End of Issue #61 |

Any Questions?
Editorial and Rants

We are all going to die.

Maybe there is still hope...
Then: Study hard in school! Get smart and get a good job!
Today: Hey! Whites are outperforming non-Whites. Lets dumb down our schools so we can artificially increase test scores and feel good about ourselves!
Note that the "No Child Left Behind" bullshit is actually Ted Kennedy's pet project.
No Child Law Is Not Closing a Racial Gap
April 29, 2009 - From: www.nytimes.com
By Sam Dillon
The achievement gap between white and minority students has not narrowed in recent years, despite the focus of the No Child Left Behind law on improving the scores of blacks and Hispanics, according to results of a federal test considered to be the nation's best measure of long-term trends in math and reading proficiency.
Between 2004 and last year, scores for young minority students increased, but so did those of white students, leaving the achievement gap stubbornly wide, despite President George W. Bush's frequent assertions that the No Child law was having a dramatic effect.
Although Black and Hispanic elementary, middle and high school students all scored much higher on the federal test than they did three decades ago, most of those gains were not made in recent years, but during the desegregation efforts of the 1970s and 1980s. That was well before the 2001 passage of the No Child law, the official description of which is "An Act to Close the Achievement Gap."
"There's not much indication that N.C.L.B. is causing the kind of change we were all hoping for," said G. Gage Kingsbury, a testing expert who is a director at the Northwest Evaluation Association in Portland. "Trends after the law took effect mimic trends we were seeing before. But in terms of watershed change, that doesn't seem to be happening."
The results no doubt will stoke debate about how to rewrite the No Child law when the Obama administration brings it up for reauthorization later this year. Education Secretary Arne Duncan has said he would like to strengthen national academic standards, tighten requirements that high-quality teachers be distributed equally across schools in affluent and poor neighborhoods, and make other adjustments. "We still have a lot more work to do," Mr. Duncan said of the latest scores. But the long-term assessment results could invigorate those who challenge the law's accountability model itself.
Despite gains that both whites and minorities did make, the overall scores of the United States' 17-year-old students, averaged across all groups, were the same as those of teenagers who took the test in the early 1970s. This was largely due to a shift in demographics; there are now far more lower-scoring minorities in relation to whites. In 1971, the proportion of white 17-year-olds who took the reading test was 87 percent, while minorities were 12 percent. Last year, whites had declined to 59 percent while minorities had increased to 40 percent.
The scores of 9- and 13-year-old students, however, were up modestly in reading, and were considerably higher in math, since 2004, the last time the test was administered. And they were quite a bit higher than those of students of the same age a generation back. Still, the progress of younger students tapered off as they got older.
Some experts said the results proved that the No Child law had failed to make serious headway in lifting academic achievement. "We're lifting the basic skills of young kids," said Bruce Fuller, an education professor at the University of California, Berkeley, "but this policy is not lifting 21st-century skills for the new economy."
But Margaret Spellings, Mr. Duncan's predecessor under President Bush, called the results a vindication of the No Child law.
"It's not an accident that we're seeing the most improvement where N.C.L.B. has focused most vigorously," Ms. Spellings said. "The law focuses on math and reading in grades three through eight -- it's not about high schools. So these results are affirming of our accountability-type approach."
Whether anyone knows how to extend the results achieved with younger students through the turbulent high school years remains an open question.
The math and reading test, known as the National Assessment of Educational Progress, Long-Term Trends, was given to a nationally representative sample of 26,000 students last year. It was the 12th time since 1971 that the Department of Education administered a comparable test to students ages 9, 13 and 17. The scores, released on Tuesday in Washington, allow for comparisons of student achievement every few years back to the Vietnam and Watergate years.
The results point to the long-term crisis in many of the nation's high schools, and could lead to proposals for more federal attention to them in the rewrite of the No Child law, which requires states to administer annual tests in grades three to eight, but only once in high school.
The 2008 score gap between black and white 17-year-olds, 29 points in reading and 26 points in math, could be envisioned as the rough equivalent of between two and three school years' worth of learning, said Peggy Carr, an associate commissioner for assessment at the Department of Education.
Freeman A. Hrabowski III, the president of the University of Maryland, Baltimore County, who has written about raising successful black children, said the persistence of the achievement gap should lead policymakers to seek new ways to increase low-performing students' learning time.
"Where we see the gap narrowing, that's because there's been an emphasis on supplemental education, on after-school programs that encourage students to read more and do more math problems," Dr. Hrabowski said. "Where there are programs that encourage that additional work, students of color do the work and their performance improves and the gap narrows."
But he said that educators and parents pushing children to higher achievement often find themselves swimming against a tide of popular culture.
"Even middle-class students are unfortunately influenced by the culture that says it's simply not cool for students to be smart," he said. "And that is a factor here in these math and reading scores."
Michael Casserly, executive director of the Council of the Great City Schools, which represents more than 60 metropolitan school systems, said that much of the progress among the nation's minority students has been the result of hard work by urban educators, not only since the No Child law took effect but for decades before.
"N.C.L.B. did not invent the concept of the achievement gap -- much of the desegregation work in the '70s and '80s was in fact about giving poor, Hispanic and African-American kids access to better resources and curriculum," Mr. Casserly said. "You do see from these results that in that period, the gains were steeper. It wasn't being called an achievement gap, but that was what that was about."

