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Sunday, July 3, 2011

School Tech Connect: Another Great Speech, But.. #NEARA11

School Tech Connect: Another Great Speech, But...

Another Great Speech, But...

From the President's Blueprint For Reform:
The first category of Challenge schools will be the lowest-performing five percent of schools in each state, based on student academic achievement, student growth, and graduation rates, that are not making progress to improve. In these schools, states and districts will be required to implement one of four school turnaround models, to support better outcomes for students.
A 5% quota on turnarounds is an amplification of the worst aspect of NCLB, in addition to all of the increased testing coming. What is particularly egregious, is that not even Arne Duncan can articulate exactly how these schools will be identified in clear terms. What is also egregious is that the "turnaround" models are arbitrary and