Bloody...the lord blessed us with our son for a reason. Just haven't figured it out yet. I taught Autistic kids for 8 years so I know how fortunate I am. God bless you.

Not to beat a dead horse because we got off on this ESE jag, but my concern is for teachers teaching the impoverished kids(and for the kids too). Many minority kids label others who are succeeding in school "white". Dr Cosby was right in everything he said. Many teachers in inner city schools are facing near impossible odds with NCLB. As far as funding...NCLB is an unfunded mandate. If states fail to participate they forfit federal funding. Several states are thinking about it.

my parents didn't graduate from h.s.

they, italian-americans, didn't give a care in the world for my education -- in their culture it was an insult for the kids to "rise above" the parents. so i got zero support from them in elementary school through college.

i had to care about my own education -- and i did. i was the first in my family to hold one degree, much less multiple degrees.

so i had no support in my education. i also had a few teachers who would have loved to see this blue-collar city kid fail in their suburban high school, too. must have hurt them when i made the national honor society and was saluditorian at our h.s. graduation.

my point? parents can suck, and teachers can be mediocre, but the STUDENTS also bear *some* responsiblity for their own success.

that said, i'm not naive enough to think that i'm a standard case. most of my friends from the "old neighborhood" fell in line with what was expected of them -- they quit school, got into drugs and alcohol, became teen parents, etc. up until h.s., we all had the same teachers, the same uninterested parents, the same neighborhood jungle to navigate.

again, i am not opposed to reform in education. along with it, though, more needs to also be expected from PARENTS and STUDENTS. you can lead a horse to water but you can't make him drink and all. the problem does NOT rest squarely on the shoulders of any one entity -- but NCLB puts the full burden on teachers, and it is setting PUBLIC SCHOOLS up to FAIL.

why could that be, i wonder?

an aside -- special ed students' performance have NO bearing on NCLB, again. so the special ed students are not holding schools back. just want to say that for the record.

personally, i think students in ALL situations that require special ed have their own challenges totally separate from NCLB. i think that parents of these kids also have challenges that other parents don't even see. personally, i'd like to see separate lobbies for these students and their parents -- and the teachers who teach spec ed classes. the goals are different, and the approach to education is different. reform is BADLY needed, and in fact an entire cultural education is sorely needed in order to put these kids' needs on the radar screen and move forward. i would be glad to support any programs out there with those goals in mind, and god bless you parents who are already fighting for your kids' educational rights.

I know this was mentioned previously but it is interesting to watch the dynamics here in Florida between Jeb and his brother. The part mentioned was, schools that receive "A's" from Jebs A+ Program and end up as failures using the NCLB criteria. If a school receives an "A" it gets all kinds of $$$$ as a reward from the state. If it is judged a failure under NCLB it can lose all of its' staff and administration after a 3 year period. Great stuff!

Damn teachers will have to work, now. But, hey, its not standards these kids need, its more tax money!

Yes Herr....we damn teachers will have to work now.....just like the majority of us teachers have been doing for years.