Posted on 09/21/2006 8:23:29 AM PDT by SmithL
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger vetoed legislation Wednesday that proposed an instant fix for students failing to meet California's standard for proficiency: redefine proficiency.
Schwarzenegger concluded that changing a few words won't solve academic woes.
"Redefining the level of academic achievement necessary to designate students as 'proficient' does not make the students proficient," his veto message said.
Assemblywoman Loni Hancock, D-Berkeley, called the governor's veto of her Assembly Bill 2975 a "missed opportunity" that ultimately will hurt students.
"Schools will be labeled as failing schools even if they are making progress and improving their test scores," she said.
AB 2975 argued that California's definition of proficiency was unrealistically high.
The federal No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) requires every student to be proficient in English and mathematics by 2014, but every state can define proficiency.
Thus the rub: States that set the bar low academically have a distinct advantage.
In recent years, fewer than 50 percent of students have met California's standard for proficiency, which basically requires standardized test scores that show grade-level competence and, thus, skills necessary to attend college.
"While that's a good goal, it's an unrealistic requirement for all students," Hancock said.
Under NCLB, sanctions are imposed on schools that receive federal funds for disadvantaged children and fail two consecutive years in meeting annual targets for the number of proficient children overall and in ethnic or other subgroups, such as English learners.
Penalties increase in severity over a five-year period, from allowing students to transfer at district expense to restructuring the faculty or administration of a targeted school.
AB 2975 proposed a lower standard for proficiency. Students would have met it by acquiring adequate skills, year by year, to pass the California High School Exit Exam.
(Excerpt) Read more at sacbee.com ...
So there is still SOME sanity in the world!
Sadly, the "legislator" who wrote the bill is my "representative" in Sacramento. The district has been gerrymandered so that every low income area is lumped in with us "rich white Republicans" so we are now less than 25% of the district.
Thanks so much!
I don't know what they're worried about. Los Angeles has dozens of "failing" schools and despite that, the federal law's requirement that they be offered transfers to other schools is completely ignored. If you don't enforce the law, it's just another feel-good measure that has no practical effect. Let California keep its so-called higher standards: they're meaningless in terms of the real world.
The Democrats feel it is unfair to expect government school students to know the alphabet before passing third grade.
If the kids can't reach the bar, it must be too high.
~ Good for Arnold ~
Kudos to the Gov. for this one.
Know what will be amusing to see? When the $$$ depended on warm butts in seats, the Educrat Mafia was doing everything it could to protect illegal alien attendence (re. Prop. 87). Now that their $$$ are going to start to depend on proficiency, how long before these same people are scrambling to dump the ones bringing their scores down?
I guess it will come down to which bunch of $$$ they are more addicted to: the warm butt money or the Fed disadvantaged kid money.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.