House to Debate Partisan Bill to Fix No Child Left Behind - ABC News #NOonHR5 #ESEA

House to Debate Partisan Bill to Fix No Child Left Behind - ABC News:

House to Debate Partisan Bill to Fix No Child Left Behind

WASHINGTON — Feb 25, 2015, 3:49 AM ETBy KIMBERLY HEFLING AP Education Writer

Tell Congress: Vote NO on H.R. 5 – The Student Success Act

 #NOonHR5

No Child Left Behind is a widely criticized law, but a GOP bill intended to fix it isn't winning popularity contests among House Democrats.

House Republicans say the measure, set to be debated in the chamber Wednesday, would restore local control in schools and stop "top-down education mandates."

But, House Democrats and the White House say the bill would lead to the federal government abandoning its responsibility to poor, minority, non-English-speaking and disabled children, while allowing billions in federal dollars to flow out without ensuring they will improve student learning.

A vote is expected on Friday, and it's possible that members will vote strictly along party lines. That's what happened with a similar bill in 2013.

The bill maintains annual federal testing requirements. It consolidates or eliminates many federal programs, creates a single local grant program and allows public money to follow low-income children to different public schools. It would also prohibit the federal education secretary from demanding changes to state standards or imposing conditions on states in exchange for a waiver around federal law.

The bipartisan law President George W. Bush signed in 2002 sought to close significant gaps in the achievement of historically underserved group of students and their more affluent peers. It mandated annual testing in reading and math for students in grades three to eight and again in high school. Schools had to show student growth or face consequences.

No Child Left Behind required that all students be able to read and do math at grade level by 2014. The Obama administration in 2012 began allowing waivers around some of the law's more stringent requirements if schools agreed to certain conditions, like using college- and career-ready standards such as Common Core.

House Republican leaders view the bill as a way to show their opposition to the Obama administration's encouragement of the Common Core state standards. The standards have been adopted in more than 40 states and spell out what English and math skills students should master at each level. They have become a political issue in many states because they are viewed by critics as a federal effort even though they were developed by U.S. governors.

In the Senate, there appears to be more of a bipartisan effort to fix the law. Sen. Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn., the chairman of the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions, and the committee's senior Democrat, Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., have said they were working together on a proposal. Alexander said this week he wants to get a bill to the full Senate in March.

#STOPHR5 #NOonHR5 US Representatives on Twitter Find your Member Hit them with a Vote No on HR5 Tweet http://bit.ly/17s6O1b

Tell Congress: Vote NO on H.R. 5 – The Student Success Act

Los Angeles Unified’s teachers union faces test of organizing strength:

Los Angeles Unified’s teachers union faces test of organizing strength

Pressman Jonathan Verduzco shows off one of the several hundred posters that will be tacked onto pickets when teachers go to the picket line. United Teachers Los Angeles was busy printing signs Tuesday to protest for better wages and working conditions later this week. Los Angeles, CA February 24, 2015. (Photos by John McCoy / Los Angeles Daily News)

 The print shop below United Teachers Los Angeles’ headquarters cranked out 7,500 signs for protestors to carry when they descend on downtown Thursday, demanding higher pay, fewer students per classroom and better working conditions.

Union leadership is calling for “tens of thousands” of teachers to rally at Grand Park from 4:30 p.m. to 6 p.m. in a demonstration of strength promising that 35,000 educators will strike, shutting down schools should Los Angeles Unified fail to offer acceptable terms.

UTLA outlined its contract terms in a union campaign called “The Schools LA Students Deserve.” Smaller classes, better pay and more staff — teachers, counselors, nurses and librarians — are just a few issues UTLA is using to build membership support.

“We are going to be making sure literature gets out to everyone who’s there, so they can be in contact with the school board and superintendent, pressing them to reach an agreement in support of the Schools LA Students Deserve,” said Alex Caputo-Pearl, UTLA president.

UTLA took its first official step toward meeting the legal requirements to strike last week, when they declared negotiations with LAUSD had reached an “impasse.” The state’s labor board will consider calling in a mediator. If the two sides still can’t come to terms, a fact-finding panel will be formed. Recommendations made by the panel are non-binding.

Los Angeles Unified School District officials estimate the two sides remain apart by more than $800 million a year. UTLA wants an 8.5 percent salary hike, while LAUSD is offering a 5 percent bump. The majority of costs is in increased staffing levels. The district estimates adding the teachers, counselors and other staff needed to meet the union’s demands would cost $525 million more than the district’s $26 million offer to reduce class sizes.

