Obama Admin Nullifies "No Child Left Behind", Grants Waivers To States For Equal, Quality Education

‘No Child’ Law Whittled Down by White House

In just five months, the Obama administration has freed schools in more than half the nation from central provisions of the No Child Left Behind education law, raising the question of whether the decade-old federal program has been essentially nullified.

On Friday, the Department of Education plans to announce that it has granted waivers releasing two more states, Washington and Wisconsin, from some of the most onerous conditions of the signature Bush-era legislation. With this latest round, 26 states are now relieved from meeting the lofty — and controversial — goal of making all students proficient in reading and mathematics by 2014. Additional waivers are pending in 10 states and the District of Columbia.

“The more waivers there are, the less there really is a law, right?” said Andy Porter, dean of the University of Pennsylvania’s Graduate School of Education.

While No Child Left Behind has been praised for forcing schools to become more accountable for the education of poor and minority children, it has been derided for what some regard as an obsessive focus on test results, which has led to some notorious cheating scandals. Critics have also faulted the law’s system of rating schools, which they say labeled so many of them low performing that it rendered the judgment meaningless.

In exchange for the education waivers, schools and districts must promise to set new targets aimed at preparing students for colleges and careers. They must also tether evaluations of teachers and schools in part to student achievement on standardized tests. The use of tests to judge teacher effectiveness is a departure from No Child Left Behind, which used test scores to rate schools and districts.

Congress has tried and failed repeatedly to reauthorize the education law over the past five years because Democrats and Republicans cannot agree on an appropriate role for the federal government in education. And so, in the heat of an election year, the Obama administration has maneuvered around Congress, using the waivers to advance its own education agenda.

The waivers appear to follow an increasingly deliberate pattern by the administration to circumvent lawmakers, as it did last month when it granted hundreds of thousands of young illegal immigrants a reprieve from deportation. The administration has also unveiled policies to prevent drug shortages, raise fuel economy standards and cut refinancing fees for federally insured mortgages.

Critics question whether the waivers have done much to genuinely shift the focus of federal education reform, given their continued reliance on standardized tests. The waivers “should probably make the meh list,” said Joshua Starr, superintendent of the Montgomery County schools in Maryland, which was granted a waiver in May.

Mr. Starr said he believed that education reform should focus on incentives to help teachers collaborate and help students learn skills that could not simply be measured by tests.

“It is another example to me of how we’re not focused on the right things in the American education conversation today,” Mr. Starr said. “I have a lot of respect for Arne Duncan,” he added, referring to the secretary of education, “but it’s just sort of moving around the chairs on the Titanic.”

Mr. Duncan, in a telephone interview on Thursday, said states that had received waivers, including New York, New Jersey and Connecticut, would also use a mix of other indicators to evaluate teachers and schools, like how many students actually enrolled in college or took Advanced Placement exams, as well as reviews of teachers by their peers, their students and their principals.

“You have to look at multiple indicators and multiple measures,” he said. “There’s been historically a push to way oversimplify what is very complex.”

House Republicans have repeatedly protested the Obama administration’s use of waivers as an end-run around Congress.

In a speech to the American Enterprise Institute this year, Representative John Kline, a Minnesota Republican and the chairman of the House Committee on Education and the Work Force, accused the administration of using waivers “in exchange for states adopting the policies he wants them to have.”

But education officials in the states that received waivers expressed relief from the pressure of the looming 2014 deadline.

“There was a general feeling that there were these goals that no one was ever going to meet,” said Kelli Gauthier, spokeswoman for the Tennessee Department of Education. “Now we have standards that are possible.”

Instead of labeling all struggling schools as failing, the waivers direct states to focus most attention on the bottom 5 percent of low-performing schools. “With the waiver we can focus on those schools that really need a lot of help,” said June Atkinson, North Carolina’s state superintendent of public schools.

One of the most practical effects is that waivers will remove many schools from being branded with the tag that they had failed to make what the law deemed “adequate yearly progress” in getting more students to pass standardized tests.

Across the country, nearly half of all schools missed their targets under No Child Left Behind in the 2010-11 school year.

In some states, the rate was much higher. In Massachusetts, for example, 80 percent of schools did not make adequate progress during that school year, and in Virginia, the figure was 61 percent.

Charles Pyle, spokesman for the Virginia Department of Education, said that in some cases, schools that had improved test performance still failed to meet federal goals. “The idea that 6 out of 10 Virginia schools are failing is preposterous,” Mr. Pyle said.

But critics say putting a priority only on the lowest-performing schools will let too many others off the hook, especially those that serve minority students, poor children or high populations of students with special needs.

“Are we saying all the schools are good except for 5 percent?” asked Margaret Spellings, education secretary under President George W. Bush, who now oversees education policy for the United States Chamber of Commerce. “I just don’t get it.”

The administration said all schools would be required to show yearly improvement. “To label an improving school a failure is the worst thing you can do,” Mr. Duncan said. “If they’re doing the hard work to get better, it’s like, ‘Why are we killing ourselves to improve if we’re going to get slapped in the face for it?’ ”

The waivers also free up about $2 billion in annual federal funding that No Child Left Behind required low-performing schools to use either to transfer students to other schools or for tutoring services.

Maria Campanario, interim principal at Rafael Hernández School, a dual-language kindergarten-to-Grade 8 school in Roxbury, a Boston neighborhood, that has missed its federal targets four years running, said parents were often confused by the offer to transfer to another school.

“I have parents who come in who are English-language learners, and they would say: ‘What does this mean, we can go to another school? You don’t want us to be here?’ ” she said. “They would say, ‘But we like the school and think it’s fine.’ ”

Ms. Campanario said she welcomed the discretion to use the funding for “professional development that is going to support the whole school.”

“If you give me that money,” she said, “ I will put it to excellent use.”


Sources: AP, NY Times, Youtube

Chris Cobitz, Charlotte Schools NCLB Testing "Guru" Resigns After Lying About Student Progress

Cobitz resigns after CMS data error


Chris Cobitz, the administrator in charge of school progress reports at Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools, has resigned in the wake of erroneous information about students on track to graduate.

"It is better for the children of Mecklenburg County when the public does not have reason to doubt the accuracy of reports made," Cobitz said in an email Tuesday night. "Recent events could cause the public to question future reports from my office. I take responsibility for any inaccurate data that was released."

