Redstate

You can oppose NCLB all you want, but unless the opponents can somehow recreate the accountability measures that NCLB instituted, their plan will be a non-started, and rightly so.

You can be a "small government conservative" all you want. But unless you marry that philosophy to the real-world problems people want solved, you'll get beaten everytime.

Until the opponents of NCLB can explain how they will continue to hold schools accountable under their system, I'll stick with 'the Devil I know'. And I imagine somewhere between 60-80% of voters will too.

(P.S. Lest anyone question me, I oppose public primary and secondary education on principle, so it's not like I like public schooling. But we're stuck with it (at least for the forseeable future), so we have to do something to make it at least partially effective...)

somewhere in the "Constitution" that says something about educating kids who are still living at home with their parents is the responsibility of the Federal Government???
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Congressmen who willfully take actions during wartime that damage morale and undermine the military are saboteurs and should be arrested, exiled, or hanged. — J. Michael Waller

I don’t care that much about NCLB as it’s an extension of an already existing foolish policy (that of having any federal involvement in education). But after six years of swallowing “compassionate conservatism” from the Bush administration, any sign that Republicans are finally fed up is a good one.

I'm not a South Park Republican, I'm a King of the Hill libertarian.

There are many people on our side of the aisle that have made the perfect the enemy of the good on the issue. We all want a more liberty based education system, but until we can get it we need to make the one we have work.
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"Those who expect to reap the blessings of freedom must, like men, undergo the fatigue of supporting it."
-Thomas Paine: The American Crisis, No. 4, 1777

Sorry for the length, but honestly, I held back.

No holding back here.

Let's get the relatively unimportant stuff out of the way first. You write,

I am an educator of 20 years, and a lifelong member of the GOP, and I support NCLB fully. I am also writing my dissertation on aspects of the standards movement which served as a basis of NCLB.

Leaving aside, for the moment, the head-spinning self-contradiction of whatever substance there may be to your opening two-sentence statement, I am, by the balance of your submission, left to wonder what sort of an "educator" you are. To wit, the following is not even a sentence (and I'm letting the non-lethal, run-of-the-mill grammatical errors slide):

One of the worst practices currently in place by Title I because, in most urban districts a systematic bias is built into district allocation legislation.

In addition, what, exactly, is going on in these sentences (into which I have inserted my attempts at corrections, which are bracketed and boldfaced)?

NCLB is one of the most critical legislative attempts to put [back on track (?)] the trainwreck of public education, which is a fundamental institution in a Federal Republic.

and

While there are needs [that need] to [be] address[ed with regard to] NCLB, issues which have not been adequately addressed by the state of [Did you mean "and" here?] local authorities for many years, which deal with equity and student achievement [a comma would have been appropriate here] are at least broached by NCLB.

and

In candor, NCLB probably doesn't go far enough, towards the goal[an "s" belongs here] of improved student achievement and equity[How about a comma?] which are both laudable goals from any side of the political perspective.

and

The inferred[misplaced, inappropriate - should be omitted] message that American public schools sent[should be "received"] was, as long as the white, affluent, and middle class children of the suburbs are performing well, education is fine.

Please be more careful when you write your dissertation.

On to the substance of your posting. Here's the crux of it, I think:

Many would say that NCLB is a series of unfunded mandates. A countering argument can be made, that the federal government stepped into an area that should have been addressed and funded by the states a long time ago. Candidly, if the problems associated with the education of inner-city poor and minority children were typical of the affluent, predominately white suburbs, one can only imagine how quickly the issues regarding equity in education would have been addressed.

To which I reply, "(Almost) Exactly!" Let's take your assertions one by one.

First, NCLB is an "unfunded mandate." Last time I checked (which must have been more than six years ago) that's bad - especially when you consider that the mandate consists of curriculum-related intrusion into our nation's schoolrooms by the federal government, a violation of the Tenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. Ronald Reagan railed against this sort of thing in his first inaugural address.

Second, you write, "A countering argument can be made, that the federal government stepped into an area that should have been addressed and funded by the states a long time ago." Now see, that's not what (at least my well-documented version of) Republicans do. If you are looking for that kind of attitude about our nation's problems, may I suggest that you visit with the Democrats? They are famous for grabbing power from the states to address perceived problems of inequity. Go for it! Or, if you still sense, as you should, that, despite all the recent failures, Republicans are the more clear-eyed and decent thinkers (which, I believe, they/we are), why don't you focus your attention on your state government to address what, I am sure, are the very real problems that you see? Then we could remain within the confines of the Constitution and, through school choice and other innovations, improve the education of our children, too.

Third, you also write, "Candidly, if the problems associated with the education of inner-city poor and minority children were typical of the affluent, predominately white suburbs, one can only imagine how quickly the issues regarding equity in education would have been addressed." Fair enough. This is a serious problem. There are too many affluent (or relatively affluent) people who don't really care about those who are obviously struggling against a myriad of foes (including the underfunding of education, the dissolution of families, drugs, gangs, violence, etc.) in most of our cities. They truly ought to be ashamed. If you are looking for a federal solution to these problems, however, I would not, if I were you, lunge at yet another, certain-to-disappoint hand-out form Uncle Sam in the form of NCLB. Rather, I would insist upon (federal) tax-free enterprise zones as proposed and envisioned by Jack Kemp and Steve Forbes. Then, finally, the cities could once again have the base of wealth to support decent schools. Believe me this can work! God bless.

Sincerely, and with the best of intentions, from an erstwhile teacher of English who sold out and became a lawyer (and who also doesn't believe that standards should ever be lowered for anyone),

rhatican

And while we're at it, let's change the Shakespeare quote to a paraphrase... "First thing we do, let's kill all the educators."
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Congressmen who willfully take actions during wartime that damage morale and undermine the military are saboteurs and should be arrested, exiled, or hanged. — J. Michael Waller

no amount of money from the feds will fix the problem.

A better place to start would be to fire all of the "educators" and "guidance counselors" and hire some teachers. Get somebody to get parents involved in the education of their kids. Until then, give 'em not one dollar, it'll be wasted on improved benefits for the educators and union dues to the NEA.
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Congressmen who willfully take actions during wartime that damage morale and undermine the military are saboteurs and should be arrested, exiled, or hanged. — J. Michael Waller