Do the Dems really need the Bush Family in their lives????

[101Scout]

I still don't get it. Why is it important to continue doing PR shit with the damn Bush family hacks???? The Bushies are experts on education???? Really???? Somebody talk me the fuck down!





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MIAMI — When President Barack Obama and former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush stand side by side at a Miami high school, it will be an opportunity for the Democrat to show a bipartisan approach to education reform while allowing the Republican to push his own nationwide message on the issue.

Obama and Bush have common ground on education. Both support increasing the number of charter schools, tying teacher evaluations to student performance on standardized tests and setting high standards and accountability. They also believe education is key to invigorating U.S. competitiveness.

The joint appearance comes as Obama aims to rewrite the No Child Left Behind Act – signed into law by the governor's brother, former President George W. Bush, no less.

One of Jeb Bush's legacies during his eight years as governor, which ended in January 2007, was an overhaul of Florida's school system.

[SubstituteTeacher]

Tying teacher performance to how students do on standardized tests are off the mark. Standardized tests are geared towards white middle class students. Anyway standardized tests don't show everything. How about students in special ed classes? Most of those students are black. They probably wouldn't perform well on them. That isn't a reflection on the teacher.

[webhead]

Tying teacher performance to how students do on standardized tests are off the mark. Standardized tests are geared towards white middle class students. Anyway standardized tests don't show everything. How about students in special ed classes? Most of those students are black. They probably wouldn't perform well on them. That isn't a reflection on the teacher.

It is very easy to increase student achievement on standardized tests that would directly impact teacher evaluations;
1. Change achievement level descriptors,
2. Change difficulty of questions,
3. Change "cut scores"

Standardized tests from state to state are very different, thus teacher evaluations are also different:

Source:
The Proficiency Illusion
October 2007
Thomas B. Fordham Institute
Northwest Evaluation Association


State Tests Vary in Difficulty

Different meanings of “proficiency” have real world consequences.

Reading Exhibit 2 – Grade 4 item with difficulty equivalent to Wisconsin’s proficiency cut score (scale score 191 – 16th percentile)

Which sentence tells a fact, not an opinion?

A. Cats are better than dogs.
B. Cats climb trees better than dogs.
C. Cats are prettier than dogs.
D. Cats have nicer fur than dogs.


Versus…

Reading Exhibit 5 – Grade 4 item with difficulty equivalent to Massachusetts’s proficiency cut score (scale score 211 – 65th percentile)

Read the excerpt from “How Much Land Does a Man Need?” by Leo Tolstoy.

So Pahom was well contented, and everything would have been right if the neighboring peasants would only not have trespassed on his wheat fields and meadows. He appealed to them most civilly, but they still went on: now the herdsmen would let the village cows stray into his meadows, then horses from the night pasture would get among his corn. Pahom turned them out again and again, and forgave their owners, and for a long time he forbore to prosecute anyone. But at last he lost patience and complained to the District Court.

What is a fact from this passage?

A. Pahom owns a vast amount of land.
B. The peasant’s intentions are evil.
C. Pahom is a wealthy man.
D. Pahom complained to the District Court.