Cobitz, executive director for federal and state programs, makes $101,839 a year. His resignation is effective Feb. 7.

Last week CMS published school progress reports that showed virtually all students were labeled "anticipated to graduate on time," a new measure based on the percent of students who have never been held back a grade.

Cobitz and Chief Information Officer Scott Muri, who took over the accountability department when Robert Avossa left to head a Georgia school district, originally said the numbers were counterintuitive but correct.

However, after repeated questions from the Observer, Cobitz realized the numbers that had been published were different from the actual calculations. The published numbers showed 98 percent of all CMS high school students on track to graduate on time. The actual calculation was 75 percent, close to the four-year graduation rate of 74 percent. No one has explained where the erroneous numbers came from or what they represent.

On Friday, interim Superintendent Hugh Hattabaugh notified the school board that school progress had been taken off the CMS website because "several issues of data accuracy have come to light." He said the reports will be reposted Feb. 3 after a full audit.

The progress reports, which tally data on student performance, teachers qualifications, parent involvement and other measures, are part of an effort launched by former Superintendent Peter Gorman and the school board to use data to inform families and shape school improvement efforts. When CMS was awarded the 2011 Broad Prize for Urban Education, "the district's intense approach to data-based decision-making" was one of the strengths cited.

Cobitz came to CMS in 2007 from the N.C. Department of Public Instruction. He earned state and national recognition for his work, but also came under fire from teachers and families for his role in an expanded testing program that debuted last spring.


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Sources: Charlotte-Meck. Schools, McClatchy Newspapers, Zimbio, WCNC, Google Maps

No Child Left Behind Created Huge Racial Academic Achievement Gap: Obama Offers Waivers

Overriding a Key Education Law

Secretary of Education Arne Duncan has announced that he will unilaterally override the centerpiece requirement of the No Child Left Behind school accountability law, that 100 percent of students be proficient in math and reading by 2014.

Mr. Duncan told reporters that he was acting because Congress had failed to rewrite the Bush-era law, which he called a “slow-motion train wreck.” He is waiving the law’s proficiency requirements for states that have adopted their own testing and accountability programs and are making other strides toward better schools, he said.

The administration’s plan amounts to the most sweeping use of executive authority to rewrite federal education law since Washington expanded its involvement in education in the 1960s.

Conservatives said it could inflame relations with Republicans in the House who want to reduce, not expand, the federal footprint in education. But Mr. Duncan and White House officials described their plan as offering crucial relief to state and local educators as the No Child law, which President George W. Bush signed in 2002, comes into increasing conflict with more recent efforts to raise academic standards.

The law made its focus the use of standardized test scores in schools, particularly those serving minority students.

“I can’t overemphasize how loud the outcry is for us to do something right now,” Mr. Duncan told reporters on Friday in a conference call that he said could not be reported until midnight Sunday.

Melody Barnes, director of President Obama’s White House Domestic Policy Council, who joined Mr. Duncan in the announcement, said that all states would be encouraged to apply for waivers from the law’s accountability provisions, but that only states the administration believed were carrying out ambitious school improvement initiatives would get them.

“This is not a pass on accountability,” Ms. Barnes said. “There will be a high bar for states seeking flexibility within the law.”

Under the current law, every school is given the equivalent of a pass-fail report card each year, an evaluation that administration officials say fails to differentiate among chaotic schools in chronic failure, schools that are helping low-scoring students improve, and high-performing suburban schools that nonetheless appear to be neglecting some low-scoring students.

About 38,000 of the nation’s 100,000 public schools fell short of their test-score targets under the federal law last year, and Mr. Duncan has predicted that number would rise to 80,000 this year.

Skeptics said Mr. Duncan’s predictions were exaggerated, but a huge number of schools are falling short under No Child’s school rating system. Eighty-nine percent of Florida’s public schools, for instance, missed federal testing targets, although 58 percent of Florida schools earned an A under the state’s own well-regarded grading system.

When Mr. Duncan sketched an outline of the administration’s waiver plan in June, Representative John Kline, the Minnesota Republican who is chairman of the House education committee, demanded that Mr. Duncan show by what legal authority he would override the federal law. Mr. Duncan responded by citing provisions of the No Child law itself that give the education secretary broad waiver powers.

On Friday, Mr. Kline said in a statement, “I remain concerned that temporary measures instituted by the department, such as conditional waivers, could undermine” efforts by Congress to rewrite the law.

Mr. Kline’s committee has completed three overhaul bills focusing on elimination of federal programs, financial flexibility for states, and charter schools. But the committee has not yet produced bills rewriting the law’s crucial school accountability and teacher effectiveness provisions.

Senator Tom Harkin, the Iowa Democrat who is chairman the Senate education committee, said he understood why Mr. Duncan was pursuing the waiver plan, since “it is undeniable that this Congress faces real challenges reaching bipartisan, bicameral agreement on anything.”

The No Child Left Behind law is the latest version of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, a 1965 law that over the years has become the main federal law on public schools. It has been rewritten in ways that have allowed nearly every president since its original architect, Lyndon B. Johnson, to put his policy stamp on it, usually in the first term. That has eluded President Obama so far, despite his campaign pledges to fix the law’s flaws.

In Friday’s conference call, Mr. Duncan and Ms. Barnes said the Department of Education would issue guidelines next month inviting states to apply for the waivers. For a waiver to be approved, they said, states would need to show that they were adopting higher standards under which high school students were “college- and career-ready” at graduation, were working to improve teacher effectiveness and evaluation systems based on student test scores and other measures, were overhauling the lowest-performing schools, and were adopting locally designed school accountability systems to replace No Child’s pass-fail system.

Those requirements match the criteria the administration used last year in picking winning states in its two-stage Race to the Top grant competition. Ms. Barnes said states would not be competing against one another with their waiver applications. But the similarity irked critics.

“It sounds like they’re trying to do a backdoor Round 3 of Race to the Top, and that’s astonishing,” said Frederick Hess of the American Enterprise Institute. He called Mr. Duncan’s plan “a dramatically broad reading of executive authority.”

The plan appears likely to gain broad support from state education officials, however. More than a dozen states have already asked the department for changes to their No Child school accountability plans, or are about to do so, said Gene Wilhoit, executive director of the Council of Chief State School Officers. “Many states feel that we need major changes in the law, because it’s identifying such an outlandish number of schools that it’s losing credibility,” he said.

