U.S. education secretary lauds Michigan's high bar for graduation?!?

[Mike]

Karen Bouffard / The Detroit News.....Thursday, April 30, 2009

Hi all....... a damp Saturday here in Southern New Jersey. My comments in ( )

Really does not matter if its Philadelphia, Okland, Chicago, New York or Detroit.... the same attack on public education is occuring! Do not think this has no influence on where it is you may be teaching.... it already has.... these places simply are a view of what may be heading your way.

Here some highlights .....

Washington -- Michigan's rigorous new high school requirements are on the right track, despite criticism from some in the state who say they could result in more students dropping out,( Check out Texas and other states who have already went this way.... dropout rates skyrocketed ) U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan told a gathering of the nation's top education reporters Thursday night.

Duncan told The Detroit News that education in Detroit will be corrected only by raising expectations the district places on students and teachers. ( Yep... damn kids and teachers with low standards are the problem! Too easy on the kids.... teachers in these places are to blame! Some of the most dedicated teachers i know work in these area's.... others...most quickly leave for the suburbs! )

Among those changes, Duncan planned significant changes in the implementation of No Child Left Behind Act, former President George W. Bush's blueprint for education reform. Even the name of the act might change, he said. "(The name) is toxic. We have to start over." ( Gotta love it.... change the name.... must learn this in MBA schools )


"The previous administration was very loose on the goals and very tight on how you get there," he said. "You need to be very tight on the goal, but loose on how you get there." ( Not sure what he means here...do not all states have bench mark test scores to reach and they must meet or lose money! Love loose on how to get there.... that because no one has been able to....segragation by race and SES is inherintly UNFAIR )

The Michigan Legislature approved a tough 16-credit curriculum for high school students to earn a diploma. The state's high school requirements start with the graduating class of 2011. The requirements include students taking two years of foreign language, four of English and three of math. ( The latest thing going on in America.... )


Duncan told The Detroit News that education in Detroit will be corrected only by raising expectations the district places on students and teachers.

"What's going on there is a national disgrace, and we're not going to change it without raising the bar," he said. "Detroit is not going to get where it needs to go without raising standards."

(There is no question there is a gap and it has always been there! Our urban school districts need not rehtoric!

I find it disheartening that we continue to seek easy answers to such a profound matter.

Until we embrace the most difficult realities that are at the foundation of the achievement gap, all of the accountability language will continue to ring hollow.

The racial achievement gap is rooted in history, socio-economics, and American political structures.

Why, however, do we regularly try to reduce it solely to a matter of culture?

Does anyone really think that schools alone can fix this? )

be well... mike

[Ed Jones]

Mike, God bless your heart, but... Why is it every time someone suggests that improvements to public education can and should be part of the solution, ... it's "an attack on public education".

We're not all daft, you know, though so many status quo advocates think we are. We know that culture plays a part; and we know about economics. In fact, most of us have bothered studying a bit about economics and finance, and know something about how you move populations upwards, and how you don't.

So, "two years of foreign language, four of English and three of math" is a tough new requirement? Really? What in the world were they doing before?

Mike, when 75% are dropping out, its more than just how much money is at home, more than the peer pressure on the street. Its something about that school which makes it a much more boring or worse place to waste away a day than the street or worse the idiot box at home. How bad can such schools be? Well, we've all seen videos.

Go back to the stats. The kids tell us there is nothing challenging or engaging in these schools. I'm not saying the above 2/4/3 mixture is perfect for every student. That's not the message at all here.

My message to you, old friend, is that people who speak as you speak make it way too easy for those who want one-size-fits all solutions.

There are things outside the school which can be done. Ending rent control. Urban enterprise zones. Scholarships. Clean parks. Crime control. Welfare which makes sense. Many of these have been done; others remain undone.

Yet, where the sensible path is not yet done, even there it is often a matter of educationg the voters. If a voter can't understand why rent control keeps people in squalor, how is the voter to get rid of it? Until they are educated on the issue, they'll stick with what appears to be, but isn't really, in their interest.

So even there, we are back to education as part of the solution.

If we want to argue about those other things, then lets all move to forums on social policy,. Here, though, why not focus on the part schools and teachers can play?

Until we make the ed systems more flexible; a big part of the problem will remain, no matter what else happens in the public policy arena. Whats so bad about politicians who work ed issues; about sticking to discussing ed issues in these ed forums?

