(sarcasm)And so goes the last old-growth temperate rainforest on the continent. I'm sure that the MDF bookcases and headboards that come from it will be well worth the loss. I mean, who needs trees anyway? Oxygen is way over-rated. Those critters can always just move to - um - well - they aren't important. And, besides that, I need my paper so I can fill out forms in triplicate and receive coupons for places that don't even exist where I live. Plus, those cheap dining room tables sure are nice. Hey - maybe I'll even be able to get some authentic 'temperate rainforest pencils' to give away. Wow - I'm so proud to live in a country where the clear benefits of clear cutting aren't clouded by all that environmental mumbo-jumbo.
Merry Chrismas Alaskan Wilderness - your president LOVES you.
(/sarcasm)
Okay, so I've never been a fan of the current freak show in DC. I certainly wouldn't have ever voted for Bush, but at one point I was willing to buy into the fact that he (maybe) accomplished some good things in Texas. However, even back in 2000, the academic world knew that the Texas school reform hype wasn't accurate. Evaluations conducted (and published) on the TAAS (the test Texas used to use for student achievement - back when G-dub was in charge) had artificially high gains because many lower achieving students did not take it. However, the media let GW say that he would be the education president and, for some reason, the democrats also let him get away with this.
Well - after a LONG wait - it seems that the media has finally figured out that the Texas school reforms weren't really so grand. Thank you to the NYTimes for this.
"Gains in Houston Schools: How Real Are They? (Note: Houston is the district that was headed by the one person who is now in charge of national policy for ALL US Public schools - Rod Paige.)
Now - all you preseidential hopefuls out there do something to capitalize on this. Testing alone does not raise student achievement. Let me repeat - TESTING ALONE DOES NOT RAISE STUDENT ACHIEVEMENT. Testing as the basis for educational reform - without professional development, without a reward and/or promotion structure, without flexibility to meet the needs of students, without attention to what it takes to promote student learning, without consideration of the gaps that need to be filled in as more and more students come to school unprepared and unable to engage in learning, without the funding necessary to meet the requirements of the tests, and without strong standards upon which to base the tests - leads to frantic teachers, stressed administrators, and clueless kids. I see these every day when I go into schools. It's sad.
Seems the whole republican party may be made of children left behind. First, our President shows no real grasp of English, now Rumsfeld and Ah-nold get noted for their unique approaches to our language.
'Foot in Mouth Prize for Rumsfeld'
Perhaps national accountability in Language Arts should start at the top?