The law allowed states to adopt local academic standards and determine their own passing scores on tests after it took effect in 2002. The requirement that 100 percent of students be proficient in math and reading by 2014 encouraged lower standards, which make it easier for more students to score as proficient. Since early 2010, however, more than 40 states have agreed to adopt higher standards, and the 2014 deadline is complicating their efforts, Mr. Duncan said.

In Tennessee, for instance, 91 percent of students scored at or above the proficient level in math under the state’s old standards, but under new, tougher standards adopted recently, the proportion plummeted to 34 percent.

“The current law serves as a disincentive to higher standards, rather than as an incentive,” Mr. Duncan said.



HECK: Time to leave ‘No Child’ law behind

The time has come to repeal the president’s signature legislative accomplishment. The monstrous bureaucracy that was created by this thousand-page beast is unproductive, mismanaged and an onerous and cumbersome weight on the innovative designs of creative professionals.

Incidentally, for those who might be mistaken, I’m not referring to President Obama’s unconstitutional health care takeover, though I’m all for repeal of that as well. No, the marshy swamp of big-government micromanagement to which I refer is President George W. Bush’s signature law, the No Child Left Behind Act.

For starters, though enacted and championed by a Republican president, this piece of legislation is about as far from conservative policy as you can get. It is a massive intrusion of the federal government into an area (education) that the Constitution gives the feds absolutely no authority over whatsoever. As a general rule of thumb when evaluating a law, if it was authored by the Senate’s “liberal lion,” the late Edward M. Kennedy, and received more votes from House Democrats than Republicans, it’s safe to assume that it’s not overly bathed in conservative ideology.

But more pressing than properly identifying the ideology that spawned it, No Child Left Behind is not working. To those who have studied the 1,100 page law, that comes as no surprise. The policy hinges around a measurement gimmick known as “Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP).” In order to meet AYP, a school must show that a larger percentage of its students are “proficient” at reading and math than were “proficient” the year before. But after establishing harsh penalties for failure to meet AYP and tying federal education dollars to success, the law allows states to establish their own definitions of what “proficient” means.

It’s not tough to figure out how to beat the system, is it? The lower you set your proficiency bar, the better you look when the results come in. This is exactly what the New York Times described as happening in South Carolina:

“In South Carolina, about 81 percent of elementary and middle schools missed targets in 2008,” they reported. “The state legislature responded by reducing the level of achievement defined as proficient, and the next year the proportion of South Carolina schools missing targets dropped to 41 percent.” In other words, kids are scoring just as bad or worse on tests, but states are demonstrating impressive gains in proficiency.

If that temptation to lower expectations in order to receive more money hasn’t dawned on state lawmakers yet, it soon will. President Obama’s education secretary Arne Duncan is predicting that more than 80 percent of the country’s schools will fail to meet their AYP this year.

It has become clear that this law accomplishes nothing more than challenging state lawmakers and government bureaucrats to come up with innovative ways to manipulate numbers so that it appears we’re making progress. All the while, more and more children are left behind.

Believe it or not, Mr. Duncan seems to have a grasp on this problem, complaining that the No Child Left Behind law is, “forcing districts into one-size-fits-all solutions that just don’t work.” Though no one could accuse Mr. Duncan of being on the political right, his observation is exactly why conservatives have long believed in abolishing the Department of Education and returning pedagogical decisions to where the Founders intended them: the states and local communities.

Some on the right, like commentator and columnist George Will, are worried that moving in that direction will hand too much control to teachers’ unions. “Most school boards are elected, often in stand-alone elections in which turnout is low and the unions’ organization prevails,” he writes. If that is the result of returning sovereignty over educational issues to where it belongs, I say so be it.

The truth is that local teachers’ associations should not be feared or resisted like the national unions since they aren’t governed by rigid dogma or an aggressive political agenda, but by a collection of concerned teachers who have a vested interest in the well-being of their school and the children who are entrusted to their care.

Teachers are professionals who don’t need nationally elected lawyers and businessmen from California telling them the best way to get the most from their students in Connecticut. It’s time to start treating them that way - something “No Child” with its federal mandates, confusing guidelines, intimidation tactics, creativity-stifling measures and inflexible directives certainly doesn’t do.

Schools are different entities than businesses and corporations and pretending otherwise in our legislation only ensures more failure. If we truly desire to leave no child behind, it’s past time to get the federal government out of the education business and empower those who care most about that child’s success: parents and local communities.


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Sources: NY Times, PBS News, Think Progress, Washington Times, White House, Wikipedia, Youtube, Google Maps

Atlanta Schools Cheating Scandal Reveals "No Child Left Behind" Failures

Recent News Of The Atlanta Schools's Cheating Scandal Is Another Reason Why Both Congress & The Obama Administration Needs To Either Eliminate Or Completely Reform George W. Bush's Sorry "No Child Left Behind" Program.

Bush's "No Child Left Behind" Program Doesn't Really Help Students, Nor Teachers.

It Only Perpetuates Cheating On Tests By Forcing Students To Pass Tests For The Sole Purpose Of States To Receive Federal Dollars.

Its A Waste, Not Conducive To Students' Learning Environments & A Hinderance To Progress In The Public School Education System.

On The Other Hand, Republican Governors Like Sonny Perdue (Ga) Need To STOP Cutting Funding For Public Schools Located In Low Income School Districts.

Those Students Need To Experience Academic Success Just Like Students Who Reside In The Suburbs.

Repeal NO CHILD LEFT BEHIND Or Completely Reform It!

If This Program Is Not Really Conducive To Learning Why Continue To Use It?

Its A Failure! Repeal It Or Completely Reform It!

By The Way After Pres. Obama Is Re-elected, It Wouldn't Hurt For Him To Consider Hiring Dr. Michelle Rhee As His New Education Secretary.

I Think She Would Be More Effective Anyway.

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Atlanta Public Schools Shaken By Cheating Report

Georgia Gov. Nathan Deal announced Tuesday that widespread cheating inflated Atlanta Public Schools' 2009 state standardized tests scores.

The product of a two-year investigation, the report concluded that systematic cheating occurred within Atlanta Public Schools -- which had been lauded for its quick testing gains -- including at least 44 of the 56 examined schools. The report implicated 38 principals, noting that 178 educators pled the Fifth Amendment when questioned. Eighty-two other educators confessed to various forms of cheating, including erasing wrong answers on students' multiple choice exams and then replacing them with the correct ones.

