The Pulse Publishes Effrem Article on ESEA "Baby Common Core"

Many thanks to Jane Robbins of the American Principles Project for co-authoring and The Pulse 2016 for publishing Dr. Effrem's article titled: Nanny State Preschool Expansion -- Another Reason the ESEA Rewrite Should Be Voted Down. Here is an excerpt: A host of other large studies using data on thousands of children shows the same pattern of ineffectiveness, fadeout, and/or harm. The most recent is a multi-year controlled study from Tennessee, Senator Alexander's home state, about which Education Week reported the following conclusions:

". . . Children started off school strong, but by kindergarten were generally indistinguishable academically from comparable peers who did not enroll in the program" and "by 3rd grade the children who attended pre-K were performing worse on some academic and behavioral measures than similar classmates who were never in the program."
Even results from the one study that purports to show long-term benefit are still described as "dismal" in the mainstream press. There is simply no persuasive research to countervail this massive evidence.But politicians and the education establishment cling to the concept of preschool. Advocates of Common Core and other progressive-education philosophies want to extend government tentacles to ensnare ever younger children. The managed economy and managed society can be achieved more quickly if toddlers are removed from their homes and herded into government preschool, where the uncontrolled influences of parents, families, and religion can be replaced with others more likely to advance government goals.What should be done instead? Perhaps listen to researchers such as Dr. William Jeynes of UC-Santa Barbara, who identified three of several important factors that significantly improve the performance of minority students relative to white students (closing the "achievement gap"): intact families and religious faith, phonics instruction, and real parental involvement. Having Read more

Posted in Federal Education. Tagged as ESEA, Preschool Development Grants.

Excellent Blog by Sandra Stotsky on HR 5 - Student Success Act

We are grateful to Sandra Stotsky for her very cogent analysis and for cutting through the doubletalk in this memo from the US House leadership on HR 5, The Student Success Act. This kind of work as well as analysis by many groups across the nation helped to put the bill on hold temporarily.

10 Things NCLB/ESEA Supporters Want You to Think About the Student Success Act: A Modification of What Was Issued by House Speaker John Boehner's Office

Prepared by Sandra Stotsky

February 23, 2015 | View OnlineFictional Purposes: This week, the House is set to vote on the Student Success Act, legislation to replace No Child Left Behind and expand opportunity in education so that every student can get ahead no matter where they're from. Read the text here, and a fact sheet from the Education & the Workforce Committee here. This measure contains a number of conservative reforms to reduce the federal footprint, restore local control, and empower parents and local leaders to hold schools accountable. Actual Purposes: HR 5 deliberately takes away most authority by parents and locally elected school boards, makes departments of education the conduits for federal policy, and does not require states to seek standards that prepare students for a STEM career.FICTION 1. The bill replaces No Child Left Behind with conservative reforms to restore local control and stop top-down education mandates. In the absence of congressional action, the Secretary of Education has been using waivers and pet programs to dictate national education policies and increase the federal foothold in the classroom. The Student Success Act will put a stop to this. FACT: The bill removes almost all acts of local control, including what is on the report card local schools give local parents. It doesn't empower parents or local school boards at all. It doesn't allow any school district to opt out of a state's assessment system.FICTION 2. The bill replaces the current national Read more

Posted in Federal Education. Tagged as ESEA, HR 5, SAndra Stotsky, Student Cussess Act.

Keep in Touch

Subscribe