Tuesday, August 9, 2011

Zero Tolerance/Billionaires First/NCLB Waivers

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Zero Tolerance Discipline Policies: A Failing Idea

Huffington Post 8/5/11 03:34 PM ET

Marian Wright Edelman

New research analyzing the data from the 2009 – 2010 school year in Massachusetts found nearly 60,000 school expulsions and suspensions. Just over half of them were for "unassigned offenses" – nonviolent, noncriminal offenses, which can include behavioral issues such as swearing, talking back to a teacher, and truancy.

Children's Defense Fund: The State of America's Children 2011


Governor Corbett and Senator Williams were featured speakers at the American Federation for Children conference in Washington DC earlier this year.

Right-Wing Billionaires Invest in Wisconsin's Recall Elections

John Nichols,  
As co-chair of Wisconsin's powerful legislative Joint Finance Committee, Alberta Darling was charged by Governor Scott Walker with cobbling together the most anti–public education budget in Wisconsin history. And Darling delivered, with a plan to slash $800 million in funding for public schools across Wisconsin while at the same time scheming to shift tens of millions from the state treasury into the accounts of private schools. 
Darling was not just doing the governor's bidding, however.  She was delivering for American Federation for Children (AFC), the powerful national network of billionaire campaign contributors that has been pouring millions into school privatization fights across the country.

Schools may be given a break from No Child Left Behind
Tuesday, August 09, 2011
By Laura Olson and Mary Niederberger, Post-Gazette Harrisburg Bureau
HARRISBURG -- Pennsylvania school districts could get a reprieve from meeting the final benchmarks of the No Child Left Behind Act if the state applies for and is granted one of the federal waivers announced Monday.

Posted at 04:00 AM ET, 08/09/2011
Why states should refuse Duncan's NCLB waivers
Washington Post Answer Sheet Blog By Valerie Strauss
This was written by Monty Neill, executive director of the National Center for Fair and Open Testing, known as FairTest, a non-profit organization that works to end the flaws and misuse of standardized testing.
By Monty Neill
Secretary of Education Arne Duncan, backed by the White House, just confirmed that he will grant waivers from some "No Child Left Behind" test score requirements to states which agree to adopt policies that he favors. 


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