Superintendent Ramon Cortines said last week he doesn’t believe the district can afford to offer any more money as it faces a projected deficit of nearly $160 million in the fiscal year that starts July 1. In hopes of balancing the budget, Cortines has asked every department to cut between 7 percent and 10 percent. The recurring cost of employees — paychecks and benefits — will be a priority for reducing the deficit, Cortines said. LAUSD expects to send out a first round of pink slips next month.

Caputo-Pearl has called Cortines’ budget outlook a “scare tactic.” Revenues are increasing under a funding formula started by the state on July 1. Additionally, those revenues have been revised and are expected to be even higher by the time a budget is Los Angeles Unified’s teachers union faces test of organizing strength:

The teachers union Chris Christie says he struck an agreement with says not so fast - The Washington Post

The teachers union Chris Christie says he struck an agreement with says not so fast - The Washington Post:

The teachers union Chris Christie says he struck an agreement with says not so fast

(Update, 4:55 p.m.: This post was updated to reflect further information about the pension reform proposal.)

The plan touted by New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie in his Tuesday budget address is far from complete, according to the union with which Christie says he struck the deal.

“You may have the skeleton, but you don’t have the meat on the bone,” Wendell Steinhauer, president of the New Jersey Education Association, said in an interview with New Jersey Public Television after the speech. The group has agreed to a short roadmap for reform, while a broader set of recommendations was released by a Christie-appointed commission.

Christie, a potential GOP presidential candidate, devoted most of his budget address to his state’s substantial pension problem. In the speech, Christie touted what he described as “an unprecedented accord with the NJEA.”

The $33.8 billion budget proposal for the fiscal year that begins on July 1 included no new taxes, keeping in line with each of Gov. Christie’s last six proposals. It also included a $1.3 billion payment to the pension system for the 2016 fiscal year, which Christie described as “the largest single pension payment that has ever been made in New Jersey history in one year.”

But the core of his speech was focused on a “Roadmap for Reform,” the short, broad-strokes agreement between the NJEA and the New Jersey Pension and Health Benefits Study Commission, which itself issued amuch-longer reform proposal.

“The recommendations by the Commission that make up the Roadmap are far-reaching, and they’re groundbreaking,” he said. “At their core they seek to bring fairness to a system that has long been unjust and create parity between public and private sector employees.”

In the speech, Christie twice described pension reforms achieved during his tenure as a “national model” and referred to this and other pension deals as the result of “real leadership.”

The roadmap would require the state to make contributions to a trust overseen by the NJEA each fiscal year for the next 40 years, Christie said. To commit the state to the payments, the plan could be put to voters as a constitutional amendment in the fall, he added. While Christie The teachers union Chris Christie says he struck an agreement with says not so fast - The Washington Post:

Want to hone your school reformer skills? Jeb Bush’s foundation has a MOOC for you. - The Washington Post

Want to hone your school reformer skills? Jeb Bush’s foundation has a MOOC for you. - The Washington Post:

Want to hone your school reformer skills? Jeb Bush’s foundation has a MOOC for you.

Are you an education policymaker or an education reform partner? If so, this one’s for you.

Former  Florida governor Jeb Bush’s Foundation for Excellence in Education is offering three MOOCS — massive open online courses — with “convenient, self-paced modules to accommodate busy schedules” to help you do more to “advance and effectively implement trending reforms.” You get to hear from leading reformers, among them Joel Klein and John King, in courses such as these, as described in a foundation e-mail announcing the courses:

“Securing Our Nation’s Future” : A failing American educational system threatens U.S. national security. In this course, participants will hear from national leaders and experts about these threats, the urgent need for education reform and how America can ensure its own security and global leadership for future generations.

A second course is labeled as being about data privacy and a third, titled “Winning the Ed Reform Conversation,” will help students hone their messages so they can, obviously, win the education reform conversation. (Is the foundation concerned that it is losing the education reform conversation?)

This is a Bush foundation education policy training program in the form of a MOOC, and features people who agree with the Bush brand of school reform, which he implemented as the focus of his governorship of Florida from 1999-2007 and took national in the years since.  The centerpieces of these reforms are standardized-test based “accountability” — which has led to growing protests around the country among parents, teachers, principals and superintendents — and the spread of charter schools and voucher/voucher-like programs that use public money to pay private school tuition. Bush has been seen as so much of a national “reform” leader that President Obama himself lauded the former governor as being a “champion of education reform” when the two appeared together at a Miami school in 2011.

