Full Version: George W Bush ... The education president
The question is really very simple...
George Bush's "No Child Left Behind" imitative Requires testing for reading and math , that the children perform at grade level , and additional funding for complying with the program ...
Will NCLB be allowed to work , we have a very similar program here in Florida Where Jeb Bush ( the presidents brother) is governor and it has raised test scores and helped with child literacy greatly, i think George had a very similar program in texas when he was governor and the number of children reading below grade level was cut from 52,000 when he took office to 28,000 last year now that the programs are firmly in place ( it was 36,000 when he left the state house to become the 43rd president)
do you think NCLB will work nation wide?
George Bush's "No Child Left Behind" imitative Requires testing for reading and math , that the children perform at grade level , and additional funding for complying with the program ...
Will NCLB be allowed to work , we have a very similar program here in Florida Where Jeb Bush ( the presidents brother) is governor and it has raised test scores and helped with child literacy greatly, i think George had a very similar program in texas when he was governor and the number of children reading below grade level was cut from 52,000 when he took office to 28,000 last year now that the programs are firmly in place ( it was 36,000 when he left the state house to become the 43rd president)
do you think NCLB will work nation wide?
do you think NCLB will work nation wide?
As a retired Texas teacher, I can speak to this from first hand knowledge. I can't address Florida, but I don't think it has been a raging success in Texas or nationally up to this point.
When I retired in 2002 Texas was using the TAAS test (Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills). TAAS tested English, Math and Writing. It has now been replaced by harder test TAKS (Texas Assessment Knowledge and Skills) which added tests in science and social studies.
I worked with disabled kid and didn’t have to administer the test. My students were exempt because of their disabilities.
I did see what was happening, though. From the first day of school until the test was given, TAAS preparation dominated school activities. Teaching to the test eliminated what we called “enrichment” when I earned my teaching credentials from NTSU—now UNT. Teaching to the test, left little time for learning beyond the goal of passing TAAS.
After test completion, nearly everyone—students, parents, teachers, principals and superintendents were on edge. If a school did not measure up, then it got put on a low performing list. This meant that the Texas Education Agency would come in and monitor the school for a period. Usually the principal got fired.
The Texas program was not an idea that Bush came up with. That happened in 1984 when H. Ross Perot chaired a committee on improving education in Texas. One of the Perot Committee’s recommendation was accountability testing. First, it was TEAMS, then TAAS and now TAKS.
The Texas experience became under Bush and Perry mandates by the state without adequate funding—unfunded mandates.
This was in the Fort Worth Star Telegram this morning.
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This link leads to a registration page, but it's free.
http://www.dfw.com/mld/dfw/news/9638332.htm?1c
Hmmm, a 28 percent drop since the early nineties—that coincides with George W. Bush’s and Rick Perry’s tenures as Governors of Texas.
SAT scores which went down for years, went up marginally in 2003, but were still below the national average--despite Texas’ 20 years of experience with accountability testing.
http://www.tea.state.tx.us/press/sat2003.html
Now, Bush has brought a program, that if hasn’t failed in Texas, has come dangerously close, to the national level.
The organization I belonged to for more than 30 years said this about “No Child Left Behind.”
http://www.nea.org/esea/
As in Texas, the national experiment has been, if not an unfunded mandate, a set of under funded mandates.
http://www.cnn.com/2004/ALLPOLITICS/01/05/...sh.no.child.ap/
In The Price of Loyalty: George W. Bush, the White House and the Education of Paul O’Neill David Suskind writes:
Source: Suskind, The Price of Loyalty pages 58-59.
I agree with O’Neill. Special education teachers have been writing strategic plans called Individual Instruction Plans (IEP) since the 1970s. "One Child at a Time" would be better, but it would cost more. Bush, however, doesn’t seem to be willing to ask for funding to support his own proposal. Texas doesn’t seems to be able or willing to support the mess Bush left behind in Texas.
Oh well, we get what we pay for. Maybe someday Bush, assuming he’s reelected, will be more concerned with education in the U. S. than having FNC show all the schools that have opened in Iraq.
As a retired Texas teacher, I can speak to this from first hand knowledge. I can't address Florida, but I don't think it has been a raging success in Texas or nationally up to this point.
When I retired in 2002 Texas was using the TAAS test (Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills). TAAS tested English, Math and Writing. It has now been replaced by harder test TAKS (Texas Assessment Knowledge and Skills) which added tests in science and social studies.
