Bush Outlines High School Student Plans

[Rose Siding]

FALLS CHURCH, Va. - President Bush (news - web sites) on Wednesday began his push to require high school students to take the math and reading tests now required of younger students under the No Child Left Behind law, the most ambitious item on the president's slate of second-term education proposals.

"Testing is important," Bush said at J.E.B Stuart High School in this Washington suburb. "Testing at high school levels will help us become more competitive as the years go by. Testing in high schools will make sure that our children are employable for the jobs of the 21st century. ... Testing will make sure the diploma is not merely a sign of endurance, but the mark of a young person ready to succeed."

In education, Bush's focus is on high schools and on expanding the No Child Left Behind Act that is designed to raise achievement among poor and minority children and penalize schools that don't make adequate yearly progress. It's part of his campaign pledge to improve high school standards and enhance the value of high school diplomas.

"We're not interested in mediocrity," Bush said at the school, which was the lowest-performing among those in relatively prosperous Fairfax County, Va., in 1997, but met its academic goals under No Child Left Behind Act in the 2003-04 school year. "We're interested in excellence so not one single child is left behind in our country," he said.

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story2&u=/ap/20050112/ap_on_go_pr_wh/bush

[noshenanigans]

1. say goodbye to your art program..

along with band classes, drama productions, and anything else like that.

Hooray for mediocrity! Welcome to America, driven by the Almighty (Dollar).

[adigal]

2. We don't want one child left behind

the rest of the troops after graduation and being drafted. We want them all included.

[pdxmom]

3. If they test my kids any more

They will NEVER get any real classroom time.

Who ever came up with the idea that testing was the end-all and be-all of improving the educational system? Oh, wait! I know. A mediocre student who was probably fascinated with the designs those filled in bubbles made on his answer sheets.

[papau]

48. Details from the LA Times below

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-bush13jan13,1,5892820.story?coll=la-headlines-nation&ctrack=1&cset=true

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-bu...
THE NATION
High Schools in Need of Testing, Bush Says
The president seeks to build on his No Child Left Behind law with his latest initiative.
By Nick Anderson
Times Staff Writer

January 13, 2005

FALLS CHURCH, Va. — Three years after he signed a landmark education law that strengthened oversight of elementary and middle schools, President Bush on Wednesday called for a mandatory battery of reading and math tests in the ninth, 10th and 11th grades.

He also proposed $1.5 billion in federal aid for high schools.

<snip>The president's allies acknowledge his education agenda is likely to face tough questions in the new Congress, with some conservative Republicans among the skeptics. Bush's new plan also could be hurt by an embarrassment the Education Department suffered last week with the revelation that it had paid $240,000 to conservative television commentator Armstrong Williams to promote No Child Left Behind. The payment drew ridicule from the left and the right and spurred calls for independent investigations into whether the agreement with Williams violated laws prohibiting the use of government funds for propaganda.<snip>

Under Bush's plan, the federal testing requirement for high school would triple, to three years, from the current one year.

Bush's $1.5-billion proposal, which expands on many ideas he put forward at his renominating convention in September, included:

• A new $500-million federal merit-pay fund for teachers who excel in low-income schools.

• An increase to $200 million, from the current annual fund of $25 million, for a remedial reading program for teenagers.

• $250 million to help states pay for new testing.

• $269 million for mathematics and science instruction.

• $52 million to help develop Advanced Placement and International Baccalaureate programs in low-income schools.

• $45 million for incentives to help students take more rigorous courses.<snip>

[flygal]

54. Don't you feel like they're just creating little robots?

With cut backs in liberal arts programs that encourage free thinking, we're making children only to think what they're being fed - no abstract thinking allowed.

I have a friend who teaches kindergarten and she's stressed from all the drilling she does - and almost no art, music time.

[Fovea]

4. My feelings about this are best described by a joke from the 90s

Q-How many Microsoft OS engineers does it take to change a light bulb?
A-None, you just change the standard to darkness.

The dimwit is destroying our education system in the name of excellence.

And if he can't tolerate mediocrity, perhaps that explains his lack of desire to live up to his potential.

[AP]

5. Brother Neil Bush is involved in an educational testing service.

I wonder what came first, the political philosophy or the business plan?

