My main concern with the presentation was the minimum usage of objective citation to counter-argue NCLB itself as a document. Using the State of the Union Address speech to counter what Bush was saying is fine, but since your saying that “[t]he path we have followed under the NCLB is the WRONG path,” being able to find a few sentences or a couple paragraphs from the NCLB document to prove your point could greatly improve your argument for the need to have a more immediate education reform. Maybe perhaps some political candidate will be reasoned with such information and argumentation. Granted I just pulled some information from what’s in the back of my mind and notes from my Educational Psychology course last semester and what I’m learning in my Curriculum and Instruction class earlier, but overall though, your presentation is good. Surely many people have rethought about how education is being operated and know what the potential dangers education itself is treading these days. Again, using more citations from the source your mainly attacking can, and probably, will enhance your presentation even more. I hope the extensive feed back was beneficial to your question.

Lone among the candidates in terms of a good, solid stance on education is Mike Huckabee, but there are plenty of non-ed reasons we shouldn’t want him as president.

It’s going to be a good, long time before we have that sort of leadership.

http://awaitingtenure.wordpress.com/

Thank you for the post. I am sharing this article with the administrators in my district because you have articulated so well what I have frequently ranted about to them in a much less collected and supported way. Not sure what their thoughts will be, but hopefully some discussion might open up. Love to see someone like you as SOE, but would hate to see you have to deal with that job.

Wes, I commend you for your passion, perseverance, and perspicacity. You are helping us all do a better job.

Keep up the great work!

Thank you for your well written article. I think educators need to be political animals. If more of us would take the vocal stance at election time, perhaps we could make the changes that are so dreadfully needed.

I am as ultra-conservative as they could come. I hate to down the national leader once they are in office. I may vote for a different person but after the leader has been put in place, I try my best to be supportive. However, I am very saddened, dismayed, and discouraged by the restraints that NCLB has placed on our classrooms. I too would love to know the stats on where our national leaders are having their children educated.

I LOVE working in the public schools. Yes, our students have more of an uphill struggle than those that go to private schools. Yes, our public schools need reform but NO we do not need to privatize the public education system.

I am an instructional technology resource teacher for my division. I serve 3 elementary schools. Daily I hear teachers say they are hesitant to take time away from the almighty pacing guides in order to work in a technology lesson. They do know the right things to do; there is no time to do them.

One of my schools seems to always be facing non-accreditation. I wish politicians could have been at school this year on the very first day that the kids were back. One student asked me about the SOL scores; they weren’t back yet. (SOL-Standards of Learning-our test) This child was really scared and told me that they really did try to do their best. This particular school has the highest percentage of SPED children in the division. This school also has the highest percentage of students at poverty level.

Our students are working really hard. They have made significant progress in their learning. Can’t we find a better way to assess this progress rather than having them bubble in a bubble sheet? They do understand that according to NCLB, they are failures. The truth is, our students are not failures! Our teachers are not failures! NCLB is the failure.

“but the solution is not to privatize public education.”
One can look to Milwaukee, WI to see how that works. I believe Milwaukee has the LARGEST (or at least very close) acheivement gap between whites and non-whites in the U.S. even though they have had a choice / voucher program for 10 years. The most disgusting part of this is that when the politiciants initially approved this voucher program, they included a program evaluation by a reputable evaluator. So, when the evaluators came back neutral (not enough time to see effects), what did the Republican controlled legislature do? Of course, they cancelled the evaluation. So, our schools have to be accountable, but the experimental do not? Once the evaluators were gone, things went downhill fast. Private schools popped-up to collect money and didn’t buy textbooks, materials or pay their teachers. After quite a few scandals, the legislature re-instated financial accountability, but still NO EVALUATION of the quality of education at the private schools. NCLB’s formula almost garauntees that eventually (by 2012 or so) that all schools will be deemed “failing” because in order to have progress, 100% of students pust pass. It is a direct attack on public schooling with an aim of demonizing public schools as failures and ushering in more and more privatization. Can anyone explain how Sen. Kennedy couldn’t see this when he co-sponsored NCLB?

On a related note, Congressman Kind (D-WI) and Burmaster (WI Superintendent of Schools) held a Q&A at a local school regardign re-authorization of NCLB. One of my students (a future elementary teacher) asked, “How are we supposed to instill a love of learning, creativity, and exploration into our students when they are faced with a testing regime that promotes memorizing facts as the end-all of education?” She got a standing ovation from the parents in attendance.

SOAPBOX: What is wrong with expecting phenomenal progress from our student and phenomenal being based upon their individual capabilities and skills (multiple intelligences) versus some generic, broad-based test that many in power today would have difficulty making adequate process on. I believe that if we can get rid of the mentality that our schools are failing (which most really are not), properly fund (yes it is somewhat about money), and help - not punish those schools that need the help, then we will properly prepare our students for the new world economy.