I worked with disabled kid and didn’t have to administer the test. My students were exempt because of their disabilities.
I did see what was happening, though. From the first day of school until the test was given, TAAS preparation dominated school activities. Teaching to the test eliminated what we called “enrichment” when I earned my teaching credentials from NTSU—now UNT. Teaching to the test, left little time for learning beyond the goal of passing TAAS.
After test completion, nearly everyone—students, parents, teachers, principals and superintendents were on edge. If a school did not measure up, then it got put on a low performing list. This meant that the Texas Education Agency would come in and monitor the school for a period. Usually the principal got fired.
The Texas program was not an idea that Bush came up with. That happened in 1984 when H. Ross Perot chaired a committee on improving education in Texas. One of the Perot Committee’s recommendation was accountability testing. First, it was TEAMS, then TAAS and now TAKS.
The Texas experience became under Bush and Perry mandates by the state without adequate funding—unfunded mandates.
This was in the Fort Worth Star Telegram this morning.
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Eleven of 17 Tarrant County school districts are expected to reach the state's $1.50 tax rate cap for school maintenance and operations this year, and nearly two-thirds of all Texas districts are in the same boat.
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Two-thirds of Texas' 1,037 school districts were at or near the cap in 2003, according to the Texas Education Agency. The Legislature met in special session during the spring in a failed attempt to find a remedy, and many observers now believe the courts will overhaul the system before lawmakers do.
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Meanwhile, the state's share of education funding has decreased -- from close to 60 percent in the early 1990s to 38 percent this year. Add to the equation property-wealthy districts that have to pay into the share-the-wealth funding plan, and many are struggling to live within their means.
This link leads to a registration page, but it's free.
http://www.dfw.com/mld/dfw/news/9638332.htm?1c
Hmmm, a 28 percent drop since the early nineties—that coincides with George W. Bush’s and Rick Perry’s tenures as Governors of Texas.
SAT scores which went down for years, went up marginally in 2003, but were still below the national average--despite Texas’ 20 years of experience with accountability testing.
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The combined average verbal and math score rose to 993 for the Class of 2003, up from 991 the previous year. The increased score is due to a two point increase in the average verbal score for Texans. The verbal score for 2003 was 493. The math score for Texans held steady at 500.
The Texas scores were lower than the national scores, which were 507 on the verbal section and 519 on the math exam. Those scores represent a three point increase on each section of the test over last year. A perfect SAT score is 800 points on each exam or a combined score of 1,600.
The Texas scores were lower than the national scores, which were 507 on the verbal section and 519 on the math exam. Those scores represent a three point increase on each section of the test over last year. A perfect SAT score is 800 points on each exam or a combined score of 1,600.
http://www.tea.state.tx.us/press/sat2003.html
Now, Bush has brought a program, that if hasn’t failed in Texas, has come dangerously close, to the national level.
The organization I belonged to for more than 30 years said this about “No Child Left Behind.”
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The No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act of 2001 (the latest revision of ESEA) presents real obstacles to helping students and strengthening public schools because it focuses on:
• punishments rather than assistance
• mandates rather than support for effective programs
• privatization rather than teacher-led, family-oriented solutions
NEA is committed to meeting the goals of the legislation -- high standards and high expectations for every child.
• punishments rather than assistance
• mandates rather than support for effective programs
• privatization rather than teacher-led, family-oriented solutions
NEA is committed to meeting the goals of the legislation -- high standards and high expectations for every child.
http://www.nea.org/esea/
As in Texas, the national experiment has been, if not an unfunded mandate, a set of under funded mandates.
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In fiscal years 2002 through the current 2004, Congress authorized between $26.4 billion and $32 billion to be spent on the "No Child Left Behind" initiative. While Bush's budget request rose in each of those years, it still fell far short of the authorization.
And in the past two fiscal years, the president's request of about $22 billion was less than what Congress had appropriated the year before. Both years, Congress provided more than Bush requested.
And in the past two fiscal years, the president's request of about $22 billion was less than what Congress had appropriated the year before. Both years, Congress provided more than Bush requested.
http://www.cnn.com/2004/ALLPOLITICS/01/05/...sh.no.child.ap/
In The Price of Loyalty: George W. Bush, the White House and the Education of Paul O’Neill David Suskind writes:
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They [Bush and O’Neill] had been at that education conference five years before, so he went with that. “No “Child Left Behind, I like that,” O’Neill said, “but the idea that really moves us forward—a real action plan—is One Child at a Time.