I know a lot of RW'ers are convinced the political philosophy came first, but come on! Open your eyes.

[SmokingJacket]

23. Bingo!!!

B* never does anything unless it's sure to line the pockets of some friends/family members.

The guy's a fricking Corleone.

[aden_nak]

6. "We're not interested in mediocrity," said C student George W. Bush.

[onenote]

10. bar v library?

In Dubya's speech he mentioned one of the school's longtime teachers (Stuart Singer) and noted that Laura and the teacher had been classmates at SMU. The remarks that followed were, considering the audience, bizarre:


"I asked him if they ever went to the bar together. (Laughter.) Both of them said, no, they were in the library. (Laughter and applause.) It probably distinguishes their college career from mine. (Laughter and applause.)

One of the things we must be willing to always do is raise the bar. We've got to continue to raise the bar in our high schools."


onenote

[UpInArms]

15. SMU in Dallas?

There is a "bar" called "The Library" there.

Melrose Hotel the: The Library Bar
[phone]
3015 Oak Lawn Ave
Dallas, TX 75207

been there many times - rather a nice place :eyes:

[Ilsa]

27. Me too. Is there still a singing pianist performing regularly?

I used to drink cognac there.

[UpInArms]

31. dunno - it's been 15 years since I lived in Lower Greenville

but I did enjoy some of my time there :D

[keopeli]

13. We're through the looking glass...

[Redstone]

19. Great observation, aden-nak!

And, if I remember right, he said he was proud of being a "C" student!

Redstone

[aden_nak]

24. Why thank you.

And you know what, if he was a C student? Fine. Some of the brightest people I went to school with got very "mediocre" grades. I wouldn't even say that precludes him from being President (there is so much else, why dwell on his grades). But don't then go around saying that mediocre grades are unacceptable. I really could spang him across the back side of his head with a shovel for a MONTH and not feel satisfied.

[leftofcool]

20. And he should have had a 3.8 GPA.......

how hard is it to maintain an A when you major in party and cocaine?

Left of Cool

[LastLiberal in PalmSprings]

44. Bush: "I'm the master of low expectations."

From the 2004 campaign.

[struggle4progress]

52. And to the C students -- (applause) -- I say, you, too, can be President."

Remarks by the President in Commencement Address
Yale University
New Haven, Connecticut
http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2001/05/20010521-2.html

Hay! He nose ware he stands!

[sweetheart]

7. standardized testing

In the effort to make testing efficient, multiple choice and such
work is the norm, but i notice, that being able to argue a point
is not, as it is harder to grade such papers. Testing can be useful,
but cutting corners in the testing process is part of the problem.

I was seriously challenged in attending a british university after
american university, as tests were always long essay questions, and
multiple choice was not as preferred. It forced me to better organize
knowledge, to explain my answer, not just tick the right box.

It is unrealistic to expect bush's underfunded bogus programme to
put the draft in high schools, so that no child will be left behind
the front lines of his new wars... no wonder he wants older students
not to be left behind..

[flygal]

55. Exactly!

He wants no free-thinkers so they'll follow in line to help invade his other countries!

[ChicanoPwr]

8. I really would like people to look in to TX

I invite all DUers too look into our Education system, the same piece of crap BuShits did here he wants for our country. IN SHORT, IT DOES NOT WORK. Schools are cheating so they don't get their funding cut. Kids are not learning because the teachers are teaching to the test. I will provide one example, I looked at an entering 9th grade class, they started off at 1,200. At the start of the following school year, 200 went onto the 10th grade. YES, 200 went on to the next grade level. THIS NOT A MISPRINT.

[0007]

59. I'm surprised that Rod Paige, the Secretary of Education

still has his job, after being exposed for cooking the books in Texas and lying to the people of the United States.

[Southpaw Bookworm]

9. A few factoids about this "underperforming" school

Most of the kids there are immigrants, from Latin America, war-torn African nations, the Middle East. I'd bet there are more than a few Iraqi kids whose parents were able to get them out to relatives here. Some of those kids have been in the U.S. for a few years, others were in a displaced persons camp a month ago. But overall, the students have not been in the U.S. long enough so that their language skills would be equivalent to that of an American-born student for standardized testing purposes. They are tested nonetheless. The school draws students from at least three homeless shelters, and also, because of the high cost of housing in in some cases you'll find two families sharing a house or even an apartment, so there are also the technically homeless to consider as well. Many of them might see their parents only on weekends because they have to work multiple jobs, and they spend their afterschool time taking care of younger siblings or elderly relatives.

