What do Jim Francesconi and I have in common? We both finished second in our respective races for public office, which isn't too bad considering the number of candidates we each faced.
Unless of course you spent $22 dollars per vote, as Francesconi did. I spent maybe 13 cents for each of mine.
But this isn't about Francesconi and me. It's just a clever segue into one of my frequent rants on No Child Left Behind and, in this case, about our current Secretary of Education, Rod Paige, who perfectly reflects the incompetence and dishonesty of the Bush Administration.
I've written about Paige before and how he rode the bogus "Texas education miracle" into national office (Joe's School, Dec. 4). But after hearing Al Franken interview Bob Kimball, the Houston educator who blew the whistle on the fraudulent numbers on student success coming out of that district, I felt compelled to revisit the issue. And I came across this article by Jim Trelease, who quotes the NY Times Michael Winerip on Houston Superintendent Rod Paige's efforts to get the schools to report "miracle numbers", like a "zero percent' dropout rate:
"As for those who fail to make their numbers, it is termination time, one of many innovations championed by Dr. Paige as superintendent here from 1994 to 2001. He got rid of tenure for principals and mandated that they sign one-year contracts that allowed dismissal 'without cause' and without a hearing.
"On the other hand, for principals who make their numbers, it is bonus time. Principals can earn a $5,000 bonus, district administrators up to $20,000. At Sharpstown High alone, Dr. Kimball said, $75,000 in bonus money was issued last year, before the fictitious numbers were exposed."
And I discovered that Bill Moyers had interviewed Bob Kimball last October on Now. In response to the notion that Houston is the model for the Bush education plan, Kimball said this:
"If it is the best school district in the United States, this country is in serious trouble.
Al Franken says that Bush, because he believes in "testing and phonics", considers himself knowledgable about education. That "knowledge" led him to "hire a guy that cheats." Rod Paige, the cheater, reflects, in Franken's words, the "basically fraudulent" character of the entire Bush Administration, an administration that is "riddled with corruption" and "filled with crooks and liars." Here's another take on Paige and the Houston "miracle".
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While we're discussing education. today's Tribune ran this article on the effort to provide more full day kindergarten programs in Portland.
The article focused on Grout Elementary-- where I went to kindergarten so long ago I can't remember the teacher's name. But I do remember it was half day. Or was it? Grout now runs two half-day kindergarten classes, and one full day program. Apparently Portland doesn't have the money to fund all day kindergartens in every elementary school. Since research clearly shows the benefits of early childhood education on future academic performance, that's a problem -- and a reason why I ran for the school board as a vocal advocate of adequate funding for public schools. What we have now is something like educational apartheid:
“In many schools, the only way you can get (a full-day program) is if there are 20 to 25 parents who are willing to pay for that extra half-day staff person,” said school board member Bobbie Regan. “It’s a pretty inequitable system.”
We can assume that the schools which can muster the support of 20 to 25 parents to pay, out of pocket, for additional services are located in the more affluent Portland neighborhoods.
Apple's launch of the iPhone 4 white has seen the greatest excitement for a new phone ever, with HD video recording, a super high-res screen and ridiculously slim dimensions, it's not hard to see why its so popular in the world.
Posted by: Juno Mindoes | December 22, 2010 at 12:27 AM
People in all countries get the loan from different creditors, just because it's comfortable.
Posted by: HeadLoretta | June 29, 2011 at 01:48 AM