It was an idea he’d [O’Neill] road-tested with educators for years—that we need “an individualized mandate, where children would be constantly assessed, one child at a time, in order to create a little strategic plan for each student,” a personalized learning strategy to fill gaps and develop latent potential.
It was an idea he’d [O’Neill] road-tested with educators for years—that we need “an individualized mandate, where children would be constantly assessed, one child at a time, in order to create a little strategic plan for each student,” a personalized learning strategy to fill gaps and develop latent potential.
Source: Suskind, The Price of Loyalty pages 58-59.
I agree with O’Neill. Special education teachers have been writing strategic plans called Individual Instruction Plans (IEP) since the 1970s. "One Child at a Time" would be better, but it would cost more. Bush, however, doesn’t seem to be willing to ask for funding to support his own proposal. Texas doesn’t seems to be able or willing to support the mess Bush left behind in Texas.
Oh well, we get what we pay for. Maybe someday Bush, assuming he’s reelected, will be more concerned with education in the U. S. than having FNC show all the schools that have opened in Iraq.
do you think NCLB will work nation wide?
No, not how it is devised. The premise is a good idea, but like BoF stated as well as articles I will get to momentarily will show teaching to a test does not foster learning.
60 minutes "Texas Miracle"
No child left behind?
Bush's New Federal Math Leaves Kids Far Behind
No, not how it is devised. The premise is a good idea, but like BoF stated as well as articles I will get to momentarily will show teaching to a test does not foster learning.
60 minutes "Texas Miracle"
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It was an approach to education that was showing amazing results, particularly in Houston, where dropout rates plunged and test scores soared.
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Now, as Correspondent Dan Rather reported last winter, it turns out that some of those miraculous claims which Houston made were wrong.
And it all came to light when one assistant principal took a close look at his school’s phenomenally low dropout rates – and found that they were just too good to be true.
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But at Houston schools, Kimball says, principals taught addition by subtraction: They raised average test scores by keeping low-performing kids from taking the test. And in some cases, that meant keeping kids from getting to the 10th grade at all.
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Perla spent three years in the ninth grade. She failed algebra, but passed it in summer school. Finally, she was promoted – right past 10th grade and that important test -- and into the 11th. Without enough credits to graduate, Perla dropped out.
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Now, as Correspondent Dan Rather reported last winter, it turns out that some of those miraculous claims which Houston made were wrong.
And it all came to light when one assistant principal took a close look at his school’s phenomenally low dropout rates – and found that they were just too good to be true.
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But at Houston schools, Kimball says, principals taught addition by subtraction: They raised average test scores by keeping low-performing kids from taking the test. And in some cases, that meant keeping kids from getting to the 10th grade at all.
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Perla spent three years in the ninth grade. She failed algebra, but passed it in summer school. Finally, she was promoted – right past 10th grade and that important test -- and into the 11th. Without enough credits to graduate, Perla dropped out.
No child left behind?
Bush's New Federal Math Leaves Kids Far Behind
do you think NCLB will work nation wide?
Release today of 2004 data gives us some information on “No Child Left Behind.” Although we can’t necessarily extrapolate Texas data to the national scene line by line, NCLB is basically a national version of Bush’s educational reforms in Texas.
One provision of NCLB is that a student in a low performing school can transfer to another school or district.
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BUT
http://www.dfw.com/mld/dfw/news/9798459.htm
Note: This links and the one below may require registration.
I don’t know what the logistics problems will be elsewhere, but my guess is that NCLB will face similar problems throughout the nation.
In a related article this morning, The Fort Worth Star Telegram reported:
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http://www.dfw.com/mld/dfw/news/local/9798449.htm?1c
Although, I worked in an area of public education exempt from testing requirements, I noted the year long pressure building up to the Texas Assessment of Academic Skills (TAAS) and now it seems from the quotes above, the harder test, Texas Assessment Knowledge and Skills (TAKS).
This is just a personal opinion, but I think students learn better when they are relaxed. When everyone, from the superintendent on down is uptight about a test, relaxation is difficult, if not impossible.
I like what Molly Ivins said in the introduction to the revised edition of Shrub: The Short But Happy Political Life of George W. Bush, 2002. page xxviii:
Release today of 2004 data gives us some information on “No Child Left Behind.” Although we can’t necessarily extrapolate Texas data to the national scene line by line, NCLB is basically a national version of Bush’s educational reforms in Texas.