But the dedicated teachers in this school still manage to reach these students, who are nonetheless eager to learn.

How. Dare. He. Show up and talk about how important testing is.

:grr:

[onenote]

14. neighboring elementary school no fan of NCLB

Bailey's elementary is less than a mile from Stuart HS. Given what that school thinks about NCLB, no surprise that Dubya didn't mention it...

http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A25306-2004Oct11?language=printer

PS - I went to Stuart HS more than 30 years ago. The speaker at our graduation? Ramsey Clark.

[Southpaw Bookworm]

17. Yeah baby!

I was thinking of that article while writing this.

If only all the administrators in Fairfax were so enlightened. A friend of mine was told in a faculty meeting (middle school) that the school needed to raise its test scores because it would lower property values. (Chicken or egg: Was the school lowering property values, or was the real issue the fact that that area was one of the few still affordable for lower-income families and new immigrants? Let us not forget that family income is the primary determinant of test scores.)

[phylny]

28. I worked in a school in Loudoun County, and it was the same

situation.

Lots and lots of ESL students, some kids who came in at 7 or 8 years old from other countries and had NEVER BEEN IN school.

We used to be required to participate in after school tutoring right before the SOLs for the kids who they thought had a fighting chance to pass. We did this because the principal stated, "Our kids need more."

Don't even get me started on the stress that NCLB testing does to the many special ed kids who have testing accommodations on their IEPs that help them be successful, but are unable to have those accommodations implemented during NCLB testing.

It's a shame.

[Straight Shooter]

11. Testing in high schools for eligibility to community college.

Because most of those hapless students won't be able to afford university education. Come on, George, your way into Yale was bought and paid for by your family name. You aren't fooling anyone with your platitude attitude.

As for "jobs of the 21st century," that would be the military or anything associated with corporate takeover.

[Danmel]

12. In NYS, High School students already take Regents exams

in English, Science ,(Earth Science, Biology, Chemistry), English, Social Studies, Math A, Trig, Geometry, Foreign Languages. How many tests can one kid take? Hoe many years of school will be turned into a giant test prep lab? Why are they so intent on sucking all of the joy out of learning? Could it be because Bush has never once experienced joy in learning?

[saigon68]

25. Bush has often experienced the joy of killing tho

Although not personally, but his ordered servants, operatives and mercenaries have killed over 100,000 people in Iraq.

I believe he obtains arousal through seeing the money he is making and the killing he has done.

[phylny]

29. In the very school Bush was in talking about this,

kids take Standards of Learning (SOLs) and it's the same as Regents. You don't pass, you get a certificate of completion. You can bet the schools really do try their hardest to get kids to pass.

[Serial Mom]

16. Testing / Failing Schools invite cheating

It doesn't happen a lot, but I've heard of it.

If a school is failing and administrators don't want to lose funding, they are tempted to cheat in many different ways.

I don't like it and I would like to know what teachers think!

[expatriot]

18. J.E.B. Stuart High School? Jesus Christ.

That's one for the southern Christian conservative.

[onenote]

22. evolution of the name

Back when my brother attended the school nearly forty years ago (he was in the first or second graduating class), it was locally referred to as "JEB". By the time I graduated around 30 years ago, it was more frequently referred to as JEB Stuart. Nowadays, its just "Stuart" and instead of a rebel general on horseback, the school logo is a stylized "S" --for all anyone can tell, the school might be named for some obscure Scotsman.

onenote

[maveric]

32. A confederate, anti-american terrorist and traitor.

When will the Timothy McVeigh Middle School open up?

[Name removed]

34. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[maveric]

36. Commiting treason against the USA. Sorry but thats what it was.

I'm not south bashing. I have many fiends from the south and spent 4 years in central FL.
I just find it amusing that using civil war generals as heroes is part of "southern heritage" and acceptable.
Nothing PC about it my friend.
Just reality.

[Hand]

41. Heh heh

"Many *fiends* from the south." Great typo!
:toast: :yourock:

[Charon]

58. J.E.B. Stuart High School

Here in my part of Virginia, we have a Robert E. Lee elementary and a Jefferson Davis Middle School.

