December 30th, 2011
09:30 AM ET
Federal government tracking your kids
CNN's Brooke Baldwin talks to Lisa Snell, Director of Education and Child Welfare at the Reason Foundation, about the tracking of children by the U.S. Department of Education.
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What a joke! Of course they are tracking student progress at least in Michigan using DATA DIRECTOR a county based program implimentated in Macomb county, Michigan that teachers input test scores. MLPP (DRA level, fluency, comprehension), ELA assessments, ESL scores and numerous other scores into a countywide database. Funny that I've been teaching for 20 + years and as a young non-tenured teacher 17 years ago I was written up for teaching first graders in leveled reading groups! It's just like profiling, IT WORKS. Sorry but as a Catholic schoolboy we were grouped very early on; the blue birds, the red birds and the DODO birds. Nothing has changed and the old way in the private schools is catching on in any decent public school only 30 years later. Sink or swim kiddies but it's on kids and parents to create success nowadays. Opportunity is everywhere and with minimal effort any regular education child can become quite bright. Any regular education student who drops out or fails is a slug that really just can't be helped due to environmental issues beyond the schools control. I'm all about personal responsibility and challenge parents to check their childs progress weekly. Most districts offer parent portals or if asked any teacher will send home a weekly or daily report to monitor progress. So tired of sorry reasons parents can't be parents.