One provision of NCLB is that a student in a low performing school can transfer to another school or district.
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Under No Child Left Behind, only schools that receive federal funding for economically disadvantaged students face sanctions if they do not make adequate yearly progress.
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The schools that failed to meet the improvement standards in the No Child Left Behind law must send letters today notifying parents about the transfer options.
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The district must provide transportation for transferring students.
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BUT
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Lake Worth has no other high school, so students will be able to transfer to high schools outside the district.
But Lake Worth district spokeswoman Jacquelyn Millham said neither Castleberry nor Eagle Mountain-Saginaw, the two districts contacted by Lake Worth administrators, have room for transfer students. And the three Fort Worth high schools closest to Lake Worth are on the inadequate-progress list.
But Lake Worth district spokeswoman Jacquelyn Millham said neither Castleberry nor Eagle Mountain-Saginaw, the two districts contacted by Lake Worth administrators, have room for transfer students. And the three Fort Worth high schools closest to Lake Worth are on the inadequate-progress list.
http://www.dfw.com/mld/dfw/news/9798459.htm
Note: This links and the one below may require registration.
I don’t know what the logistics problems will be elsewhere, but my guess is that NCLB will face similar problems throughout the nation.
In a related article this morning, The Fort Worth Star Telegram reported:
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‘On a scale of one to 10, this is a 15 for us,’ said Diane Frost, Carroll's executive director of accountability. "That's how much pressure we feel. As a district, we want to be exemplary in everything we do. But there are also outside pressures. Parents want every school to be exemplary. Real estate agents want to be able to say, 'This home is in an exemplary district.'
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That message has not hit local schools, where the pressure to earn good ratings is intense. The Academy at West Birdville in Haltom City, which serves a diverse, lower-income population in the Birdville district, expects its exemplary rating to drop to recognized, Principal Jerry Plemons said.
‘A lot of principals are leaving because of the pressure,’ Plemons said. ‘Your job is essentially on the line. Often, principals are hired based on their track records for raising scores.’
‘A lot of principals are leaving because of the pressure,’ Plemons said. ‘Your job is essentially on the line. Often, principals are hired based on their track records for raising scores.’
http://www.dfw.com/mld/dfw/news/local/9798449.htm?1c
Although, I worked in an area of public education exempt from testing requirements, I noted the year long pressure building up to the Texas Assessment of Academic Skills (TAAS) and now it seems from the quotes above, the harder test, Texas Assessment Knowledge and Skills (TAKS).
This is just a personal opinion, but I think students learn better when they are relaxed. When everyone, from the superintendent on down is uptight about a test, relaxation is difficult, if not impossible.
I like what Molly Ivins said in the introduction to the revised edition of Shrub: The Short But Happy Political Life of George W. Bush, 2002. page xxviii:
QUOTE
Bush’s motto seem to be, ‘If it didn’t work in Texas, we’ll try it on the nation.'
QUOTE(BoF @ Sep 30 2004, 10:05 PM)
Although, I worked in an area of public education exempt from testing requirements, I noted the year long pressure building up to the Texas Assessment of Academic Skills (TAAS) and now it seems from the quotes above, the harder test, Texas Assessment Knowledge and Skills (TAKS).
I really have to commend you on your excellent research on this topic BoF, and I just wanted to add one small thing to your post.
You said that you can't confirm this because you worked in an area of the school that was exempt. I however can confirm this because I grew up in Texas schools and lived there most of my life. The TAAS test is an abysmal failure (and pathetically easy in my opinion) and all teachers did until the test was over is teach for the test just as BoF said. To make matters worse, that actually downgrades the learning in some classes considering this is a "minimum skills" test. So in my case, not only was this method of teaching a complete waste of time it did absolutely nothing to enrich my knowledge either.
I think if people looked at Bush's record in Texas a little more, they wouldn't buy into his line of "it worked in Texas" any longer.
The Fort Worth Star Telegram published a lengthy article this morning on No Child Left Behind. I have posted sections to this article as well as quotes from Molly Ivins and Lou DuBose and Congressman Chet Edwards (D) Texas. Bush is NOT the “education president." Pardon the possible hyperbole, but at the rate Bush is going, historians might view him (to borrow a phrase from Edward Gibbons) as the president who brought about the decline of public education.