This story is missing one little fact. Can you find it?
Hint: In 1959, Miami high schools turned out hard working people. In 2009, they turn out Obama voters.
And remember, the industrial revolution happened during the 1800s. Not exactly a lot of rich people were walking around back then...
3 Men on a Mission to Save Failing School
April 18, 2009 - From: www.miamiherald.com
By Kathleen McGrory
Darryl Holsendolph, class of '81, sometimes wonders what happened to Miami Central Senior High.
When he walked the school's hallways, Central produced some of the brightest minds in Miami-Dade County. Many went on to college. Some won prestigious awards.
But the school Holsendolph was once so proud of fell into a steady decline -- so much so, that the state Department of Education is now threatening to close it.
Central's teachers, its principal, even its students are battling for its survival.
But the effort to make lasting change extends beyond the iron gates surrounding the campus. The North Central community that surrounds the iconic West Little River school has also joined in the fight.
Leading the troops are Holsendolph and two of his closest friends, Kent Pollock and D.C. Clark.
Holsendolph, 46, heads Central's community oversight team, a group of volunteers working with the school district to improve the climate.
Pollock, a father of eight, is president of Central's Parent Teacher Student Association.
And Clark, a 1974 graduate, is working to rally a half-century's worth of proud alumni through the Miami Central Rockets Alumni Association.
Together, the three men -- and their respective organizations -- are on a mission to restore ''Rocket pride'' with the current generation of Central students and the greater community.
Among their projects so far: making sure that all college-bound students get a free laptop computer, selling Central Rockets gear to raise money for student activities, and planning end-of-the-year events for students, faculty members and alumni.
The three men say they are inspired by the changes put into motion by new Principal Doug Rodriguez, who came to Central in December after the former principal fell ill.
''Mr. Rodriguez is one of the first principals who has come to Central with a true vision,'' said Pollock, 50. ``But he can't do it alone.''
''That's where we come in,'' Clark said.
EARLY SUCCESS
Ask any alumnus: Miami Central Senior High School was once the gem of the North Central Miami-Dade community.
When the school opened in 1959, it appealed to gifted students interested in science and engineering. Central drew top students for nearly two decades, alumni say.
''We had one or two Silver Knight winners each year,'' said Holsendolph, who was himself a runner-up for the prestigious awards, bestowed on South Florida's top high school seniors for the past 50 years.
Clark, 52, the alumni association president, has vivid memories of the walk to school from his childhood house on Northwest 87th Street.
``Every day, on my way to school, at least five elders would say, `Son, how are you doing? We know you're playing good football, but are you keeping your grades up?'
``I had the idea that I wasn't just doing this for me or my parents. I was doing it for my block. I was doing it for my community.''
But in the decades that followed, specialized magnet programs lured talented students away from neighborhood schools like Central.
The demographics of the area changed, too. The 1980s brought an influx of immigrants from Latin America and the Caribbean to West Little River. The average household income dipped significantly.
Like other urban high schools in Miami, Central experienced a steady decline. The building fell into disrepair. And gang violence became part of the culture.
''Miami Central had become the dumping ground for unwanted transfer students,'' Clark said. ``Students with criminal records from as far away as Homestead were coming here.''
By the end of the 2007-08 school year, Central had received its fifth consecutive F school grade from the state -- branding it with the worst academic record in Florida.
Now, for Central to remain open as it exists today -- that is, without becoming a charter school or undergoing a massive overhaul -- it must earn a D grade or better from the state.
