"A child's learning is the function more of the characteristics of his classmates than those of the teacher." James Coleman, 1972

Friday, August 24, 2007

Kozol News

From the Mid-Hudson News:

Newburgh – If you ask Jonathan Kozol, Ph.D. what the problem is as relates to public education in the United States, he will tell you there is too much emphasis on testing, especially in inner city schools; that class sizes are too large; and that much of the problem has to do with Washington.

Kozol spoke at the inaugural Lucy DiPaola Institute for Professional Development for Educators, which is being held at Mount Saint Mary College in Newburgh through Thursday.

“The greatest difficulty that these young teachers face is the testing-mania, the madness of repeated obsessive testing, that the White House has forced upon our public schools under the law called No Child Left Behind, which is probably the worst, most destructive piece of education legislation that I have seen in my entire lifetime,” he said.

Kozol’s new book, Letters to a Young Teacher: The Challenges and Rich Rewards of a Beautiful Profession – the Service of Children and the Thirst for Justice, was available for purchase at Tuesday’s session.

1 comment:

  1. Anonymous11:21 AM

    Jim.... hope this finds you well.

    First, would like to thank you for this site, although i rarely respond, i have found it to be extremely valuable.

    I wanted to mention something that we in NJ must keep an eye on and quickly.

    New Jersey's Special Review Assessment: Loophole Or Lifeline?
    New Report Calls For Reforming, Not Eliminating, The State's Alternative Graduation Test
    Newark, NJ -- August 22, 2007

    Eliminating the Special Review Assessment (SRA) could dramatically raise dropout rates and threaten New Jersey's claim to having one of the nation's best high school graduation rates, according to a new report on the state's alternative route to a high school diploma. The report recommends significantly reforming the SRA process, but says that eliminating it "would, almost by definition, constitute bad public policy."

    As our state continues to build this train track that leads to a major train wreck... this is a critical battle that we need to get involved in. We need to keep student graduation options available...as we continue our struggle on other fronts!

    Be well...... and thanks... mike

    ReplyDelete