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Author
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Topic: schools
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Amber
Advanced Member
Member # 41
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posted
Here is a good reason to homeschool your child. You can teach your child to read wonderfully by the age he or she is ready to read, with nothing more than a library card. There are tons of good books and programs to help children read, and NONE are used in public school. The idea that the gov'nt needs to spend millions or even thousands just brings us back to the same thing- parents need to be involved with their children. Nine out of then children who get read to as a small child grow up reading for pleasure. That's a quote from the US Postal Service Reading for Literacy Program last year. I happen to believe that. ![[thumbsup]](graemlins/thumbsup2.gif)
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But if we walk in the light as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin. 1 John 1:7
Posts: 71 | From: South Dakota | Registered: Jun 2002
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Miguel
Advanced Member
Member # 47
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posted
Bush: Help older students read
By Lori Horvitz | Sentinel Staff Writer
Posted September 13, 2002
EDUCATION
SCHOOL INFO
Help your child succeed! GreatSchools.net is your objective source of elementary, middle and high school performance information. See how your child's school was graded by the state of Florida, and compare it with others.
READING BY NINE
For many of Central Florida's 9-year-old children, the words you are now reading are nothing more than letters on a screen. They simply can't read.
That's why Orlando Sentinel Communications has launched an ambitious project called "Reading by Nine." During the next several years, we will follow an innovative team of teachers and monitor their progress. Read more about the Reading by Nine program.
Acknowledging that Florida's struggling schools will be a key issue in this year's gubernatorial race, Gov. Jeb Bush Thursday vowed to greatly expand reading programs for high school and middle school students.
"We stop teaching reading at around fourth grade," Bush said Thursday. "It's not been a high priority, and I'm at least advocating that we expand reading beyond elementary school."
Bush outlined his education goals Tuesday afternoon in Orlando during one of the many campaign stops he made across the state to tout his education reforms. The trip came as state and national attention remained fixed on who was going to win the Democratic primary for governor.
Tampa attorney Bill McBride, who claimed victory over former Attorney General Janet Reno by 8,000 votes, is now searching for a running mate with a strong background in education.
In an effort to bolster his image as the "education governor," Bush brought along an entourage of educators, including two former teachers of the year, a middle-school principal from Tallahassee and Santa Rosa County's superintendent.
Bush also is giving prominent play to his running mate's previous career as an educator, introducing Lt. Gov. Brogan as a former teacher, assistant principal, principal, superintendent and state education commissioner.
Bush and Brogan emphasized their commitment to strengthening reading instruction, particularly to help students in the upper grades. They acknowledged that public universities have to do a better job of training teachers but said the state should also count on private colleges to do the job.
The private colleges "don't have a lot of the same rules and regulations and requirements to deal with, so they . . . can start to make the changes instantly that you want," Brogan said.
Educators have stressed the importance of teaching children to read by age 9. But that means little emphasis was given to helping struggling readers in the upper grades. Many of those students have been promoted, even if they lack the skills.
As a result, thousands of older students who never mastered more than basic reading skills are struggling in schools that have a limited number of reading classes and an acute shortage of well-trained teachers.
The higher failure rate for older students coincides with the drop of reading courses offered in middle and high schools.
Bush said funding from his reading initiatives should allow middle and high schools to add more reading courses.
The governor said the reforms he has already put in place are working, pointing to improved test scores among students during the past four years, including minority and special-needs children. At the same time, however, schools are funneling more black and Hispanic children into special-education classes. The test scores for these students do not count toward a school's state-issued grade.
Bush and Brogan said the only way to stop the practice is to make parents aware of it.
Bush also renewed his attacks on the proposed constitutional amendment to lower class sizes, calling it a budget-busting mandate. If the initiative passes, Bush predicted that Florida is doomed to have the same problems now surfacing in California, which has a class-size reduction plan -- trouble finding qualified teachers and a shortage of classroom space.
Financial analysts for Bush have estimated the costs could run as high as $27.5 billion in the first eight years to build classrooms and hire teachers, with a continuing annual cost of $2.5 billion.
If it passes, Bush said he'll have no choice but to take unpopular steps: "Everybody's going to have their taxes raised, and spending for programs will be cut."
For now, the governor and Brogan are counting on U.S. Sen. Connie Mack to help lead a group called the Coalition to Protect Florida to defeat the amendment.
Polls, though, show the measure is popular with Floridians and is likely to win approval. McBride has said he supports the idea -- putting Bush at the opposite end of public opinion.
The governor's strident opposition to the class-size reduction program counters his strong support for another ballot initiative to provide free preschool to every 4-year-old in Florida by 2005. The state has officially estimated the cost of the program at $425 million to $650 million.
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Romans 9:11-24
Our Eschatology may vary even our Ecclesiology may be disputed among us but our Soteriology most assume a singularity and exclusivity which in biblical term is known as Quote; "The Narrow Way" and Quote!
Posts: 2792 | From: Stockton,Ca | Registered: Jun 2002
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