Rodriguez, the new principal, wasted no time in establishing order, improving morale and providing students with specialized tutoring services they needed.
Still, by quantitative measures, Central's success will depend on how its students performed on the Florida Comprehensive Assessment Tests, which wrapped up last month.
While the state won't begin to release the scores until May, there are some early indicators of progress.
This year, 99 percent of Central students showed up for the tests -- up from 90 percent last year, according to school district records.
That's just the kind of momentum that community members want to seize. They say self-confidence and pride will help propel the students to success.
COMPUTER PURCHASE
Members of the three organizations hope that buying laptops for college-bound seniors will encourage students in all grades to settheir sights on furthering their education. The groups are hard at work to raise $10,000 to buy 50 new computers.
They're hosting a fundraising bazaar at the school on May 2.
The alumni association is also planning an alumni appreciation night to take place the same weekend as the spring football game.
Pollock admits that getting parents involved has been a challenge.
Membership in the PTSA holds steady at about 50 people -- a small number, considering that Central has more than 1,500 students.
''Parents in this community are doing their best,'' Pollock said. ``Their plates are full. Many work two or three jobs.''
Despite the small membership, the PTSA has raised funds to send students to Central's away games, and raised money for scholarships and school activities.
''We fit in where we are needed, even if that means mopping the floors,'' Pollock said.
ROLE MODELS
On a personal level, Clark, Holsendolph and Pollock want to be role models for the current generation.
Whenever they visit the school, usually once every two weeks, they make it a point to shake hands with students and ask them about their studies.
''We want them to understand that there's a greater legacy -- that they're part of something much larger than themselves,'' Clark said.
The trio are also hoping to bring the community back to Central.
They want to see Central reborn as a true community school -- a place where neighbors walk the track for exercise and gather for community meetings.
Earlier this month, the alumni association, the PTSA and the community oversight group named Central's new outdoor track for longtime coach John Rolle. The three organizations invited community members to attend the dedication ceremony. About 100 showed up -- a strong start, Clark said.
''We want them to be proud of Central,'' he said. ``This is their school, too.''
On a recent boiling-hot April afternoon, the three men stood side by side on the track. The topic of conversation was outdoor lighting.
''If Northwestern has lights, we should have lights, too,'' Holsendolph said, uttering the name of Central's long-despised rival.
''I agree with you,'' Clark said. ``We gotta get lights.''
''How do we do it?'' Pollock asked.
''I don't know yet,'' Holsendolph said. ``But we'll do it.''

Miami Central Senior High School - Miami Florida

Around March of 2009, the Obama goons and affirmative action lesbian at the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) put out a report that establishes a lexicon for what they think constitutes a "terrorist" or an "extremist." One of their little gems was priceless:
"Alternative Media (U//FOUO) - A term used to describe various information sources that provide a forum for interpretations of events and issues that differ radically from those presented in mass media products and outlets."
You see, MSNBC recently had a poll on their website where you could vote on Obongo's first 100 days of disaster.
The poll showed the public giving him a big, fat "F."
MSNBC, being owned by General Electric and wanting large government grants and tax exemptions from the Obongo Administration, took the poll down and eventually replaced it with one of their stock "Obama is a God" articles.


If you, at anytime, thought "Gee... That's kinda shady!"
Congratulations! You are now an "extremist."
Welcome to the club. Don't forget to pay your dues, but keep the "change."