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http://www.dfw.com/mld/dfw/news/9825890.htm?1c
Link may require registration, becomes paid after seven days.
Molly Ivins and Lou Dubose write in Bushwhacked: Life in George W. Bush’s America, 2003, the sequel to Shrub: The Short but Happy Political Life of George W. Bush:
Congressman Chet Edwards (D) Texas who represents school districts in the Fort Hood area pwrote this news release.
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http://edwards.house.gov/html/columns.cfm?id=418
Edited to add fact check link disputing Bush ad touting of his educational reform in Texas:
http://www.factcheck.org/article.aspx?docid=181
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But does No Child Left Behind -- a law that brings Texas-style education initiatives to the national stage -- actually work?
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Of students who do graduate, nearly one-third read at a "below basic" level -- meaning they can barely comprehend their textbooks -- according to the nonpartisan Alliance for Excellent Education.
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Nationally, only about 68 percent of ninth-graders graduate on time while only about half of black and Hispanic students earn diplomas alongside their Anglo counterparts, according to Harvard's Civil Rights Project. Despite those numbers, the U.S. Education Department has issued NCLB regulations that all but eliminate graduation-rate accountability for minority subgroups, the Civil Rights Project reports.
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Some states have lowered pre-existing standards to comply with NCLB rules. In Texas, for instance, members of the State Board for Educator Certification weakened teacher-licensing standards.
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For instance, the Houston school district, which was touted as part of "the Texas miracle" when Bush ran for president four years ago, has been cited for dramatically underreporting dropouts and campus crime. Education Secretary Rod Paige formerly served as superintendent of the district.
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Although the Bush administration has presided over a 49 percent increase in federal support for elementary and secondary education since 2001, that's far short of the money authorized under the legislation, say nonpartisan education groups.
http://www.dfw.com/mld/dfw/news/9825890.htm?1c
Link may require registration, becomes paid after seven days.
Molly Ivins and Lou Dubose write in Bushwhacked: Life in George W. Bush’s America, 2003, the sequel to Shrub: The Short but Happy Political Life of George W. Bush:
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The Bush budget for fiscal year 2004 (written in early 2003) provided two thirds of what Bush had promised a year earlier. It eliminated funding for rural education, gifted-and-talented programs, small schools and technical education. After school programs lost $400 million. Special education, the issue that drove Vermont senator Jim Jeffords out of the Republican Party, was funded at a rate that will get it to full funding in a mere thirty-three years from the No Child Left Behind became law.
But the president’s budget for fiscal 2004 does include money for two experimental voucher programs that will cost $5 billion, as taxpayer money is finally used to fund private schools. Outside the confines of the bill, Bush also drastically cut ‘impact funds’ the federal government pays on a per-student basis to districts that educate children of Army, Navy and Air Force parents. Ivins and DuBose Bushwacked page 88.
But the president’s budget for fiscal 2004 does include money for two experimental voucher programs that will cost $5 billion, as taxpayer money is finally used to fund private schools. Outside the confines of the bill, Bush also drastically cut ‘impact funds’ the federal government pays on a per-student basis to districts that educate children of Army, Navy and Air Force parents. Ivins and DuBose Bushwacked page 88.
Congressman Chet Edwards (D) Texas who represents school districts in the Fort Hood area pwrote this news release.
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Buried in the White House’s proposed 2004 budget are reductions that threaten the quality of education for thousands of Central Texas students. The Administration’s budget calls for a 12.6% across-the-board cut in federal Impact Aid. Congress established Impact Aid in 1950 to help school systems that are responsible for educating large numbers of military dependents but receive little or no tax revenue to cover the costs. Military base land is tax-exempt, and purchases at on-base stores are exempt from state and local sales taxes.
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I promise you this: As a member of the House Budget and Appropriations Committees, and as co-chairman of the Army Caucus, I’m going to do everything I can to kill this proposal. It is a bad idea that never should have received serious consideration. I’ve worked hard every year to ensure that Killeen, Copperas Cove and Lampasas got every dollar of Impact Aid they need. I’m not about to let our school districts, their students and their communities suffer from unwise and misdirected budget cuts.
http://edwards.house.gov/html/columns.cfm?id=418
Edited to add fact check link disputing Bush ad touting of his educational reform in Texas:
http://www.factcheck.org/article.aspx?docid=181
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