[Mike]

Hi Ed.... long time no see here at fireside! Thanks for the God bless!

"Why is it every time someone suggests that improvements to public education can and should be part of the solution, ... it's "an attack on public education".
We're not all daft, you know, though so many status quo advocates think we are."
(Ed Jones quotes )

Funny for me to hear this Ed.

I certainly would not consider myself a “status quo” advocate…. I would actually consider myself more on the radical side.....

What I strongly object to are solutions that are like band-aids on gapping wounds!

My more radical thought Ed….

why do we continue to allow public schools to exist that have a student body that exceeds 40% poverty levels ( many as high as 95% ) and have a student body segregated by race????

Before you assume that I am crazy…..

I will use as an example a group you often talk about with very high regard…. The U.S. Military.. specifically the Army.

Diversity is very well done in this organization and it is intentional!

US FY 2003 Army Population
Army Population- Approximately 254 K Blacks
-20.3% of the total Army population are Black ( 12.7% of population are black 03)

If we break it down a bit …… on the Test Score Category i-iiiA it goes like this:
Asians- 65.1%
Hispanic- 57.0%
Blacks- 51.4%
Whites- 81.2%

You see Ed…. the gap exists regardless of test… however…
the Army creates diversity on purpose and it does it very well!!!


We know that culture plays a part; and we know about economics. In fact, most of us have bothered studying a bit about economics and finance, and know something about how you move populations upwards, and how you don't. ( Ed Jones quote )

Good Ed. I know a bit about school finance and property taxes.

For instance…here in my county…. 1 cent on the property tax rate raises over 1.2 million dollars in my wealthiest community and that same 1 cent.... in my poorest community raises 17, 000 dollars. Ed...this is not even close and the results with-in these districts are enormous. Want to guess at the racial make-up in these schools???

Mike, when 75% are dropping out, its more than just how much money is at home, more than the peer pressure on the street. Its something about that school which makes it a much more boring or worse place to waste away a day than the street or worse the idiot box at home. How bad can such schools be? Well, we've all seen videos. ( Ed Jones Quote )

There is an underlying assumption that if we switched the staff at a high-performing, majority white, middle/upper middle class school and allowed them to teach in a failing urban school district that the students would flourish and all would be well!

Ed… as you make assumptions from watching videos….

Many of us…. have actually worked in places that you so easily assume so much about.

I have spent over 25 years in and around these places.

I am advocating change…. But the kinds of changes that many of our urban districts are having pushed down both the school and the communities throats are poorly thought out. They also require little of anyone outside these area’s.

I don't have a problem with people helping poor communities by trying to improve their public schools. But I do have a problem when they don't directly and closely consult with those communities first, but instead presume to know what is needed.


"My message to you, old friend, is that people who speak as you speak make it way too easy for those who want one-size-fits all solutions.

Until we make the ed systems more flexible; a big part of the problem will remain, no matter what else happens in the public policy arena. What’s so bad about politicians who work ed issues; about sticking to discussing ed issues in these ed forums?" ( Ed Jones Quote )

Real narrow thinking Ed. The issue is much more complex then just educational issues!


A bit of history.....

In 1974 in Milliken v. Bradley, a reconstructed Supreme Court with four Nixon appointees began what was to become a long retreat from its demand that violating school districts take aggressive action to overcome segregation and reversed a lower court ruling that ordered urban–suburban desegregation in Detroit. Without compelling evidence that suburban boundaries had been drawn with discriminatory intent, a five to four majority of the Court argued, local autonomy should take precedence over the right of African-American and Latino students to a desegregated education.

This was in effect....a decision that lead to.. the re-segragation of the American public school system.

Because school districts in many large metropolitan areas in the South are countywide, this decision did not resegregate southern schools.

Why not look at this.... the south has are most diverse public schools because of countywide systems. As states look toward consolidation of school districts.... why not use the opportunity to re-evaluate how we draw these district lines?

Outside the South, however, especially in the Northeast and Midwest, where school district boundaries correspond to urban/suburban political jurisdictions, Milliken effectively excluded white suburbs from the requirements of desegregation.

So Ed.... still think my thinking is status quo?

Why not look at this.... what is the fear????

be well... mike