Hello everybody. I've been out of the country and have had difficulty with computer access and so I'm barely getting back to the blog. I'll post recent developments on Texas shortly as well.
I've been at the American Educational Research Association meetings in Montreal, Canada. The conference has been really interesting and it's been great being in a bilingual, French-English, province where the two languages are in constant negotiation in a very fluid, non-problematic way. You DO have to be bilingual though to hold lots of jobs, especially those that require interactions with the public.
Regarding the panels, session after session expresses great concern with NCLB. If anything is missing though, it's history on standards-based reform as well as analyses of the monied interests behind these reforms. It's dangerous, in my opinion, to not look at this because then one is left with the idea that these state-mandated controls have evolved "naturally" and that real people aren't actually profiting from all of this right now revealing a powerful motive that has nothing to do with children's learning.
Maybe AERA will someday be the organization that makes Karl Rove nervous.
I have good news on my book, LEAVING CHILDREN BEHIND. It--along with my other book--SUBTRACTIVE SCHOOLING--are the top 2 out of 4 best sellers for the State University of New York Press. I've also come across some great reviews of the book. I'm glad it's getting the reception that we all wanted it to get.
This was written by seven Penn State students. I think it's clever and so I thought that I'd share. -Angela
Ten Things I Hate about NCLB
1. One "proficient" standard for all is not very kind
when lots of such words need to be defined.
2. About this bill we need to be critical,
the reasons and arguments have become highly political.
3. The government went all Atilla the Hun
and took away all of our funds.
4. Teaching right now isn't the best
when all that you learn is geared to the test.
5. This policy leaves kids in the dark,
lacking attendance yields a big black mark.
6. We don't like federal mandates on patrol,
when all the states should be in control.
7. This point really is an abomination:
those improving students change stratification.
8. Why start a new controversy
and penalize schools with diversity?
9. Changing the purpose of education is funny;
when you teach to a test just for money.
10. Educators need room to reach
and not be confined when they try to teach.
Dan Oechsner-deo114@psu.edu
Melissa Dangel-mbd5005@psu.edu
Dan Mckee-dmm490@psu.edu
Dan Merrick-djm5007@psu.edu
Steve Jones-drj5007@psu.edu
Tara Scalfani-tes5000@psu.edu
Scott Fura-swf5002@psu.edu
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