"The 2009 CRCT [test] statistics are overwhelming and allow for no conclusion other than widespread cheating," a summary of the report circulated by the governor's office said.

The cheating can be traced back to as early as 2001, the report found. It detailed how warnings of cheating in late 2005 were ignored and how the school system destroyed documents and provided false statements to hide wrongdoing.

"In a statewide erasure analysis ... the Atlantic Public School system test results demonstrated a pattern of wrong to right changes, evidencing that these changes did not occur in a valid testing environment," Gov. Nathan Deal said at a Tuesday press conference.

"We share a common resolve to address these problems ... so this dark cloud will not continue to hang over the system, the city and the state," he continued.

Deal forwarded the report to several officials to determine whether its conclusions warrant the filing of criminal charges. The report also illuminated painful consequences for APS students: Because the cheating inflated their scores, causing thousands to miss out on remedial education.

Reports of cheating on standardized tests with the goal of bolstered performance have increased in frequency in recent years, according to Robert Schaeffer, public education director of the National Center for Fair & Open Testing. Schaeffer, who has tracked such revelations, noted in the past only a few reports surfaced each year, but now several appear weekly.

"The number of confirmed reports of score manipulation has exploded," he said.

Whether the growth is because of better reporting or simply more cheating is unclear. Still, Schaeffer and others say the pressures placed on teachers by policies that stress standardized test scores -- such as No Child Left Behind -- foster an environment ripe for cheating.

"Cheating was caused by a number of factors but primarily by the pressure to meet targets in the data-driven environment," according to the report's summary. "A culture of fear, intimidation and retaliation existed in APS, which created a conspiracy of silence and deniability with respect to standardized test misconduct."

"School districts don’t have incentives for policing themselves. Their reputations depend on a steady rise in performance that accountability mandates of NCLB require," said Aaron Pallas, a professor at Columbia University's Teachers College.

And with about 15 states preparing to tie test scores to teacher evaluations after a nationwide legislative push toward test-based accountability, Schaeffer said, the pressure is only bound to increase. "We know that the more pressure it's brought to bear, the more people crack," Schaeffer said.

Still, the cheating exposed in Atlanta, he said, is more pervasive and widespread than any he'd seen before.

"The size and scope based on the number of names in the Georgia report appears to be significantly larger than anything before," he said.

THE ATLANTA STORY

Investigators spent more than two years looking into much-lauded gains on 2009's state standardized tests after questions about "statistically improbable" test score increases were first raised by the Atlanta-Journal Constitution.

An initial report was deemed superficial, with one high-ranking official saying her testimony had been edited to soften the blow.

Then-Governor Sonny Perdue ordered a new report, this time with the help of Georgia's equivalent of the FBI.

When Deal took office, he allowed the investigation to continue -- and received its results last week. In his Tuesday press conference, Deal told reporters that "there will be consequences" for those implicated by the report.

The report itself was not released to the media, though officials gave the Atlanta Journal Constitution an early look at the document.

According to the AJC, the investigators concluded that APS chief Beverly Hall -- who retired recently after serving the full length of her term despite the investigation -- "knew or should have known" about the cheating. Hall led Atlanta's troubled schools for 12 years, leading to her being named "Superintendent of the Year" in 2009.

"I was really disappointed," said Diane Ravitch, a New York University education historian and former U.S. Assistant Secretary of Education who has since become a critic of what she sees as the corporatization of education policy. "I had thought that Beverly Hall was one of our best superintendents, that she was the real deal."

The report criticizes a culture of cheating, fear and retaliation. According to the AJC, it also chronicles the lack of cooperation by officials in the investigation. It alleges that school administrators tampered with the investigation and tried to avoid taking blame for the mess.

AJC education blogger Maureen Downey spelled out what she saw as the motivations for the drawn-out cheating episode:

I think some of their motivation was less self-serving; they wanted to fulfill Dr. Hall’s vision that low-income children from single parent homes and tough neighborhoods could and would succeed at levels comparable to suburban Atlanta peers.

CHEATING ACROSS THE COUNTRY

Atlanta is not alone in allegedly gaming its numbers. Schaeffer said cheating headlines have popped up in the last month alone from Baltimore, Norfolk, Va., Philadelphia, Washington, D.C., and Florida.

In June, Andrés Alonso, CEO of Baltimore's schools, announced that evidence of cheating had been found at two elementary schools over the last two years. He accompanied the announcement with a promise that the 2011 standardized tests
would be the most "extraordinarily transparent set of scores of any urban district in America."

Shortly afterwards, U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan addressed cheating in a letter to state superintendents of education. Duncan wrote:

I am writing to urge you to do everything you can to ensure the integrity of the data used to measure student achievement and ensure meaningful educational accountability in your State. As I’m sure you know, even the hint of testing irregularities and misconduct in the test administration process could call into question school reform efforts and undermine the State accountability systems that you have painstakingly built over the past decade.

Representatives from Duncan's office said they would let the letter speak for itself in light of the Georgia incident.

While Congress struggles to overhaul No Child Left Behind, it might embed more provisions for monitoring tests. But Pallas said states might see this as yet another unfunded mandate.

Besides, Schaeffer said, more policing doesn’t always work.

"It's like trying to enforce marijuana laws," he said. "The more security personnel you add, the further underground cheating gets."

Standardized tests are easy to game, he added. "There are simply too many places in the process where people touch the test or have the opportunity to manipulate scores," he said.

"I've never seen so many cheating scandals as there have been in the last few years," Ravitch said. "As we get closer to this deadline of [100% proficiency under NCLB by] 2014, it's not surprising that there are schools and districts where these things happen again and again."


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Sources: AP, AJC.com, 11alive.com, Huffington Post, MSNBC, Wikipedia, Youtube, Google Maps

Charlotte's White Parents Leaving CMS, Don't Want Diversity

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Flight from CMS?


During the recent round of Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools student assignment talks, "white flight," "bright flight" and CMS's "market share" came up.

Every summer, I get tips that people are fleeing CMS in droves because of something the district has done wrong ("bright flight," the trendy term, refers to the notion that it's not just white families who opt out). At the same time, others assure me that students are flocking back to public schools because of something CMS has done right -- or, more recently, because the recession is making it tougher to afford private school.

Some neighborhoods or schools may see shifts in any given year, but overall, CMS's market share seems to be holding pretty steady at just over 80 percent of Mecklenburg's school-age kids.

