posted September 27, 2007 09:22 AM              

The president of the United States met with Mayor Michael Bloomberg and the city's point man on education Wednesday to push his agenda for rigorous testing as a road to student achievement.

As NY1’s Education reporter Michael Meenan explains in the following report, President George W. Bush pointed to a high-profile prize the city won last week as proof that his policy gets results.

Last week, the city won the prestigious Broad Prize honoring large urban school districts that show the greatest improvement in student achievement.

"This city tackled the challenges of under-performing schools in such a way that it has become a model for urban schools,” said Bush. “This achievement is a hopeful sign for other school districts across America."

The president said those achievements have come as the result of a new emphasis on testing all students – a key element of his No Child Left Behind law, which is set to expire, and which he is urging Congress to renew.

“Through this law, our nation has made an historic commitment to America's children, and we have a moral obligation to keep that commitment,” said the president.

No Child Left Behind was first introduced in 2002, as a way to improve students' performances at primary and secondary schools. The law requires annual reading and math tests in grades three to eight, and the results have really high stakes. The results decide who gets promoted or held back a grade.

Since 2002, city scores have gone up on state tests, but still less than half of eighth graders do well in math and reading.

The mayor says he stands by the tests as a big way of measuring how kids do.

"As they get into high school they have to decide whether to hang out with a gang, whether to hang out with somebody who has a gun, whether to try drugs, whether to act responsibly when it comes to sex,” said Bloomberg. “They're faced with whether to get married, whether to stay in school. We are, our children are facing high-stakes tests all the time."

Tuesday the state received some not-so-promising results for New York State on 2007 national math and reading tests. Only 30 percent of state eighth graders passed math.

Klein cautioned against pessimism.

"From 2002 to 2005 on those national tests, New York City was outperforming every other city," said Klein.

But the city's teachers union has called for other ways to measure student progress besides just testing.

- Michael Meenan

http://www.ny1.com/ny1/content/index.jsp?stid=1&aid=73983

Klein To Meet With President About No Child Left Behind

Schools Chancellor Joel Klein is scheduled to meet with President George W. Bush on Wednesday, right before the president delivers a speech about how Congress needs to renew his education law, No Child Left Behind.

NY1 Education reporter Michael Meenan got some strong opinions around town on what Klein should say to the president about a law with so much impact on city classrooms.

"We need to take another look at how standardized tests are run," said parent Mike Piazza.

That is just one issue that parents say Joel Klein should tell the president on Wednesday about how to change the nation's education law, No Child Left Behind. It's about to expire this year and Congress is again debating how to achieve its big mission: make sure every American school kid is on equal par by 2014.

In order to accomplish that goal, African American and Latino kids need to be doing as well as white and Asian kids. The way Congress first thought it was fair to measure how that was happening, math and reading tests in third to eighth grade, is under fire.

"It's been a failure here in New York City," said Robert Jackson, chairman of the City Council’s education committee.

Jackson says Klein should tell Bush that No Child Left Behind has been a letdown. Jackson said standardized tests get way too much emphasis and the new law needs to allow for other assessments.

"We need flexibility so that children are evaluated on a more holistic basis and not just English, language arts, and math tests," said Jackson.

Klein declined an interview, but the Department of Education said the chancellor supports testing, but is open to other concrete ways to prove how students are doing, like grades and attendance. It's unclear if Bush would sign a law that allows for more than math and reading tests to show how children are doing in school.

There is also the issue as to how the law will paid for. Mayor Michael Bloomberg has said Washington undercuts the city on school funding. A spokesman for Congressman George Miller, chair of the House education committee, said that right now No Child is, "not fair enough, not flexible enough, not funded enough."

The spokesman said the law has been under-funded by $50 billion since 2002. Miller is said to be open to other options beyond math and reading tests.

"It's become a data-driven testing machine as opposed to, how do we get the resources for kids to learn?" said United Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten.

So, when Klein and Bush meet on Wednesday there will be a lot to talk about. The DOE says that testing and how much money the city gets from the federal government to help run the schools are two topics that will definitely be on the table.

- Michael Meenan

Yet he has the nerve to keep veoting the health insurance plans that would benefit them?

WTF. This man is an idiot. I bet half of these kid's families are not informed enough to know what he did 2 days ago when he vetoed!

If he was to visit my child's school...I would not allow my child near that evil satanic Nazi.