I wonder if any of the candidates will answer this kid's question regarding LNCB.

[devilgrrl]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fJYjraRvA-w&feature=related

Good question too.

[LisaM]

1. Well, Hillary has called to scrap the program

She realizes it has not worked, and she thinks we just need to scrap it (yes, she voted for it, but so did lots of people, including Ted Kennedy). And I agree with her. Get rid of it.

[devilgrrl]

2. Have you checked out any of those tests?

They are some serious :wtf: material.

:crazy:

http://benefield.org/Students/07_CRCT%20PREP/5th%20Grade/_667_05_LA_GSC_T1.pdf

http://benefield.org/Students/07_CRCT%20PREP/5th%20Grade/_667_05_SS_CI_T1.pdf

[Kajsa]

3. This is a GREAT question

and I commend the young man in the video.

NCLB needs to be abolished.

It does not help our students and takes valuable learning
time away from them in the classroom.

[LisaM]

4. Well, I don't support this testing system, though that's the first I've seen of any of the tests

I'm against them for a variety of reasons, one of which is that there is no 'one size fits all' when it comes to learning. I also don't think it's fair to the teachers to base merit pay, for example, on these tests.

It encourages teaching to the lowest common denominator.

And, I think it increases the dropout rate, which has risen. Look at what happened in Houston. They claimed huge success rates in test scores, but it turned out that a number of students had dropped out, and they were not counted against the standard! Unreal.

I do tend to be emotional about this since my father was a public high school teacher. I believe strongly that we need to fully fund and fix public schools. I liked Edwards' plan of giving $15,000 bonuses to teachers in poor districts. Attracting good teachers is the first step, IMO. I think that is a far better solution than giving merit raises, which at this point can only be based on higher test scores.