That's a rough estimate calculated from CMS's official enrollment tally (133,664 last year) and the tallies of private, charter and home-schooled kids kept by the state. It's not a perfect measure; some reports are slow to update, and students can cross county lines for private and charter schools. But I come up with 81 percent in CMS for 2009-10, 11 percent in private schools and 4 percent each in charter and home schools.

The U.S. Census Bureau lists 85 percent of Mecklenburg kids in public schools (that would include charters) and 15 percent in private. That, too, is an estimate based on a 2008 sampling that includes a significant margin of error.

Update at 12:30 p.m.

I had noted in the original post that Superintendent Peter Gorman told the school board that the 2010 census will provide better details about who's opting in or out of CMS. He probably based that assumption on data that came from the 2000 census; I, too, had been looking forward to getting detailed breakdowns for this year. But as a commenter pointed out and a Census Bureau spokesman confirms, this year's census did not include the "long form" that asked more detailed questions of many households in 2000. Because of that, information about public and private choices will continue to come only from the American Community Survey sampling cited above.

Meanwhile, board member Tim Morgan made an interesting observation: A focus on winning back families who have chosen private or charter schools might drive a different approach to student assignment than focusing on equity and student achievement, the priorities the board ranked highest.

The board didn't explore his comment in any depth. But I suspect that's exactly the kind of deeper thought and analysis that looms when the assignment talks resume July 20.

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Charlotte Schools Block Black Kids From Attending AP Classes


Students in Charlotte-Mecklenburg's high-poverty schools face an "opportunity gap" in access to college-level classes, says a report from a citizen advisory panel being presented today.

Students at several low-poverty suburban schools can choose from more than 20 Advanced Placement subjects this school year, while students at four high-poverty schools have fewer than 10, the report says.

The Equity Committee, appointed by the school board, spent the past year looking at Advanced Placement along with services for students who don't speak English well. The recommendations, designed to boost equal opportunity, are likely to clash with budget-cutting plans.

For instance, the panel recommends that Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools do more to increase AP offerings at the high-poverty schools, where most students are Black or Hispanic. The panel also calls for more minority enrollment in AP courses at all schools. But a consultant advising CMS on the likelihood of budget cuts for 2010-11 has suggested cutting some AP classes with low enrollment to focus on boosting basic skills.

"We're just in challenging times right now," said board Vice Chair Tom Tate. "I think that the board is going to have some pretty interesting debate on this."

AP Challenge

AP offerings range from 25 subjects at South Mecklenburg High to seven at Waddell, the report says. Even at schools such as Mallard Creek High and Northwest School of the Arts, which have large numbers of middle-class black students, AP classes are disproportionately white.

Taking AP classes can help students get into competitive universities, and students who earn high scores on the exams can get college credit. "The lack of a diverse range of core and elective AP courses at all schools raises serious equity concerns," the report says.

CMS offers other college-level options, including classes hosted by Central Piedmont Community College and advanced classes in International Baccalaureate magnets. The report did not look at those.

High-poverty high schools tend to have lower enrollments and more students struggling to meet graduation requirements, both of which can make it challenging to fill AP classes. For instance, Waddell offered 10 options on its "enrollment card" last winter but ended up only teaching seven, the report says.

But those schools also have successful college-bound students. The equity panel recommends offering a set number of AP courses at each school, even if enrollment is low, and urges schools to "actively recruit and place students in those courses."

The report says white students make up 37 percent of CMS's high-school students but account for 62 percent those taking of AP exams. Minority students may be hindered by home support, peer culture or low expectations in lower grades, the report says. Recommendations range from recruiting AP teachers "of various ethnic backgrounds" to "cluster(ing) students of racial groups in AP courses in order to provide peer support."

Language Barrier

On students with limited English skills, the report notes that some schools have so many that students may not be immersed in spoken English, while others have so few that it's tough to provide adequate staff support for kids and families.

CMS has eliminated jobs for bilingual parent advocates, even as the number of students whose families speak Spanish and other languages has grown. The committee recommends restoring those jobs at schools with large numbers of families who need translation, noting that parent involvement is essential to student success.

The report describes a visit to Merry Oaks Elementary, where 19 languages are spoken, most children come from low-income homes, and some students "not only don't speak English but may not have any experience with indoor bathrooms or electricity." Committee members saw a woman arrive to enroll a young child, who did most of the translating between his mother and the school secretary. Two hours later, the child and his mother "were still trying to navigate the enrollment process," it says.

The report urges CMS to make sure schools make better use of available translation services and make it easier for families without cars to get to the Family Application Center south of uptown, where international students must register. City buses used to run along that road, the report says, but no longer do.



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Sources: McClatchy Newspapers, MSNBC, WCNC, Google Maps

Peter Gorman Uses Fear Tactics, Media To Keep Charlotte Schools Segregated

Dr. Peter Gorman was hired in 2006 as Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools' Superintendent.

Since coming onboard he has worked diligently behind the scenes to Re-segregate Charlotte's Public School system.

All of the De-Segregation efforts established by previous CMS Superintendents (Dr. Elmer Garinger , Dr. A. Craig Phillips, Dr. William Self, Dr. Rolland Jones, Dr. Jay Robinson, Dr. Peter Relic, Dr. John Murphy, Dr. Eric Smith, Dr. James L. Pughsley, Dr. Frances Haithcock) have basically been destroyed by Gorman.

Well now he's using Charlotte's local Media (WBTV, WCNC, WSOC, Charlotte Observer) to do his dirty work in the form of Racial Fear Tactics and Twisted Educational Propaganda.

He's claiming a Harvard University Study states Educators with Advanced Degrees doesn't really matter as it relates to Teacher Effectiveness.

WTF??

Even though Dr. Gorman and his Administrators have previously demanded Charlotte-Mecklenburg Teachers earn Advanced Degrees (Master's & National Board Certification) in order to basically keep their jobs.

Even though Dr. Gorman has previously bragged about the number of Charlotte Teachers who possess Advanced Degrees.

Suddenly because President Obama has proposed changing the No Child Left Behind Act law, Peter Gorman cries wolf with this "Teachers with Advanced Degrees don't make a difference in Education" tall tale.

While its true Advanced Degrees can't turn someone into a real Teacher (from the heart), Advanced Degrees do impact Teacher Effectiveness and Classroom Performance because Knowledge is Power.

