State Challenges Seen as Whittling Away Federal Education Law (No Child Left Behind)

[alp227]

Source: The New York Times

HELENA, Mont. — As hundreds of schools here and across the nation faced being labeled failures under the federal No Child Left Behind law, Montana education officials defiantly informed Washington this spring that they would stop raising testing targets as the law requires, despite warnings that doing so could cost the state millions of dollars in federal aid.

But in an agreement to be announced here on Monday, Secretary of Education Arne Duncan will allow Montana to keep most of the schools off the law’s blacklist, and the state will pay no penalty.

With several other Western states also rebelling against the requirement that 100 percent of American students be proficient in English and math by 2014, some education officials and experts see signs that years of federal dominance of public school accountability may be drawing to a close.

“Pretty soon all the schools will be failing in America, and at that point the law becomes meaningless,” said Larry K. Shumway, superintendent of public instruction in Utah. “States are going to sit and watch federal accountability implode. We’re seeing the end of an era.”

Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/08/15/education/15educ.html?pagewanted=all

[indurancevile]

1. the agreement with arne is a devil's bargain to destroy tenure & unions.

[callous taoboy]

2. Kids are getting burned out as well and are getting defiant about the empty calories that defines

testing and school these days. After 11 years of taking third graders, half of whom are "at risk," through the testing ring of fire I am done. I will be teaching second grade this year which I'm looking forward to but I feel like I am perfectly suited to teach third grade.

I simply could not face it again. It's like being served cold gruel for breakfast, lunch and dinner every day of the week.

[Swagman]

3. what happened ?

public education in the USA was a given..isn't there one single institution that these retrogrades attack?? :wtf: