WASHINGTON (BHN) -Obama administration Education Secretary Arne Duncan is announcing today a system of waivers relieving public schools from federally-mandated reading and math proficiency tests. The tests are required by the No Child Left Behind Law, which was instituted to assure every student would be proficient in math and reading by 2014.
A National Education Association (NEA) teacher's union spokesperson applauded the administration's move, saying the testing requirement is "unfair to children who are already burdened with having to deal with more important things in school, such as nurturing their gay, lesbian, or transgender sexual identities, and studying the evils of capitalism."
The step-by-step ramping up of the 9-year-old law is causing too many school districts to be rated as non-compliant, as their students fail the tests because they are unable to read them.
The Obama administration is proposing equivalency tests based on texting proficiency.
My comments: This seemed doomed to fail in the first place - making public school kids read a reading test. As for the math part, what, are you kidding me?! Meanwhile, kids in private schools are splitting atoms and writing books -
