Now that last school year's test scores are coming out, hopefully we'll see more of these articles: Bush's pet education bill is in serious trouble.

Here's a snippet: In Chicago last year, less than a third of the lowest-performing schools actually gave parents a transfer option. Roughly three out of four of the city's better-performing schools were exempted from having to accept transfers. Only 10 percent of the eligible students in Chicago even requested a transfer, and only half of those were approved. This year, Chicago has 365 failing schools, but only 38 out of roughly 240 better-performing schools—just over 15 percent—are being required to take in transfers. That's not much of a choice.

Here is something we all said months ago: What's more, the law unintentionally creates a situation in which NCLB is pretty much all bad news, all the time. Parents who thought their children's schools were doing fine are told the schools are lagging. Parents who were supposed to get the chance to transfer their children to a better school find out that there's nowhere to go, or decide they'd rather keep their kids in a failing neighborhood school than ship them across town. Parents at schools that are required to take in transfer students worry about the impact of the transfers on the school. The press has frequently taken side with the teachers, progressive reformers, and education officials who generally dislike the law. So far, at least, it's hard to find a winner.

We often hear the phrase "thought police", well this story confirms that it happens.

Brian Robertson was just months away from graduation at Moore High School in Moore, Oklahoma, last year when he found the beginnings of what he thought was a short story on a school computer. He copied the file to another computer, added some paragraphs to the initial text and then promptly got arrested.

The case has the American Civil Liberties Union crying foul over suppression of free expression. Calling the statute vague and "overly broad," the ACLU says the law "criminalizes free thought and free expression," essentially making it illegal for anyone to even think about committing a crime. Robertson, who was charged in April 2002, is the first person to be tried under the law.

On the wired web site there is a link to the story.

Yawn..... the annual dumping on the nation's ACT scores (read students/teachers) came out today. Does anyone ever check for any correlation between that test and what is actually being taught?

Update about the superintendent who failed the English literacy test from USA Today:

Here's a multiple-choice question: What happens when the school superintendent, 20 certified teachers and 41% of high school seniors fail tests they're required to pass? (In the superintendent's case, it's the third time he has failed the basic literacy test.)

A. No one is punished. All receive extra support before the retest.

B. Everyone suffers. The seniors don't graduate on time, and the adults are suspended without pay until they pass their tests.

C. The students don't graduate, but the educators keep their jobs.

D. The students and teachers are punished, but the superintendent is praised by his state's governor and receives a 3% raise.

Those who selected ''C'' have a grasp of the system; they know there's often a double standard for kids and adults. But ''D'' is the correct answer, because Lawrence, Mass., where this situation is unfolding, operates on a different double standard: Punish students and teachers, but reward leaders.

Read the article.

This article sounds bad:

Chicago public schools braced for a "logistical nightmare'' Wednesday, revealing that an estimated 250,000 students could be vying for only 5,000 seats under tough new federal standards designed to free students from failing schools.

Officials released tentative data showing that 368 schools--or 61 percent of all city public schools--could have to offer transfers to 54 higher-performing ones under the "choice'' provisions of the No Child Left Behind law.

However it sounds like too much "fire and brimstone". I link you decide.

I hope this catches on:

A growing number of Valley school districts are shortening class schedules to give teachers more preparation time, hoping that better organized lessons will help students perform better on tests.

Madison Elementary in Phoenix will begin its early-release day this fall, cutting students loose 90 minutes early almost every Wednesday, so teachers can use the time to strengthen their instruction methods.

Kohn would have a field day with this one: When students in Biloxi, Miss., show up this morning for the first day of the new school year, a virtual army of digital cameras will be recording every minute of every lesson in every classroom.

Hundreds of Internet-wired video cameras will keep rolling all year long, in the hope that they'll deter crime and general misbehavior among the district's 6,300 students -- and teachers.

Here is a great Orwellian quote: ''It helps honest people be more honest,'' says district Superintendent Larry Drawdy", Um...whatever.

Do you laugh or cry about this? -

This city's superintendent of schools, who recently put two dozen teachers on unpaid leave for failing a basic English proficiency test, has himself flunked a required literacy test three times.

Wilfredo T. Laboy called his failing scores "frustrating" and "emotional." He blamed his performance on a lack of preparation and concentration, as well as the fact that that Spanish is his first language.

If well educated adults can't pass the test...

Middle school students will attend four 86-minute classes each day. Two of the periods will be spent in language arts and math classes. The new schedule will also require students who were not already on block schedules to take a social studies class one semester and a science class another semester, instead of taking both classes all year long. In the remaining period, students would take physical education, art and other electives on a three-day rotating schedule.
A Maryland MS trying to do something new. Though not without critics.

I partly agree with the parents in this case. But they shouldn't be frustrated at the school, this is a symptom of high stakes testing.