D. Boon's blog

If your looking for an insightful read on how the general election may play out you could do much worse than these two summaries:

John Barbender, Republican Media Consultant:

Obama shows that anyone can rise up if they’re smart enough and talented enough, but the question is whether he has the experience to lead the country in turbulent times. That’s a huge question mark. McCain is a PC and Obama is Mac. People like the look of Macs but there are a lot more PCs out there. McCain is an extremely safe choice for America and people may decide they can’t afford to do anything but make the safe choice.

Cathy Allen, Democratic Political Consultant:

McCain is very vulnerable. He is old news. He looks like someone who should be your grandfather–at a time that you, as a grandchild, think it’s your day. I see it as a generational election, especially if Obama is the nominee. He’s an exciting, inspirational speaker and next to him McCain looks like he’s from your grandfather’s generation.

Interesting stuff.  Read the rest, it is worth your five minutes.  :)

So it seems that the No Child Left Behind Act is finally coming to fruition.  I have recently learned that Urbana High School has officially failed to make Adequate Yearly Progress for the fifth year in a row.  Because of this dubious distinction, UHS is currently required to create a “restructuring plan” that is designed to fundamentally change the way learning happens at the school.  My understanding is that if UHS fails to make adequate yearly progress again this year the restructuring plan (which must be approved by the Illinois State Board of Education) will go into effect sometime next year.

The restructuring plan will be created by the school district, presumably a team that consists of administrators and teachers.  There is little doubt that such a plan would include drastic changes, including the possibility of the firing of the entire administrative team and perhaps 30-50% of the teaching staff.  It is also possible that the school could be turned into a charter school, or turned over to a for-profit entity like Edison schools.  In other words, this school is in deep doo-doo.

But what is more interesting is the fact that UHS is not unique.  Hundreds of schools across Illinois and thousands of schools across America are facing the same challenges.  Furthermore, there is little doubt that almost every school in America will find itself in the same position within a few years.  NCLB dictates that a school must meet 100% proficiency in reading and math by 2014.  In other words, practically EVERY STUDENT in the EVERY SCHOOL in America must be able to “meet or exceed” the standards on standardized tests within 6 years.

There is just no way that is going to happen.

Which creates a problem.  The only way for a school to improve the learning that takes place within its walls is for the teachers and administrators to demonstrate a real commitment to improving the school.  How is a teacher supposed to truly care about implementing a plan to improve test scores 5 or 10% when within one or two years even that increase will be insufficient to avoid “restructuring”?  Every year the goal posts get moved further down the field from the schools.  How can we expect our teachers to work hard to meet these standards when in the back of their minds they must know that it will never be enough?

NCLB is a disaster.  Like the Iraq War it is a policy based on simple ideas that don’t work in the real world.  Instead of improving schools it has created a culture of frustration, anger and defeat in our public schools.  And every year the required AYP grows (I believe it is close to 70% at this point) the frustration mounts.  It is time to repeal this toxic, ineffective legislation.

Our Representative Timothy V. Johnson supported the passage of NCLB in 2001.  The Democratically-led Congress has put reauthorization on hold until next year, when they intend to take a careful look at the Act.

In the meantime expect the frustration to continue.

Our Representative from the 15th district voted AGAINST the Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA).  To be specific, Mr. Johnson voted against a law that ...

Makes it an unlawful employment practice for covered entities (employers, employment agencies, labor organizations, or joint labor-management committees) to discriminate against an individual on the basis of actual or perceived sexual orientation, including actions based on the actual or perceived sexual orientation of a person with whom the individual associates or has associated.

Even after his conservative cohorts amended the bill in several ways.  Like an amendment that ...

Prohibits construing this Act to require a covered entity to treat a couple who are not married in the same manner as the covered entity treats a married couple for purposes of employee benefits.

Declares that, in this Act, the terms "married" and "marry" refer to a legal union between one man and one woman as husband and wife.

We don't know Mr. Johnson's reasoning for voting against this bill because, as usual, he didn't say anything on the floor.  As a side note, Johnson has actually sponsored seven bills during the 110th Congress, which is a bit of a burst of energy for the guy.  Unfortunately, like most of Tim's bills, all are currently languishing in committee.

We are represented in the US Congress by a man who has voted against employment protections for gays and lesbians.  Personally, I am embarassed for our district.