Weekly Review
Weapon of Mass Deception: The No Child Left Behind Act of 2001
“America’s economic future faces turmoil from a non-prepared workforce, for the challenges of the 21stcentury job market.”
America was attacked in 1954, and twice in 2001. Two very grievous and cowardly acts; that we as American’s needed and got prompt restoration! A few may agree or disagree with the process; yet, we stood unified as a nation. The nonpareil attack we didn’t ask military action for went under the radar, as compliance under the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) lawto educate our children. We never saw that coming!
A decade later, boom! Millions of lives have been destroyed. Countless others still awaiting the after shock! While America’s economic future faces turmoil, from a non-prepared workforce, for the challenges of the 21stcentury job market. Not to cite, the millions of dollars spend locally for all the unfunded federal education mandates required annually to meet NCLB’s additional accountability requirements and achievement goals
We were blindly led to belief a one-size fits all educational system would work in the new global knowledge base 21st century. As the distinguished psychologist and provost of Oklahoma State, Robert J. Sternberg recently wrote about the NCLB law in an open letter to the President of the United States:
“Although the law was well-intentioned, its metrics for progress and implementation were not well-thought through, and have resulted in (a) straitjacketing of public schools in terms of what curriculum they feel they can teach, (b) relegation of important school subjects — such as history, civics, languages, music and art — to the back of the back burner, (c) high-stakes tests that were not ready for prime time, (d) gaming the system, with some states actually lowering standards when they discovered that they otherwise could not meet the ever-more-stringent goals the law placed, and (e) demoralization and discouragement among educators regarding the role of the federal government in education.”
He joins an increasing list of educators; ready to speak out about the destruction NCLB has caused. That’s why, New Jersey Minority Educational Development with endorsement from grassroots organizations across the country, has formed the America First or Last Movement.
The movement’s mission is to help restore, reconstruct and improve the United States educational system.
Starting, with 3 areas to help states better prepare their students for the 21st century job market. If you compare US students now heading to high school then college with students across the globe; all signs heads to the conclusion our secondary and post secondary students aren’t as productive as they can be.
Beginning this fall, the America First or Last Movement will bring on local colleges, businesses, and community family support services to assist school districts to improve proficiency levels in reading, math and science for student’s K thru 12; develop advance technology programs in public education classrooms; and work towards increasing High School and College Graduation Rates.
Through doing work with the communities in setting-up academic goals to address; the areas of “their needs” from early-childhood to post secondary education for low performing schools and students. These offer our communities the most beneficial system for accountability and need accountability for their school districts.
Eleven states already have received waivers from NCLB, and 28 other states, along with Washington D.C., and Puerto Rico having also applied for waivers. These states must take up “college- and career-ready” standards, tie state tests to those standards, propose interventions for the lowest-performing 15 percent of schools, and include student growth in teacher and principal evaluation systems. States receiving NCLB waivers are not being released from accountability. Instead states will be given “more flexibility to meet high standards.
The movement’s organizers state that’s how they fit in, because, they can achieve those goals, working with these states. Now, they need for us to participate in the movement. You can visit their website at www.usent.organd support your school and students, by becoming a local volunteer.
NJ MED’s Executive Director, Albert Mitchell II, said, “We can’t continue to commit our confidence in an unsuccessful system that is decimating our children. If we do we have no one to fault for this tragedy just ourselves.”
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America First or Last Movement’s
Monthly Blog
Announcing: The 100% Graduation Rate Program
Guaranteed or your money-back refund after 4-years, if your child does not complete high school. We dare, no double dare any high school drop-out prevention program in America to make this claim. According to the US Department of Education only 1 program is even qualified to accept this offer. With between one to two million students not graduating on time each year, theirs only 1, one, program that is deemed successful enough to motivate and inspire students who have been in our educational system and said that is enough. Theirs one program to try to prevent 26 million students from dropping-out of high school each year, one!
Why would you claim we have a drop-out crisis when; there is only one solution that our government is willing to fund to deal with this problem? According to CBS News Report “High School Dropouts Costly for American Economy, they say that it is costing taxpayers more than $8 billion annually in public assistance programs like food stamps. They report, High school dropouts earn about $10 thousand less a year than workers with diplomas. That’s $300 billion in lost earnings every year. They’re also more likely to be unemployed: 15 percent are out of work versus a national average of 9.4 percent. They also are more likely to be incarcerated. Almost 60 percent of federal inmates are high school drop outs.
Surely, there has to be more than one solution to this economic killing problem. Well, that is the current conclusion provide by the US Department of Education’s evidence-base arm, the What Works Clearinghouse (WWC). Yet, they do say there is 11 other program’s that show positive evidence towards addressing the problem. However, seven shows no viable results towards completing school, and the other 4 that do are more geared to GED (General Equivalency Diploma) certification. Still there is only one program that has been proven to successfully aid in high school graduation, one.
The New Jersey Minority Educational Development organization wants to make it two, with their 100% Graduation Rate Program. The program has already been identified as an evidence-base dropout prevention model by the National Dropout Prevention Center. Unlike, any other program its main focus is on at-risk minority males, which represents the nation’s highest dropout population. The program features a hundred percent job placement for their students, 69% college enrollment with a 47% retention and a 28% college graduation rate. More importantly it has a 95% high school completion rate over a ten-year period (1996-2006). All this took place in one of the nation’s poorest cities, Camden, New Jersey (which was the nation’s poorest from 2000-2006) and named the nation’s most dangerous city from 2004-2005, with only a city high school minority male high school graduation rate of 39%. Clearly, no other city in America could challenge any program model; to create a program to get a better understanding of what it takes to motivate the nation’s highest drop-out population.
The 100% Graduation Rate Program has made its case. They have earned an opportunity to qualify as a national evidence-base program model to assist in helping young men reach their full potential with a 95 percent school completion rate; a 94% next grade promotion rate, before summer school; and a 97% successful outcome rate for staying in school. The only draw back is it didn’t reach its 100% goal promise! Maybe, if the US Department of Education needs another program model to fund to try to prevent 26 million students from dropping-out of high school each year, the 100% Graduation Rate Program can accept the money back guarantee offer.
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