Jay Honeck wrote:

Part of their role should be to set some minimum standards regarding
equipment, class size, etc. A large part of what is wrong with the
current system is that it attempts to equate the results of learning
opportunities afforded a student in a school with plenty of computers and
1:25 teacher student ratio with one limited to hand me down text books
who talks to a teacher once a week.

It isn't right to punish schools that are deemed to be doing poorly in
the absence of a way to measure whether or not they have the resources
required
to meet those standards.

As I understand "No Child Left Behind", the ultimate goal is that the
failing schools are "punished" by being eliminated.

That's the way I understand it too. And as I said, if they meet some minimum
standards to begin with then there is a basis for it.

This, as everyone would probably agree, is a good thing. Schools with
hand-me-down textbooks and students who talk with teachers but once a week
really don't qualify as "schools" in today's world.

I wholeheartidly agree. But they do exist and are included in the test
results.

This threat of
elimination mimics the free market system that keeps businesses efficient,
and should (in theory) act to keep the under-performing schools in line,
as the local school districts will have to either respond with more
funding, or close the school.

Indeed that is the stated theory. Sounds good but under further scrutiny
there are some flaws.

The obvious one is funding. Without minimum standards to judge by we may not
know if additional funds will be effective. What if the local community
doesn't have the funds?

And what happens if we do close the school. If they didn't have enough money
to to make the existing one work where does the money for the replacement
come from? Or is there no replacement?

The biggest drawbacks I see are that there is no provision for identifying
_why_ a school is failing and relying on the vagaries of local funding.


I'm no expert, but it appears that this radical approach is what it's
going to take to repair many of our long-broken school systems.

Repair or eliminate? Some see this initiative as a way to expand the voucher
program and drive more children towards private (religious) schools at
public expense. Given that the provisions seem to make failure an almost
self fulfilling prophecy in some cases and the remedies are underfunded
give credence to that notion.

We all seem to agree that the school system needs help. Bring all schools up
to a minimum level and we can begin to identify what's wrong and how to fix
it.
--
Frank....H