The Blue Board

I agree. The leaders in Jefferson County also are not conservative. I am a democrat, but the logic that this is a conservative/liberal argument is stupid.

Anyone that is blind in their support of either party is part of the problem. That is what is wrong with the 2-party system. We are given 2 candidated for each office that are usually the extreme in either way and we don't get many moderates. The days of the Reagans and Clintons (moderate candidates) is over.

Totally agree. People treat politics like sports now. They have their team. That team is always right, and never wrong. Until that changes, we're all screwed. I do believe that at the present time, only the Democrats appear willing to compromise and meet in the middle. That's not to say there isn't plenty of bitching that can be done on both sides. I still don't understand why NOTHING has been done with Simpson Bowles. This shit isn't rocket science. Spending has to be steadily cut over the next few years and taxes on some are going to have to go up a few percentage points.

Pragmatism doesn't drive ratings on Fox, CNN, or MSNBC. Pragmatism doesn't get candidates the buzz and money they need to run. Until the American public actually wants to balance the budget they will keep handing out entitlements and raising the debt ceiling.

I read about that story. I think what stuck out to me was that teachers were told that they would absolutely be fired if their students didn't hit a specific number improvement. I don't condone cheating in any way but really, what results do people expect when you tell a person that the thing that puts food on the table will be removed if they don't perform the impossible? And that's exactly because, as you say, not all teachers have the same students, the same support systems, or the same resources.

NCLB was a disaster and so is Obama's Race to the Top which has been singled out for plenty of corruption including the Atlanta situation.

"In Atlanta, teachers who confessed to cheating told investigators they felt inordinate pressure to meet targets set by the district and faced severe consequences such as a negative evaluation or termination if they didn’t. The behavior was reinforced by a district culture of fear and intimidation directed at whistle-blowers.

Targets were primarily based on the state’s annual Criterion-Referenced Competency Tests. Schoolwide bonuses up to $2,000 were given to employees at schools that met prescribed targets, and according to the state investigation, former APS Superintendent Beverly Hall also benefited financially from the bonus system.

Georgia, as one of several winners of the federal Race to the Top grant, pledged to change its teacher and principal evaluation system so performance is more heavily weighted on a student’s academic growth on tests. Evaluations will soon play a role in who gets certified to teach, who gets promoted and, eventually, who gets the biggest paycheck.

Race to the Top is one of the cornerstones of President Barack Obama’s education policy and has been a catalyst for reform across the nation. Central to the policy is the insistence on tying educator evaluations to student test scores to provide more substantial evidence of good teaching. "

Test scores can be lied about just as easily. Ask the administrators at Claremont McKenna.

1. Anyone who takes this guy to represent a great number of outstanding Christian people deserves just to remove themselves from society. Name one group of people that has never had someone identify with a group and have a small group that is heretic.

2. The education system is VERY, VERY top heavy and the teachers who do it as a calling aren't moving to the top of that chain. The teachers who don't care are actually growing into the top positions. This just contributes to an already corrupt system.

3. Our education system is designed on teaching to a test and dumbing down education. Education starts in the HOME before it ever starts in a school. If the home is weak in education, the school has very little chance of success with that child.

4. The education system could easily be torn down and built up in a more efficient and effective manner, but no one wants to do it. Everyone complains, but no one changes it. It's simply a way for politicians to get the parental vote.

5. Politicians are politicians. Most of them jump into politics because they can't sell used cars or have already been to prison.