This is obviously Dr. Gorman's way of NOT complying with Pres. Obama's Educational Reform changes.

Why?

He simply doesn't want Minority Students to receive an Equal Education comparable to White Students.

He's on an assigned mission to send more Southern White Students to College then Southern Black Students.

Thus he wants Minority Students to continue underachieving so CMS can secure Federal Money and than use that money on White Students.

(Dr. Peter Gorman is the same man Arne Duncan wanted to hire last year to help improve Public Schools nationwide. Can you believe it?)

What's even more amazing is how the local NAACP, Charlotte Meck. School Board, Charlotte Meck. County Board of Commissioners, Charlotte City Council Members and Black Leaders have assisted Dr. Gorman in his deviant, divisive quest to further disadvantage Charlotte's Minority Students.

But Wait!

Whose mission and scheme to fraud the Federal Government is Dr. Peter Gorman carrying out in order to remain employed and continue in his role?

Gov Bev Perdue, Jennifer Roberts (Democrat) and the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Board of County Commissioners!

That's right because they hold Charlotte's purse strings.

Since Jennifer Roberts is the Chairperson, she along with Gov. Bev Perdue (her political "partner in crime") are both Guilty of disenfranchising Charlotte's Minority Students as it relates to them receiving an Equal Education.

After all the more Minority Students who drop out of school, Gov. Perdue & Jennifer Roberts can then procure additional Federal Funding to waste and build Jails to later house them.

Jennifer Roberts may attempt to spin a fake story about "Budget Cuts" to cover up her race-based malfeasance but don't believe her.

In 2008 Jennifer Roberts allowed Charlotte-Meck's County Manager (Harry Jones) to create an unnecessary DSS job (during a Hiring Freeze) for his fellow Church Member and the wife of our current Mayor Anthony Foxx.

This woman was paid a salary of $100,000 and worked on this job for little over a entire year.

If Charlotte were truly hurting for money why did Jennifer Roberts allow this unnecessary job to be created?

As you can see Jennifer appears to have no problem using Federal and Taxpayer Dollars to grant Political Favors but when it comes to educating Minority students, she often intentionally falls short.

Just in case you weren't aware, Jennifer Roberts is an Educator within the UNC System.

However I guess helping to ensure Minority Children receive an Equal education comparable to White Students isn't on her agenda. (Hypocrite!)


Now check out how Dr. Peter Gorman's Charlotte-Meck. Public Schools Re-segregation Strategies work:


1) Eliminate School Choice thus only allowing Low Income Minority Students to attend Failing/ Low Performing schools in their communities. This includes eliminating ALL Magnet School Transportation.

2) Place the least experienced Teachers in those Failing Schools.

3) Keep Minority Students (mainly African-Americans) out of Gifted and AP programs. Also cut funding for Fine Arts courses from Failing/ Low Performing schools.

4) Put Pre-School and Kindergarten level Software in the Technology Labs of Failing/ Low Performing Schools so Minority Students won't become Computer Literate or master Technology Skills

5) Encourage Principals and Staff to INTENTIONALLY keep as many Minority Students (mainly African-Americans) below Grade level as possible in order to continue receiving Federal Title 1 money.

6) If a Principal in an Failing/ Low Performing School is doing "too good" of a job educating those Minority Students, move that Principal out and put in someone with much Lower Standards for Minority Students.

7) Steal Money from Charlotte's Charter Schools and fight against Charter Schools.

8) Use Federal Title 1 Funding and money stolen from Charlotte Charter Schools money to invest in Public schools located within Wealthy, Pre-dominantly White Communities.

9) Assign the Most Experienced, Brightest Teachers to schools located in Wealthy, Pre-dominantly White Communities.

10) Illegally Fire Teachers from Failing/ Low Performing Schools (Title 1) in order to save and secure funding for Teachers assigned to CMS Schools in Wealthy, Pre-dominantly White Communities.

(Reminder: Evidence and Data to substantiate this post can be obtained from CMS, N.C. Dept of Ed., U.S. Dept of Ed., etc., via the Freedom of Information Act.)


Will the Obama Administration and Mainstream Media continue to ignore this crisis?

How many more Minority Students in North Carolina must suffer while N.C. Politicians and Educators waste Federal Funds or use Federal Funds to ONLY Educate White Students?

Inquiring minds would like to know!







Dr. Peter Gorman Says Advanced Degrees Don't Make The Grade


Some teachers with advanced degrees are not making the grade in many classrooms across the Charlotte Mecklenburg School district.

According to CMS Superintendent Peter Gorman, new research indicates that a teacher's advanced degree doesn't necessarily correlate with academic achievement in the classroom.

Researchers at Harvard University's Center for Educational Policy Research have been tracking teachers for the past year. They will unveil their findings to CMS board members Tuesday night.

It appears there is some resistance before the reveal.

The Charlotte - Mecklenburg Association of Educators (CMAE) is now accusing the district of flip-flopping.

"At one point you wanted us to get the masters," CMAE President Mary McCray said. "Now that we got them, now you're saying it's not making a difference."

Currently there are about 9,000 CMS teachers and more than 3,000 of them have advanced degrees.

This new report comes when the district says test scores are up and nearly every CMS school experienced academic progress. McCray questions how can that be if none of the 3,000 teachers with advanced degrees did not help?

"Somebody is making a difference," McCray told WBTV. "And it wasn't just all beginning teachers."

Superintendent Peter Gorman told us back in December research showed CMS students don't benefit from a teacher with a masters degree.

The district will use the research for recruitment, evaluation, and for shifting CMS to a pay for performance school district.












CMS Seeks To Cut Magnet School Busing


A potential $82.5 million shortfall could mean hundreds of layoffs, shuttered schools, and the end of bus service for some students, according to information presented Wednesday to the Charlotte-Mecklenburg School Board.

Superintendent Peter Gorman said the details were meant to prepare school leaders for possible funding scenarios over the next few months.

The district will not know its full financial picture until Mecklenburg leaders and state lawmakers finalize their budgets, including the allocation to public schools.

As many as 880 employees, including 658 teachers, could be laid off if CMS receives 3% less in funding from the state and county next year, Gorman said.

CMS leaders could also consider closing three schools, delaying the opening of two new high schools which are scheduled to open in the fall, and ending bus transportation for students who attend magnet schools.

School board member Trent Merchant suggested parents of magnet school students could be asked to pay for bus transportation.