[Swamp Rat]

21. "Opposite Man" speaks again.

"We're not interested in mediocrity" - Means: "We want mediocrity" for the all peasants!"

[Turbineguy]

26. I seem to recall

how PE suddenly became hard core calisthenics during the Vietnam war years.

I was buff for years afterward..

[Buddyblazon]

30. IMPORTANT INFORMATION:

We all know about Neil Bush...*'s evil twin (ain't that a scary thought). He made off with a piles of money in the Silverado scandal here in Colorado during the '80's.

" Jeb Bush, George Bush Sr., and his son Neil Bush have all been implicated in the Savings and Loan Scandal, which cost American tax payers over $1.4 TRILLION dollars (note that this is about one quarter of our national debt)."

http://www.rationalrevolution.net/bush_family_and_the_s.htm


A few months back, I did some research on what he's doing today.

He now owns a company...AN EDUCATION COMPANY...A COMPANY...THAT PRODUCES TESTS! EDUCATION TESTS! AND...THE SUBSEQUENT TUTORIAL...AHEM..."PACKAGES" FOR THE CHILDREN THAT FAIL THESE TESTS!


The companies name is Ignite.


"In October 2001, shortly after the United States began bombing Afghanistan, Neil attended an international technology conference in Dubai. He was fishing for investors for his latest business venture -- Ignite Incorporated, an interactive education software company that he founded in March 1999. Ignite says its goal is to help students improve their standardized test scores. And that's where No Child Left Behind comes into play.

"Neil Bush's company sells software to prepare students to take comprehensive tests required under "No Child Left Behind." Schools that fail the tests will face termination of federal assistance. The contracts for these test programs are very lucrative. Ignite is currently running a pilot program at a Middle School in Orlando, Florida--where Neil's brother Jeb is governor. The company hopes to sell the software throughout Florida at $30 per pupil per year.

"In mid-February, Houston school board members unanimously agreed to accept $115,000 in charitable donations that would be funneled to Ignite. The Houston Independent School District trustees had initially delayed a vote on the matter in December, saying they were concerned that Bush's Austin-based company might be benefiting from his family name. But in February, the nine board members approved the funding without discussion. "


http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=04/03/12/1534244




So...how convenient is all this?



Guess what...the money spent on NCLB goes back to the BFEE.

Ain't that a bitch.

[nashville_brook]

33. why not No Prezdint Left Behind -- he should take the test 1st!

[pcboss49]

37. but it would take him at least 6 years to finish high school.....

[ucmike]

35. "bush outlines high school plans" tricked me.....

i thought he was planning on going back to high school.

[Bridget Burke]

39. Bush was rejected from St John's.

That's an excellent Episcopal school in Houston. But he didn't meet the entry requirements.

So family connections (& a lot of $$$) got him into Philips Andover.

www.pbs.org/newshour/extra/features/july-dec00/privateschools.html

[genieroze]

38. What the hell is he

blathering about. Eleventh graders have to pass a test to graduate HS, they don't pass they don't graduate. Isn't this test nationwide?

[teachermarie]

49. 11th grade test

I teach 8th grade in a small Wisconsin school;I live this testing crap every damn day. Even though we gave the state test in early Nov. (we don't start, due to state law, until after Labor Day)we are being required to pilot yet another test later this month. Enough already.

Our high school doesn't have a graduation test, I believe it was axed because of funding. Currently only 4th and 8th tests are "gatekeeper" tests meaning the child cannot continue. Not sure if the yearly math and reading tests are "gatekeeper" tests like the 4th and 8th are. From direct experience I can tell you that students are still being shuffled along. If not we would see huge schools of only 4th and 8th graders!

To end this lunacy, schools should reject the tests altogether. At some point the amount of federal funding will not be enough to cover the cost of preparing and giving the test. Most school funding is state and local anyway. Districts should stand up to the bully * and tell him to shove the tests up his tush. If they lack the skills to stand up the bully, they should consult their anti-bullying programs we are also pushed to use.
Irony, I love it.

[Redstone]

40. The problem with standardized testing

If I can be serious for a moment. This is not my original idea, but it makes sense:

1) The US has long been known as a wellspring of innovation, yes?