(If you are wondering how we can have a failing American educational system after so many years of Jeb Bush-inspired school reforms that have swept across the United States, this “Securing” course probably isn’t for you.)

Along with Klein, the former chancellor of New York City public schools, and King, the former New York State education commissioner who is now a top adviser to Education Secretary Arne Duncan, you will hear from people including John White, Louisiana state superintendent of education; Patricia Levesque, CEO of the Bush foundation, who sent the e-mail announcement; and Greg Hughes, Utah Speaker of the House.  The 18 people shown on the foundation Web site who are involved in the courses come from the policy and legislative (and not the education) world.

So here’s the e-mail sent out recently by the Foundation for Excellence inWant to hone your school reformer skills? Jeb Bush’s foundation has a MOOC for you. - The Washington Post:

Nathan Hale High School in Seattle says “No!” to the Common Core Standards SBAC test | Seattle Education

Nathan Hale High School in Seattle says “No!” to the Common Core Standards SBAC test | Seattle Education:



Nathan Hale High School in Seattle says “No!” to the Common Core Standards SBAC test

The SBAC will begin to be implemented in March but this afternoon the Nathan Hale High School Senate, which functions as the Building Leadership Team typically made up of teachers, parents, staff and students, voted nearly unanimously not to administer the SBAC tests to 11th graders this year.

The Senate also recently voted not to administer the PSAT test to 10th graders at all in the future.

The reasons for refusing the SBAC for 11th graders included:

1. The SBAC is not required for graduation

2. Colleges will not use the SBAC this year

3. Since NCLB requires all students to pass the tests by 2014, and since few if any schools will be able to do that, all schools will therefore be considered failing by that standard. There is thus no reason to participate in erroneous and misapplied self-labeling.

4. It is neither a valid nor reliable nor equitable assessment. We will use classroom based assessments to guide our next instructional steps.

5. Cut scores of the SBAC reflect poor assessment strategy and will produce invalid and unreliable outcomes.

6. Students made the point: “Why waste time taking a test that is meaningless and that most of us will fail?”

7. The SBAC will tie up computer lab time for weeks.

8. The SBAC will take up time students need to work on classroom curriculum.

As a representative of Nathan Hale stated:

This is an important step. Nathan Hale High School is asserting its commitment to Nathan Hale High School in Seattle says “No!” to the Common Core Standards SBAC test | Seattle Education:

Full speech from Jesus "Chuy" Garcia from primary night - Chicago Teachers Union

Chicago Teachers Union | Full speech from Jesus "Chuy" Garcia from primary night:

Full speech from Jesus "Chuy" Garcia from primary night

BY CHICAGOFORCHUY.COM  |  02/24/2015

Nobody thought we'd be here tonight.

They wrote us off …said we didn’t have a chance …said we didn’t have any money …while they spent millions attacking us.

Well …we’re still standing.

We’re still running

And we’re going to win.

Today we the people have spoken…

…not the people with the money and the power and the connections…

…not the giant corporations …the big money special interests …the hedge funds and Hollywood celebrities who’ve poured tens of millions into the Mayor’s campaign.

They’ve had their say for too long.

They’ve had their way for too long.

But today, the rest of us had something to say ...the bus drivers …train operators ... police officers and emergency responders …students …health care workers …retirees, block club leaders… community organizers… teachers …working moms and working dads …the people who make this great city great …we have something to say…

We have something to say to all those big corporations and special interests who’ve spent all those millions to install their own Mayor:

We want a change.

There have been ten thousand shootings in Chicago in the last four years …and it’s just wrong for our children to have to dodge bullets on their way to school.

That’s going to change …and we’re going to change it …together.

It’s wrong for the Mayor to cut our police …and then use the money to give corporations one hundred million dollars in tax breaks.

That’s going to change ...and we’re going to change it …together.

It’s wrong for the Mayor to cut our neighborhood schools …but then pass out tens of millions in giveaways to his cronies and campaign contributors.

That’s going to change ...and we’re going to change it …together.

This city deserves a Mayor who will put people first, not big money special interests.

I will be that Mayor.

This city needs a Mayor who will listen to people …the people who get up every day, work hard, pay their bills, and want nothing more than a good job, a safe neighborhood for their family and a good school for their kids.

You are the people who really make this city work …each and every one of you.

