Category: Jessica Arriens
No Teacher Left Behind: Report Recommends Testing Teachers, Principals
NCLB
Keene Sentinel
Jessica Arriens
Boston University Washington News Service
2/13/07
WASHINGTON, Feb. 13 —Teachers and principals should be tested as well as students in any reauthorization of the No Child Left Behind law, according to a private bipartisan panel’s report released Tuesday.
The year-long study, based on roundtable discussions with educators across the country, gave 75 recommendations geared to guide Congress as it begins debate on reauthorizing the five-year-old law.
“We looked at what was best for the child,” said former Georgia Democratic Gov. Roy Barnes, co-chair of the committee. “And we excluded what was best for the adults in the system. It’s kind of revolutionary, but it should be basic.”
The most “revolutionary” area of the report, produced by the non-profit Aspen Institute, an international organization promoting nonpartisan discourse, is its recommendation that testing standards—the kind No Child Left Behind enforces on students—also should be placed on the teachers as well.
“Teacher quality is the most important factor in improving school equality,” said Barnes. “Especially in disadvantaged children.”
The commission also recommended testing students in science, requiring school districts to offer space for students who transfer from failing schools, and a voluntary national standard that schools should meet, based of the current National Assessment of Education Progress standards. The commission said that schools should be 100 percent proficient by 2014.
Under the committee’s recommendations, the progress of a teacher’s students, measured over a three-year period, would be combined with evaluations done by a fellow teacher or a principal to measure a teacher’s effectiveness. Struggling teachers would receive professional developmental support, but could be forced out of positions if they fail to improve.
“If a teacher continues to struggle after several years of support, we can’t continue to short-change the children,” said Barnes. “They should not continue to teach the most disadvantaged children.”
Under the original law, teachers had to be certified, have a bachelor’s degree and be competent in their subject matter.
Barnes recognized that the teacher-standards recommendation “is one of those areas thats going to attract attention,” but said it was made “not to single out, not to punish, not to blame, but simply with the idea of improving education for our children.”
Not surprisingly, the proposal drew criticism.
“You can’t measure a teacher by test scores alone,” said Grace Jeffery Nelson, coordinator of public education and school support for New Hampshire’s chapter of the National Education Association. “You can’t measure my classes like that every year. The students are all in different places.”
Nelson pointed to her experience teaching for more than 25 years, and to the students in her classroom with developmental disabilities who “could never pass the test,” or students with underprivileged backgrounds as examples of why across-the-board proficiency requirements do not work.
“If a student comes into class who did not have dinner last night, did not have breakfast this morning, comes to school dirty—they’re in survival mode,” she said. “They’re not in a learning mode.”
The standards for principals would include receiving state certification and students meeting improvement standards. Under the proposal, federal funds would be contingent upon principals meeting the standards.
In determining student achievement, the commission recommended minimizing the size of subgroups that students are classified under to measure achievement in order to narrow learning gaps and make sure no child falls through the cracks.
But Nelson said students being lumped into “cell-sized groups” worries her. “I don’t want it to become an issue of, ‘We don’t want those kids in our schools, because they’ll bring our test scores down,’” she said. “I haven’t seen it yet, but I’m afraid it may rear its ugly head.”
In New Hampshire, Department of Education commissioner Lyonel Tracy instituted a program called “Follow the Child,” an initiative based on personalized learning that focuses on “educating the whole student, not just the testing piece,” according to Nelson, who said it is a better alternative to the current federal law.
The program, which began this school year, is focused on measuring growth in four different areas—personal, social, physical and academic—which Nelson said is a better way to educate students than blanket standards, where “the focus becomes on the test, and not on the child.”
She said while the No Child Left Behind law has its good parts, it has “certainly put a lot of stress on the teachers. We will do the best we can with students. Will they all be proficient? Probably not.”
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Mr. Hodes Goes to Washington
HODES
The Keene Sentinel
Jessica Arriens
Boston University Washington News Service
1/30/07
WASHINGTON, Jan. 30 —Paul Hodes’ office is a mess. Stacks of letters and cardboard boxes are strewn across shelves and cluttering the floor. A bag of candy perches atop a pile of papers on a desk. Bergen Kenny, Hodes’ communications director, looks around the office and states the obvious: “We’re still unpacking.”
Hodes, the new Democratic representative from New Hampshire’s 2nd District, has been busy since his arrival in Washington. The morning after the State of the Union, Hodes’ day began with a radio interview at 7:10 a.m., followed by a new member’s breakfast, a meeting with labor union representatives, a flurry of legislative business and votes on the House floor, a meeting with a potential New Hampshire candidate and a tough speech denouncing President Bush’s Iraq policy. In the late afternoon, he finally had time to sit back in his spacious office—free of the clutter in the adjoining staff rooms—and lean back in a plush leather chair.
“What you have to be in this job, is very flexible,” he said. “Change is typical.”
And the change has come fast since Hodes moved into his office on Dec. 3. Committee assignments and Hodes’ recent election as Democratic freshman class president have been coupled with efforts to establish offices in New Hampshire and D.C.—referred to as Team Hodes North and Team Hodes South by the office staff.