2) Japan has long been known for phenomenal manufacturing technology, and as a producer of superb products - but primarily as a source of incremental product improvements, rather than an innovator.

Can we all agree on these premises (and not accuse me of saying the Japanese are just copycats, which I'm not)?

So why is America more innovative? Lack of standardized testing, that's what. You see, when a bunch of kids graduate from high school or college here, they tend to know a bunch of different things, because they're allowed in school to pursue their individual interests. This results in innovation, because everyone more or less thinks about things with a little different point of view from the rest.

In Japan, on the other hand, standardized testing is pervasive and rigid. So what you have there is groups of graduates who, although they're intelligent and have been taught well, have all learned the same things.

This doesn't promote creativitiy, and hence, innovation.

Requiring more standardized testing in the country isn't a great idea, if only for this one reason.

Redstone

[bobbieinok]

56. hmmmmmm

[rainbow4321]

42. " Testing in high schools will make sure that our children are employable"

Um..as if there are going to be actual JOBS created during your regime...how much testing is needed to see if someone can say "would you like to supersize that"?

I don't suppose anyone brought up to him the recent article about all the cheating going on in the TX schools with the standardized testing?? Tell him to do a Google to see how much of that cheating was done with the TAAS test during his Texas regime.

[LastLiberal in PalmSprings]

45. Standardized testing = rote memorization

Rote memorization = being a good employee who does boring repetitive jobs without complaining. (Sound like the food service industry?)

No employee left behind.

[VegasWolf]

43. Testing is vital because my uncle owns the standardized tests. I am

not a crook. I am not a crook! I do to have a penis,
it's just hard to see it.

[rainbow4321]

46. What chimp's testing ideas led to...

From shrub's time in Texas....

http://www.simplyfamily.com/display.cfm?articleID=chaos_reform.cfm

Begin with Texas, for the moment the hero-state of the accountability and high-stakes testing crowd and, just incidentally, the foundation of a good deal of Texas Gov. George W. Bush's high standing in the early presidential polls

Last week, a grand jury in Travis County indicted not only a senior administrator of the Austin schools, but also the entire district for tampering with student answer sheets on TAAS, the high-stakes Texas Assessment of Academic Skills test. Another administrator pleaded no contest to changing records and is now presumed to be cooperating with the three county attorneys, the two district attorneys and the various investigators working on the case.

And that appears to be just the tip of the Texas cheating iceberg, which has so far involved some 33 schools in 11 districts. The Houston school district, the largest in the state, has demanded the resignations of an elementary school principal and three teachers in connection with alleged test tampering there. In a neighboring district, another principal and teacher were suspended. Meanwhile, questions are being raised about why only half of Houston's students have been taking the TAAS.

The motivation for all those shenanigans is clear. Teacher evaluations are based in part on student test scores. Schools reporting high scores get monetary rewards. Those that do not are subject to state review. Where scores are consistently poor, principals can be fired. And since the Texas system counts not only schoolwide scores but also scores for ethnic and economic subgroups, all of which have to meet the threshold, a little tampering can be leveraged into considerable gains.

[GoddessOfGuinness]

47. For what jobs are we making them employable?

Oyster shucking? Burger flipping?

[jayctravis]

50. Anyone else read Ender's Game? (n/t)

[fooj]

51. I am a high school teacher and I can tell you first hand...

the No Child Left Behind Act is just what it claims- it's an ACT!! A few years ago Nightline ran a story on this very subject! The segment is FULL of info...I need to find my copy (now how did I know that VHS tape may come in handy?). We test for anything and everything! Believe me! In California, our kids must pass a high school exit exam to graduate! This man is a real piece of work! Not interested in mediocrity? What a hypocrite! :spank:

[Daphne08]

53. I was a high school teacher for almost 20 years

in a state where a plan similar to NCLB was implemented several years ago.

It was/is a disaster! I became so disgusted that I left teaching, and I left that state!

[nickine9]

57. re testing...

in the UK we are also going down this route where testing becomes more important than teaching. seems to me that this is removing education from the curriculum and replacing it with a production line for producing a stream of compliant drones. Also the quotation from Bush "we're not interested in mediocrity" has alarming implications. Whilst it might mean mediocre education one can't help thinking that it refers to "mediocre" students.