teachers in their ear telling them they CAN'T pass, and indeed, subliminally convincing them they SHOULDN'T pass, so they can get the laws changed.

As you get older, tests become the standard....that is just a fact. I for one am OVERJOYED that they are bringing back some RELEVANCE to the High School diploma, compared to the rubber-stamping that used to go on. And if people don't like the methods, they can go grab up a GED instead. They are equal, you know.

 

[WHITE DEVIL]

'GED's are often viewed as lesser..the equivalency or CHSPE or whatever is the better alternative these days...then again I've heard it was "hard", but most of my frineds in high school were dope smoking dropouts and shit...

Anyways there is alot more going on in a school than just "the harder the teachers teach, the more the kids will learn"...the real world is far less simplistic. Bush's mind works in 1 dimension. Good/Bad, Evildoer/Friend, High scores, Low scores. What NCLB really does is punish kids from schools in which the test scores will most likely not improve. In rich, well funded school districts, no one has any illusion about kids not being able to test well. NCLB will strip funding and jobs from low income areas, plain and simple.

 

[tadou]

^^ No....horrible, uneffective, failing teachers will strip funding and their own jobs from low income areas, because they feel as though if they're not making as much as the next man in a middle-class area, that they shouldn't have to teach as hard. Or because the intern-style teaching methods they learned in Grad School dont work the exact same way in real life, that they should just give up and not even try to adapt. And that is bullshit.

I would say, however, that i think more incentives (debt forgiveness, faster raises, government salary subsidies, et al) should be offered for those teachers who teach in high-need and urban areas. I believe that NCLB is a good START, though I must admit and agree, it is far from the alpha-omega.