“We’re filling it out,” Hodes said. “We have a mix of people. Some from New Hampshire, some from other places who have worked on the campaign and have stayed with me. And who are learning quickly.”
The experience of opening up district offices has been “pretty wild,” Luke Watson, Hodes’ scheduler, said. “Working here where everything is, and working there where nothing is.”
Watson has been working with Hodes since 2004, after spending time on a previous New Hampshire campaign. He’s what Kenny calls “a lifer.”
Kenny, who was recently hired as Hodes’ full-time communications director, worked for the Hodes campaign through a Connecticut political consulting firm. She described the experience of working on Capitol Hill as “really, really overwhelming,” be it the Democrats’ 100 hours agenda, her first time attending the State of the Union address, or simply trying to figure out where the bathrooms are.
Hodes has been given assignments on the Financial Services and the Oversight and Government Reform Committee. He was also selected class president of the new Democratic freshman class and said he hopes to “keep some cohesion and keep the class focused on issues. I’m hoping that we’re going to be able to be a force for change in this Congress.”
Kenny said Hodes and the other members of the new Democratic majority “are motivated by the idea that people elected them for a real clear reason. They want to make good on the promises they made.”
For Hodes, this means remaining close to his home state. He rents an apartment a few blocks from his Capitol Hill office, which allows him to walk to work, and commutes back to New Hampshire every weekend. “I’m home all the time,” he said. “I talk to people in New Hampshire, as often as I talk to people in Washington.”
“I love New Hampshire,” he said, leaning forward for emphasis, the leather chair creaking beneath him. “And Washington is not New Hampshire.”
In addition to being away from home, Hodes said being away from family—his wife, Peggo, and their two grown children—has been the hardest adjustment. The night after the State of the Union, Hodes and his wife, who was in town for the week, were planning a big night out. “We’re talking about going to buy some folding chairs.”
And so a “late night Ikea run” will be the ending to one day on Capitol Hill. From the Cannon House Office Building, the Capitol is just visible through the office window, framing Hodes’ face as he attempts to sum up his perception of Congress so far.
“It doesn’t always work as quickly as people would like—that much is clear to me after the first few weeks,” he said. “But it truly is a brilliant invention, in terms of its ability to represent the constituents and the constituents’ concerns. And nothing is a better example of that than the House of Representatives.”
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Keene Residents Rally Against Iraq War
IRAQ MARCH-ARRIENS
Keene Sentinel
Jessica Arriens
Boston University Washington News Service
1/27/07
WASHINGTON, Jan. 27 —Amidst chants of “No more war!” and “Impeach Bush!” Keene residents joined thousands of other protesters to rally against the Iraq War Saturday.
Sponsored by United Peace for Justice, the rally and march, held in front of the U.S. Capitol, drew persons from all over the country and featured speeches by Jane Fonda, Susan Sarandon and the Rev. Jesse Jackson.
“We’re here to say stop the funding for this war,” said Eileen Reardon, a member of New Hampshire Peace Action who helped coordinate the trip to D.C. “We stand on the fact that in the November 2006 elections, there was a clear mandate from the people that they want change in Iraq. And we want to bring our troops home.”
New Hampshire Peace Action, an affiliate of National Peace Action, sent a total of five buses—from Concord, Portsmouth and Keene—to the rally, all arriving in Washington early Saturday morning. According to Reardon, the Keene protesters were “from high school to well into senior citizens,” many driving down themselves because all the buses were full.
Chris Hansen, carrying a large “New Hampshire Says No to War” sign, served as a referral point for the granite state’s protesters. A carpenter from Alstead, he said he sees a connection between the war and a saying from his profession.
“If all the tools in your toolbox are hammers, then all your problems look like nails,” he said. “We don’t see the problems of responding militarily—just bashing the hell out of it. But that’s not a constructive way to respond.”
Hansen said there are “peaceful policies available” in Iraq, and that the only way to win the war is through “diplomacy with our friends and our enemies.”
Tom Westheimer, a Hancock resident and a member of New Hampshire Peace Action, agreed that diplomacy is the right solution in Iraq. “It’s the only hope,” he said. “There’s no way we’re ever going to beat the Iraqis in their own land.”
But Westheimer also said he thinks the perception of the war is changing, the mood shifting against President Bush’s proposed troop surge, which would send more than 20,000 additional troops to Iraq.
“I think there’s hope,” he said. “I’ve seen some positive signs.”
Steve Chase, the director of an environmental advocacy and organizing program at Antioch College, also said public opinion of the war is changing, strengthened by mass protests like the one swirling around him.
“It encourages others to speak out,” he said. “This war has become as unpopular as the Vietnam War became, but much, much faster.”
Gordon Clark, another Keene resident who traveled on a bus with Peace Action, said he has been to so many anti-war rallies that he had lost count. But he said it was important to participate.
“People get to see other people,” Clark said. “Politicians know we’re here. Washington knows we’re here. This is a good city for a rally. Every once in a while you still get the feeling this is our city—this is our government.”
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