I will not forget you.  And I will listen to you.

I will be your Mayor.

Want to know who this campaign is for?

It’s for Erika Wozniak, one lone 5^th grade teacher.

She’s been teaching for 11 years now.  She’s devoted her life to our kids.

Well, Erika told me about one of her favorite students, a little girl …smart as a whip… who loved her friends …loved her teachers …loved her school.

One day, that little girl’s parents came in and told Erika they had to move to the suburbs.

Why?  Because she was squeezed into a classroom with 35 other kids and it just wasn’t fair.

That little girl left Chicago.  Her parents left Chicago.

And it wasn’t just Erika’s loss.

It was Chicago’s loss.

It was our loss.

We’ve lost over two hundred thousand people in Chicago since the turn of the century.

Two hundred thousand.

People like Erika’s 5^th grade student …whose parents didn’t want her stuffed into an overcrowded classroom.

People all over this city who’ve gotten tired of the daily sound of gunfire echoing down their streets …in their parks …on their playgrounds.

When I was younger I remember reading the words of a famous civil rights leader.

Her name was Fannie Lou Hamer.

You know what she said?

“I’m sick and tired of being sick and tired.”

Well, today, a majority of the people of Chicago said with one loud voice: we’re sick and tired of being sick and tired.

We are going to build a new Chicago …a Chicago that works for everyone …a Chicago that people want move to …not run away from.

Chicago’s going to change …and starting six weeks from tonight …we’re going to change it …together.

There are some people I want to thank tonight, starting with my wife, Evelyn

(Acknowledgements)

We’ve got six weeks of hard work ahead of us …and believe me these big money interests are going to throw everything they’ve got at us.  They run this town and they’re not going to give up easy.

But we’re going to fight …and we’re going to work …and we’re going to win.

We’re going to change this city …together.

ChicagoforChuy.com

It's official—we are going to a runoff! - Jesus "Chuy" Garcia for Mayor of Chicago

It's official—we are going to a runoff! - Jesus "Chuy" Garcia for Mayor of Chicago:

It's official—we are going to a runoff!

Tuesday, February 24, 2015 | News

 

Tonight's victory is all about you—the staff, the volunteers, the donors, the supporters, the voters,  all those who care about Chicago.

It's a runoff! Let's get ready!

People like you braved the winter to knock on thousands of doors. People like you made phone calls and greeted commuters each morning to spread the word about this movement. People like you turned out to vote and forced this election into a head-to-head runoff with a Mayor backed by huge corporate interests and the national party establishment.

Now, we have six weeks to win City Hall and build an administration based on transparency, accountability, and inclusiveness.

But we’ll need your help.

We have nine field offices to staff and supply and we’ll need to get on television and radio as much as we can afford over the next six weeks.

You can help build the momentum to the April 7th election in the following ways:

• Donate. If $1000 people gave $100 tonight, we could start running a new television ad this week.
• Volunteer. We’ll need to make tens of thousands of voter contacts in the next six weeks.
• Connect. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.

Let's build a better Chicago together. Let's win again in April!

Click here to go to Jesus "Chuy" Garcia for Mayor of Chicago  Website

Big Education Ape: Chicago Inc. Rahm Emanuel Dances for Corporate Money - Vote for Chuy!!! http://bit.ly/1AaLZT1

HR 5: Student Success Act and Common Core | deutsch29

HR 5: Student Success Act and Common Core | deutsch29:



HR 5: Student Success Act and Common Core

 On February 22, 2015, I wrote a post in which I examined the testing language of the first 50 pages of HR 5, the Student Success Act (SSA), which the House will vote on soon (likely Friday, February 27, 2015) as a possible reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA).

The full text of the bill can be found here:  student_success_act_text.

In this post, I would like to consider one additional component of the 597-page SSA– that which explicitly concerns the Common Core State Standards (CCSS).

Note that my examination of SSA’s anti-CCSS language does not constitute my endorsement of SSA.

Below is the SSA language expressly prohibiting the US Secretary of Education from requiring states to have “common” standards, including (by name) the Common Core State Standards (CCSS) (pages 51-52):

(j) VOLUNTARY PARTNERSHIPS.—A State may  enter into a voluntary partnership with another State to develop and implement the academic standards and assessments required under this section, except that the Secretary shall not, either directly or indirectly, attempt to influence, incentivize, or coerce State—

      (1) adoption of the Common Core State Standards developed under the Common Core State Standards Initiative, any other academic standards common to a significant number of States, or assessments tied to such standards; or

    (2) participation in any such partnerships.

