Desiree Hunter of the AP via The Montgomery Advertiser reports Spellings in Alabama, announces plan for reading program increase yet a good portion of the article dealt with Margaret's attempts to save Bu$hCo's No Child Left Behind. "Critical and complimentary, but always candid", those that were invited to talk didn't question the foundations of NCLB. I wonder who all was invited? If public I'd have imagined surely at least one brave soul willing to come and fuss about plenty. State Superintendent Joe Morton claimed these "professional people .... in education every day [spoke} straight from the heart ..." Did y'all sing Kumbaya up there on Goat Hill? He even said, "I think it gives (Spellings) some concrete, hands-on things that can be done to improve the law - not theory or philosophical things - but productive and constructive ...." Why not get into theory or philosophy Dr. Morton?
Here's a possible reason why ... These administrators, politicians, and business folks represents those in power. They are on top because the current system is working just fine for them. An educator that dares raise even mitigated hell about NCLB, or merely the obsession our nation has with "high stakes" testing done under the guise of "accountability", usually doesn't last long in the classroom. And they certainly don't make it up the food chain! At one point when I started taking classes in administration I bailed since I knew I couldn't stand playing the numbers games.
Another reason is perhaps that Dr. Morton is merely representative of an all too typical "number crunching bureaucrat" that hasn't been in the classroom for years. It could be that he and his don't understand that be able to demonstrate that you've force a kid to regurgitate one damned fact after another tells you squat about whether a kid has truly learned or can learn. Do he and his care if a kid has been taught how to think or marshall evidence or question authority or ...? And what about teaching a child to love learning? Can we ever measure that?
The whole report was essentially stenography for Bu$hCo and the education establishment. I might ask for too much yet a comment or two from a person and/or group questioning the whole accountability movement and certainly NCLB would have added much.
Also, language reported was "Spellings also announced President Bush's plans to ask Congress to raise funding for the nationwide Reading First program to at least $1 billion when he makes his budget request for fiscal year 2009 on Monday." Bu$hCo's cutting of other programs like art, mental health services, and forty plus other programs didn't deserve mention? I've previously raised hell about the Reading First program being made all the worse by Bu$hCo's typical cronyism and radicalism. The whole reading first model is questionable and the post referenced above has links to the Anniston Star and other sources. Again, nothing was mentioned of any negatives. P/W
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