Somebody please explain to me what's wrong with vouchers? I think it's more a scare tactic to the schools so they try a little harder. It's your tax money, if you can educate your child better with it than the local "failing" public school can, what's the issue? I can see the teachers unions being against it as it hold them , the teachers, accountable for their performance, educating our children.
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Bush to Pitch Education Bill in Washington School
By Randall Mikkelsen
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Bush (news - web sites) on Thursday begins selling his education plan in schools, visiting an elementary school in the capital to highlight his proposals to hold educators accountable for student performance.
Bush is to meet students and teachers at Merritt Elementary School, which has for the last three years been testing student achievement annually in each grade and basing principal Nancy Shannon's job ratings on student progress.
Our progress is good. But it takes a lot to maintain the level of excellence that we expect,'' Shannon told Reuters. You can't afford to waste a single day.''
Accountability is a central plank of the education reform blueprint Bush submitted to Congress on Tuesday as his first legislative priority since assuming office last Saturday.
The bill would require annual testing of student performance, require states to develop performance-linked rewards and sanctions for schools, and implement a voucher-style program to help students in failing schools move to private schools.
Bush will also bring a bipartisan group of U.S. House of Representatives education leaders to the White House on Thursday to lobby for the bill.
Bush is visiting Merritt, which has a 100 percent African-American and 80 percent poor student population, to ''highlight the importance of accountability and making sure that every child is learning,'' said White House spokesman Scott McClellan.
Bush visited more than 100 schools during his presidential campaign as he made education reform one of his core issues.
He will visit more schools to sell the education bill, but probably not until after he has rolled out proposals on priorities such as prescription drug benefits for retirees and support for faith-based social initiatives, said White House spokesman Ari Fleischer.
Accountability And Testing
Shannon said she was not familiar with details of Bush's bill, but was aware that it emphasized accountability and testing. She said she was excited that he was coming to visit.
Bush would visit third and fourth grade students, and hold a discussion with teachers, she said.
The program of annually testing each student from first grade has been in place in Washington public schools for three years, Shannon said. As principal, 51 percent of her job rating is based on whether students in her school show advancement in their education level.
For example, 10 percent of the students who tested below basic'' educational levels one year must be raised to basic'' the next. Five percent must be raised from basic to proficient'' and five percent must be raised from proficient to advanced.''
The students met the goals last year, Shannon said. We did a lot to make sure we reached our targets.''
Shannon added that the curriculum was designed to avoid simply forcing teachers to train students for taking the achievement tests.
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Last sentence very important as this is one of the arguments the teachers are throwing out. As long as they test on what they are teaching, then this is a non issue. I think some are trying to make another church and state issue out of this. But, again, since it is my tax dollars, shouldn't I have the last word which school my child attends?
Or we can feed them MTV and Temptation Island, keeping them dumb, lazy and impressionable.
Eagler