"If we are not getting revenue from our traditional sources, state, county, and federal government, then maybe some of it needs to come from parents who choose to put their children in those programs," Merchant told NewsChannel 36.

The amount charged for transportation could be based on a tiered system, he said, based on a family's ability to pay the fee.

Gorman said staff would need to research Merchant's suggestion, including possible legal issues surrounding a transportation surcharge.

A best-case scenario presented to the CMS board would result in 124 layoffs, largely from the district's administration and transportation departments.



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Sources: MSNBC, Firedoglake, WBTV, WCNC, WRAL, McClatchy Newspapers, U.S. Dept of Education, Whitehouse.gov, Recovery.gov, Youtube, Google Maps

Obama Pushes Reform For America's 2nd Class, Racist Education System

Obama Prods States To Raise Academic Standards



President Barack Obama prodded states Monday to raise their school standards by using his best leverage: money.

Obama told governors he wants a change in law that would allow states to receive federal aid for poor students only if they adopt academic standards that are deemed to truly prepare children for college or careers out of high school.

The move would require a change in the nation's main elementary and secondary education law, which became known as the No Child Left Behind Act during the presidency of George W. Bush.

Traditionally, the federal government is a marginal player in the financing and control of education, but its role has expanded as educators and lawmakers at all levels worry about slipping U.S. competitiveness.

Many schools count on a key source of Federal aid, known as Title I, to help out their poorest students. That's the money that Obama wants to make contingent upon the setting of more rigorous standards across the nation. It would remain up to states, not Washington, to choose their specific standards.

Many states are already working on a united effort to coordinate and improve their standards.

Yet Obama took a swipe at how some states responded to this challenge under No Child Left Behind, saying 11 states lowered their standards in math between 2005 and 2007.

"That may make those states look better relative to other states," Obama said, "but it's not going to help our students keep up with their global competitors."

Obama spoke to governors of both parties during their yearly gathering with the president at the White House.

The White House said the Governors have been working on the president's Race to the Top program, which rewards school systems that raise standards and demonstrate commitment through tougher student assessments.

At the same time, the White House said that too many states are churning out graduates who are unprepared either for college or career.

In addition to supporting ongoing state efforts, the White House said the president will commit an additional $350 million to the Race to the Top challenge to back "state-led partnerships to develop new, state-of-the art assessments aligned to college and career-ready standards."

According to the White House, the president's 2011 budget will call for the Re-Authorization of the 1994 version of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, which would require states to meet six tough standards to help high school graduates prepare for college or jobs. The White House said schools need to focus on better teacher preparation, improved teaching and tougher student assessments.

The Elementary and Secondary Education Act was first passed in 1965 and has been routinely re-authorized every five years. Under the measure, federal money is sent to the states to pay for teacher development, instructional materials, educational resources and promotion of parental involvement.

Obama's Re-Authorization would:

—Require the states to adopt and certify that they have college-and career-ready standards in Reading and Mathematics" to be eligible for the federal money.

—Establish a $405 million outlay to help states "align teacher preparation practices and programs to teaching of college- and career-ready standards."

—Provide grants totaling $400 million to states that adopt tougher student assessment programs.

—Dedicate $1.35 billion to the Race to the Top program in addition to stimulus money for the program.

—Allot $2.5 billion in the 2011 budget to a state grant program to support better teaching and leadership in the schools.





Layoffs Loom For Teachers: Education Secretary


Many teachers and educators across the United States are at risk of losing their jobs in the next few months, the nation's education secretary told a meeting of the National Governors Association on Sunday.

"I am very, very concerned about layoffs going into the next school year starting in September. Good superintendents are going to start sending out pink slips in March and April, like a month from now, as they start to plan for their budgets," said Arne Duncan, referring to the slips of paper included in some paychecks to notify a person of being fired.

As tax revenues in most states continue to plummet because of weak economies, states and cities are considering cutting education to keep their budgets balanced. Every state in the union except one, Vermont, is required to balance its budget.

The economic stimulus package, pushed last year by the administration of President Barack Obama and approved by Congress saved at least 320,000 education jobs, Duncan told the governors.

The plan included the largest transfer of money from the U.S. government to states in the nation's history, according to the Pew Center on the States.

It created a stabilization fund of $48 billion that provided cash directly to states, mostly for schools. But those funds will likely run out before the end of the year.

Last week, Obama warned of the possibility of layoffs in state governments when the stimulus ends.

Late on Sunday, the White House announced that it will put $350 million into new competitive grants states can use to develop educational standards designed to prepare students for college.

Meanwhile, Duncan said the $1.5 billion "Race to the Top" grants included in the stimulus plan are on track to be distributed soon, with the finalists for the grants announced next week.

Obama has proposed extending the program, as well as expanding it by $3 billion, to fund new education innovations, especially at semi-autonomous charter schools.

The administration will also send out school improvement grants to states next month totaling $3.5 billion, Duncan said.

Employment is one of the most pressing issues in the United States, where the unemployment rate stands at 9.7 percent. The secretary, formerly the chief executive officer of Chicago Public Schools, said there was some hope for educators in jobs legislation passed by the House of Representatives and is pending in the Senate.

Duncan also said a bill known as the Student Aid and Fiscal Responsibility Act passed by the House would boost funding for colleges and universities.

In January, there were 8.03 million workers in local government education, down from 8.09 million a year before and 8.05 million in January 2008, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.











Obama's Stimulus Success Rate A Fallacy For North Carolina Teachers


Do you really believe Pres. Obama's Stimulus plan has created or saved jobs?

Well.....

Here is further proof the Stimulus success rate was a lie fabricated by the Mainstream Media and that it did NOT save Teaching Jobs in North Carolina.

Last year after Pres. Obama signed the Recovery Act into law he dished out $8.1B to North Carolina Governor Bev Perdue (Democrat).

After gladly accepting it what did Gov. Perdue do with her state's share?

Due to North Carolina's $4B plus deficit caused by previous Wasteful Democrat Spending and Corruption, she appears to have helped balance the state's budget.

Where's the rest of it?

North Carolina citizens have no idea.

Just like we don't know where hundreds of millions in N.C. Education Lottery money went. (We guess it just disappeared into thin air.)

Instead of saving Teacher Jobs Gov. Perdue ordered North Carolina Public School Superintendents to slash millions in Educational funding, not excluding Teachers. Especially Teachers working in Low Income schools.

The result?