But if we maintain the status quo of NCLB we are dooming our country to mediocrity and a second class economy in 20-30 years. Which if you believe conspiracy theorists, that is what some may want, bring us back to the rest of the world, none better, none worse. I don’t believe that, but many do.

Wes - again this was a great post - well done. Harold

Well said. I had much the same reaction to the comments in the State of the Union address.

And I feel like the fear of touching the issue of NCLB has paralyzed the upcoming candidates from having serious conversations about education, which would be a terrible thing for our schools.

Thanks for writing this, for all of us.

As a Yank in Korea, I need writings like this to give me more understanding of the politics of education in the US.

I’d especially like to read a follow-up which addresses your impressions so far of the presidential candidates’ positions and attitudes on education reform. How can I bribe you to take me up on that?

Looking at this from outside the US, people elsewhere want to emulate the US’ successes, without seeing how important creative work, team work, reflective work, and even recess, have been, in addition to class work, in fueling US productivity (and how irrelevant test scores are in the big picture). But now those values are being left behind, and so is the US’ competitive edge, and a hefty chunk of our investment in our own future.

Over here, a big share of high school curriculum is centered around the university entrance exam (which covers material only through grade 10). No recess, no creative projects, no time for homework beyond cutting and pasting from wikipedia. Kids spend years of after school time (no after school jobs here) in university entrance exam prep courses, a billion dollar racket here, focused on a single 3 hour multiple choice exam. High school seniors all get fake medical excuses and then vanish from school starting in April, as they devote themselves to full time exam prep for one exam that determines which schools, and which majors, they are eligible for.

Is that where the US is headed??? People need to get a good look at how a generation of that kind of education affects society before thinking that they know what’s best.

Great post. Let’s just hope that we can all get past big bad unions vs. big bad government and allow the boots on the ground to have input on the direction of education.

Let the trained professionals do their jobs!

I work in a private school. I get paid a LOT less than the teachers who work in public schools. But I also don’t have to fear the government’s control (ineffective control, mind you) of my classroom.

You know why the kids in my school do so well on our standardized tests? They don’t come to school hungry. Their parents, on average, are well-educated and very involved in their children’s education. They don’t live in the same street or apartment building as gang members who terrorize the neighborhood. No one is selling drugs mere feet from their doorsteps. If our students don’t get enough sleep, it’s because they’re staying up late doing school work (not that I support this practice). We have physical education two or three days a week, recess mid-morning and after lunch every day, and music and computers classes once per week. (Twice a week for computers in middle school.)

The biggest difference between my students and their public school counterparts is the positive emphasis on education made by their parents. And these parents are people who can afford to have such a worldview. Many public school parents in this country don’t have much of a choice. They’re struggling to hold it together. Most public schools and their teachers are doing the best they can with what they’re given. I used to teach in the inner city near Newark, New Jersey. Back to School Nights meant nearly empty school buildings. Parental involvement is the biggest deal-maker or deal-breaker in education. And until we fix the problems in society that prevent many parents from becoming actively involved in their children’s education, no acronym is going to come along and fix anything.

Daniel Pink is telling the nation that right-brained folks are becoming the most successful in the career force. But our schools are making our students less and less well-rounded because they need to pass a test that, in truth, tests nothing but their ability to take tests. When is the last time the best-paying employers in this country sat their workers down and made them take tests?

I would like to advocate for Wes Fryer to be nominated as the next Secretary of Education under the new Presdient-elect of the United States (TBD). I am completely serious. We need educators like Wes Fryer in prominent positions in stead of the “yes” men and women we currently have in place.

I blame myself and the entire educational community for not demanding that education be a central issue in the current election. Most of all though, I blame our most prominent educational leaders for not advocating well enough. Education is not a hot topic in the current race for the presidency because we lack good educational leadership.

A professor of mine, who is a current superintendent in Illinois, once said that educational change needs to come from a ground swell of educators. While I agree to a certain extent, I think education is a low priority because of the lack of leadership from our superintendents and administrators.

The biggest problem with NCLB is that it is set up for failure, focuses on the wrong goals and objectives needed for our youth today, and is an initiative created by out of touch politicians who like the rhetoric for their sound bytes.

This is a very well written piece Wes that I think can and should be tweaked as a major portion of your acceptance for nomination as Secretary of Education, 2009. I ask everyone who reads Wes on a regular basis to tell me why he wouldn’t be a better choice than recycling another “yes” edutician. Let me just say… Can you “Spell” that?

I am tired of the “eduticians” like Mrs. Spelling who sound more like a politician than an educator: http://www.ed.gov/news/pressreleases/2008/01/01102008.html Get someone in there with an understanding how education needs to change… and do it!