(k) CONSTRUCTION.—Nothing in this part shall be construed to prescribe the use of the academic assessments described in this part for student promotion or graduation purposes.

This language regarding CCSS is not surprising coming from a Republican-dominated House. The Republican-dominated American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) HR 5: Student Success Act and Common Core | deutsch29:

Election Day: Mayor Rahm Emanuel to face Jesus 'Chuy' Garcia in April runoff election | abc7chicago.com

Election Day: Mayor Rahm Emanuel to face Jesus 'Chuy' Garcia in April runoff election | abc7chicago.com:

ELECTION DAY: MAYOR RAHM EMANUEL TO FACE JESUS 'CHUY' GARCIA IN APRIL RUNOFF ELECTION

By Charles Thomas and Paul Meincke

Updated 4 mins ago

CHICAGO (WLS) --

Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel will face Cook County Commissioner Jesus "Chuy" Garcia in a runoff election in April.

The former White House chief of staff easily led the five-way race in Tuesday's contest. However, because he failed to get more than 50 percent, he and Garcia will run against each other in April for the job.

CLICK HERE to get the latest Election Results from ABC7 Eyewitness News after the polls close at 7 PM.

Chicago voters will also elected a city clerk, city treasurer and the aldermen in each of the the city's 50 wards, but the mayoral election was the main event. Despite the cold weather and reports of low voter turnout earlier on Tuesday, Rahm Emanuel took nothing for granted.

"You always have on Election Day butterflies and that continues to be that way," Emanuel said.

The mayor's lunch with Secretary of State Jesse White, City Clerk Susana Mendoza and Congressman Luis Gutierrez was a photo op to showcase support from black and Latino political leaders.

"It's not about personality contests. It's about getting things done for the people of Chicago," Mendoza said.

Earlier, the mayor joined the phone bank in the predominantly African American 8th Ward.

"He's going to do OK. His numbers are up. I think he's over the 50th percentile," said 8th Ward Ald. Michelle Harris.

The mayor's difficulty with black voters appeared to persist in the nearby 21st Ward, but the turnout here might help the incumbent.

"People are not talking too favorably about the mayor," said Doris Lewis-Brooks, candidate for alderman. "The numbers that I'm getting, they're kind of low."

Despite his incumbency, money and endorsements, a weekend poll showed Emanuel closer, but still short of a 50 percent plus one majority. He was asked if he'd been humbled by the tougher-than-expected campaign.

"I got three teenagers at home and a wife. Don't worry about humble," Emanuel said.

EMANUEL'S CHALLENGERS VIE FOR RUNOFF 

Election Day was a cold day in what will most probably be the coldest February ever in Chicago. It's not the kind of day that Emanuel's challengers would have preferred, but none of the four is abandoning the quest for a runoff. They all want to sink the idea of 50 plus one, and each proclaims that he is the one who'll do it - but forcing a runoff means your supporters have to vote.

When Garcia and his wife went to cast their ballots Tuesday in the Lawndale neighborhood, they were the only voters in their polling place. But it was mid-morning, not necessarily an accurate snapshot of turnout where Garcia must have it.

"A lot of our most reliable voters vote after working. We are a working class community, and that is our greatest strength," Garcia said.

Garcia says he has an army of 4,000 volunteers, and by day's end, the numbers will say "runoff."

"Hi, I'm Dr. Willie Wilson, may I shake your hand?" Wilson said.

Handshakes are a political staple, but Willie Wilson wasn't keen on lunchtime intrusion, so he made it a point to ask first. Wilson is distressed at what he contends are voting irregularities in some polling places, but he too predicts victory.

"I feel good about it. It's my first time in the election so obviously we're gonna think positive about it. We feel good," Wilson said.

Turnout was light when another candidate, Walls, cast his ballot Tuesday morning on the city's West Side. The same was true for Fioretti, who feels good about his campaign's 70,000 "live" calls over the weekend, but not so good about the weather, which he calls an "incumbent's protection".

"I'm very worried about the cold weather. It's impacting everywhere we've gone," Fioretti said.

Join ABC7 at 7 p.m. Tuesday for comprehensive Election Night coverage on "Eyewitness News on The U." We'll have live updates on ABC7 throughout the evening, followed by "Eyewitness News at 10."