Thousands of North Carolina Teachers lost their jobs.

Many of them were Fired ILLEGALLY and appealed to get their jobs back.

(Evidence and Data to substantiate this post can be obtained from CMS, N.C. Dept of Ed., U.S. Dept of Ed., etc., via the Freedom of Information Act.)

What has the Obama Administration done to stop this unjust travesty? ?

NOTHING!

Why?

He obviously hopes to win North Carolina again in 2012, so he is basically selling out North Carolina Teachers and Minority Students for Political Gain. ("Pay for Play")

Did the Mainstream Media report any of this?

NO!

They refused to because they didn't want Pres. Obama to appear as a Liar or Incompetent.

Please know those N.C. Teachers were NOT laid-off for Poor Performance reasons.

To the contrary because they were all Certified, some National Board Certified and most possessed Master Degrees.

In addition about 97% of them had previously received Excellent Evaluations.

They were laid-off because Gov. Bev Perdue used the Stimulus money to her discretion (personal political gain) and due to obvious Racism (just review her past & present policies), it didn't matter if Minority students failed because of unnecessary Teacher lay-offs.

You see the more Minority Students drop out of school and commit crimes, the more Minority citizens she can help imprison in North Carolina Prisons for LIFE!

Even if they commit Non-Homicidal, Non Drug Related Crimes.

Well this year Gov. Bev Perdue is planning to do the exact, same thing. (Fire Teachers unnecessarily)

Thousands more North Carolina Teachers are expected to lose their jobs before August 2010.

Does anyone care?

It doesn't look like it.

In fact more Teacher Lay-offs are currently in the planning stages for many, many Charlotte-Mecklenburg Teachers.

I'm about to expose another prime example of how the Stimulus plan isn't working well in North Carolina and how N.C. Politicians/ N.C. Education Officials are using this Recession as an excuse NOT to educate Minority Students.

Ever since Dr. Peter Gorman was hired in 2006 as Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools' Superintendent, he has worked diligently behind the scenes to Re-segregate Charlotte's Public School system.

All of the De-Segregation efforts established by previous CMS Superintendents (Dr. Elmer Garinger , Dr. A. Craig Phillips, Dr. William Self, Dr. Rolland Jones, Dr. Jay Robinson, Dr. Peter Relic, Dr. John Murphy, Dr. Eric Smith, Dr. James L. Pughsley, Dr. Frances Haithcock) have basically been destroyed by Gorman's Racist regime.

(Dr. Peter Gorman is the same man Arne Duncan wanted to hire last year to help improve Public Schools nationwide. Can you believe it?)

What's even more amazing is how the local NAACP, Charlotte Meck. School Board, Charlotte Meck. County Board of Commissioners, Charlotte City Council Members and Black Leaders have assisted Dr. Gorman in his deviant, divisive quest to further disadvantage Charlotte's Minority Students.

But Wait!

Whose mission is Dr. Peter Gorman carrying out in order to remain employed and continue in his role?

Jennifer Roberts (Democrat) and the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Board of County Commissioners!

That's right because they hold Charlotte's purse strings.

Since Jennifer Roberts is the Chairperson, she along with Gov. Bev Perdue (her political "partner in crime") are both Guilty of disenfranchising Charlotte's Minority Students as it relates to them receiving an Equal Education.

Jennifer Roberts may attempt to spin a fake story about "Budget Cuts" to cover up her race-based malfeasance but don't believe her.

In 2008 Jennifer Roberts allowed Charlotte-Meck's County Manager (Harry Jones) to create a unnecessary DSS job (during a Hiring Freeze) for his fellow Church Member and the wife of our current Mayor Anthony Foxx.

This woman was paid a salary of $100,000 and worked on this job for little over a entire year.

If Charlotte was hurting for money than why did Jennifer Roberts allow this unnecessary job to be created?

As you can see Jennifer appears to have no problem using Federal and Taxpayer Dollars to grant Political Favors but when it comes to educating Minority students, she often intentionally falls short.

Just in case you weren't aware, Jennifer Roberts is an Educator within the UNC System.

However I guess helping to ensure Minority Children receive an Equal education comparable to White Students isn't on her agenda. (Hypocrite!)


Now check out how Dr. Peter Gorman's Charlotte-Meck. Public Schools Re-segregation Strategies work:


1) Eliminate School Choice thus only allowing Low Income Minority Students to attend Failing/ Low Performing schools in their communities. This includes eliminating ALL Magnet School Transportation.

2) Place the least experienced Teachers in those Failing Schools.

3) Keep Minority Students (mainly African-Americans) out of Gifted and AP programs. Also cut funding for Fine Arts courses from Failing/ Low Performing schools.

4) Put Pre-School and Kindergarten level Malfunctioning Software in the Technology Labs of Failing/ Low Performing Schools so Minority Students won't become Computer Literate or master Technology Skills

5) Encourage Principals and Staff to INTENTIONALLY keep as many Minority Students (mainly African-Americans) below Grade level as possible in order to continue receiving Federal Title 1 money.

6) If a Principal in an Failing/ Low Performing School is doing "too good" of a job educating those Minority Students, move that Principal out and put in someone with much Lower Standards for Minority Students.

7) Steal Money from Charlotte's Charter Schools and fight against Charter Schools.

8) Use the Federal Title 1 Funding and money stolen from Charlotte Charter Schools money to invest in Public schools located within Wealthy, Pre-dominantly White Communities.

9) Assign the Most Experienced, Brightest Teachers to schools located in Wealthy, Pre-dominantly White Communities.

10) Illegally Fire Teachers from Failing/ Low Performing Schools (Title 1) in order to save and secure funding for Teachers assigned to CMS Schools in Wealthy, Pre-dominantly White Communities.

(Reminder: Evidence and Data to substantiate this post can be obtained from CMS, N.C. Dept of Ed., U.S. Dept of Ed., etc., via the Freedom of Information Act.)


Will the Obama Administration and Mainstream Media continue to ignore this crisis?

How many more Minority Students in North Carolina must suffer while N.C. Politicians and Educators waste Federal Funds or use Federal Funds to ONLY Educate White Students?

Inquiring minds would like to know!


View Larger Map

Sources: MSNBC, McClatchy Newspapers, WRAL, Public Policy Polling, U.S. Dept of Education, Whitehouse.gov, Recovery.gov. John Locke Foundation, Meck Deck Blog, Youtube, Google Maps