You can also follow results on the ABC7 Chicago news app on the ABC 7 Chicago Facebook page, on Twitter @ABC7Chicago and on ABC7Chicago.com/Politics.

Election Day: Mayor Rahm Emanuel to face Jesus 'Chuy' Garcia in April runoff election | abc7chicago.com:

Nothing to show for the pain inflicted on Newark’s children | Bob Braun's Ledger

Nothing to show for the pain inflicted on Newark’s children | Bob Braun's Ledger:

Nothing to show for the pain inflicted on Newark’s children

Cami Anderson–Failure is success

This much is true about Newark’s schools: Change–its proponents call it “reform”– has been painful. Painful to parents and children who must negotiate traveling long distances to new schools in strange neighborhoods and dealing with changes in curriculum, testing, procedures, and individualized education plans (IEPS). Painful to teachers and administrators, hundreds of whom have lost their jobs or been assigned to tasks for which they are unsuited and unlicensed. The pain was predicted– Mayor Cory Booker said the pain and disruption might last years–and that has happened. Even state-appointed schools superintendent Cami Anderson and her  supporters concede “reform” would not come without hurt. The question is: Has all this pain resulted in progress for Newark’s children? The answer is no.

A  report compiled by the Alliance for Newark Public Schools reveals that so-called “Renew Schools,”  city schools singled out for special attention–Anderson would call it “reform”–not only did not  produce the student progress she predicted–but, in fact, lagged behind schools throughout New Jersey whose students have the same socio-economic and racial characteristics.

So, after 20 years of state control and four years of experimentation by Anderson,  the best the state-run Newark school administration has to offer fails in comparison to schools in the poorest school districts throughout New Jersey.

“This report…revealed that, with respect to 2013-2014 academic performance, all seven (7) Newark, New Jersey, Renew Schools significantly lagged or lagged their peer schools across the state.

“In the area of student growth performance, six (6) Renew Schools lagged or siginifically lagged their peer schools…”

The analysis also shows that Newark has failed to meet its promised academic progress targets established as a condition for the granting by the federal Nothing to show for the pain inflicted on Newark’s children | Bob Braun's Ledger:

Montel Williams: "Just Let Teachers Teach!" - Living in Dialogue

Montel Williams: "Just Let Teachers Teach!" - Living in Dialogue:



Montel Williams: "Just Let Teachers Teach!" 

 By Anthony Cody.

Last week as I was tweeting in support of the Newark Students Union occupation of their state-appointed administrator’s office, I was surprised to see a familiar name joining the chorus of support for these young activists. Montel Williams was right in there, tweeting his own support, and retweeting messages of solidarity with the occupation. So when I was asked by the National School Boards Association if I would like to interview Mr. Williams, and Thomas J. Gentzel, the NSBA’s Executive Director on Public Schools, I was happy to send questions, which were posed and answered in this video.

Click here to watch the Interview with Montel Williams and Thomas J. Gentzel.

What experiences of your own have shaped your desire to support public education?

Montel Williams: This has been a lifetime of support for public schools, because I am a product of the public school system. I am a product of busing. I grew up in a little enclave outside of Baltimore, Maryland – a little area called Glen Burnie, which was Cedar Hill. I would not be where I am today without the hard work of my teachers, the school board at the time. The foundation of my success was built at Andover High School. And because of that, I want to make sure that we ensure that every child in this country has that same opportunity.

Thomas J. Gentzel: In every community in this country, there are doctors, lawyers, they run the body shop in town, they have all these businesses – almost all of them came through the public school system. So having a strong school system is absolutely vital to making sure this country remains strong in the future.

Many parents and students are concerned these days about the way that testing seems to have taken over the mission of our schools. What do you think about the amount of tests and the way these tests are being used?

Montel Williams: This whole idea that one size fits all – will end up fitting none. The idea that we can just test test test test and teach our children how to be lemmings and rote memorize things is not going to lead to a successful, educated workforce. We’ve got to have a big conversation about this – and we are. The National School Boards Association is having that conversation. People think this edict is coming from them. In fact, they are the ones responding to their community, trying to incorporate their ideas. The NSBA is saying we need to change this idea of trying to make kids regurgitate, and instead, make people process and learn.

Thomas J. Gentzel:  This is a big issue for us, and I should point out, our organization is a private non-profit – we are not a government agency. We are representing these local officials who are typically unpaid folks Montel Williams: "Just Let Teachers Teach!" - Living in Dialogue: