Tuesday, March 8, 2011

White House Commencement Challenge, no one seems to care?

This is funny, I'll start with the the White House Propaganda Blog

One Week Left to Apply for the Commencement Challenge Posted by Katelyn Sabochik on March 04, 2011 at 12:30 PM EST


The deadline for the Race to the Top Commencement Challenge is just one week away! One lucky high school will have President Obama as a commencement speaker this spring. Could it be your school? The competition is open to public high schools across the country and applying is easy.
To apply, head over to WhiteHouse.gov/Commencement and tell us how your school is preparing students for college and a career. The application requires three short essays and some information about student achievement that should be easily accessible. An optional short video about your school can also be submitted. The deadline to submit the application is March 11, 2011, at 11:59 p.m. EST.

The Commencement Challenge is a great opportunity for students and schools to showcase their talents and achievements. The competition has been featured on Good Morning America and musicians John Legend and Nick Jonas have encouraged students and schools apply for the opportunity of a lifetime. To hear what each of them had to say, check out their videos:

I figured one video would give you the idea;



Read the Rest from the White House


Now let's look at the facts as reported by CBS

White House memo notes shortage of applicants for contest to have Obama to speak at high school graduation Posted by Peter Maer 



The White House is ramping up an effort to promote a nationwide competition to decide which high school wins a commencement speech by President Obama.

An internal White House memo indicates that the White House is facing a shortage of applications less than a week before the deadline.

The competition was extended from the February 25 deadline until Friday, March 11 after few schools met the original application deadline. CBS News has learned a White House Communications Office internal memo dated February 22 noted "a major issue with the Commencement Challenge."

"As of yesterday we had received 14 applications and the deadline is Friday," the memo said. The memo also urged recipients to, "please keep the application number close hold."

A follow-up memo on February 28 reported receipt of 68 applications. Noting the competition among more than 1,000 schools last year, the memo said, "Something isn't working." It called on staffers to ask "friendly congressional, gubernatorial and mayoral offices" to encourage schools to apply.

"We should also make sure the Cabinet is pushing the competition out to their lists," the memo said. The note reiterated, "We do not want the actual application number out there (we didn't release the number of applications we received last year until after the submission period)-so folks should not use it in their pitches

Read The Rest

*************
A big tip of the hat to USAT Member Realitycheck4eve who dug up all this information
It's clear schools aren't as  interested in a visit from the President as they once were.  For a long time educators, who tend to be a little liberal, would have done anything to have Obama speak at their school.  Is it possible that Obama is losing some of his appeal to one of his most influencial and vocal support voter blocks?  My guess is it's possible, altough at this point I can't see it heping the Republicans.  Teacher'a aren't happy about how the administrations Race To The Top scheme affects them personally.  I can't help but wonder if this is there way of sending a warning to the White House?  What else would cause the applications to drop over 99%

If they are trying to send a message, it probably won't work, The Obama Adminisrations doesn't let details like public opinion stand in the way of the President's agenda.  He's proven that over and over since he's been in office.  He also knows that in the current political climate it won't matter how much the teachers get hurt by his agenda, they're going to remain angrier at the GOP than the President.  Simply put, he owns their vote.  Besides, if they get too upset about Merit Pay Testing, he can blame Jeb Bush.  Bush is the one who's been traveling the country selling the concept of grading teachers through standardized testing to the public and state legislatures.  

Not many people are questioning the idea of rewarding high performing teachers, even less are questioning the need to evavulate our education system. People are begining to question of standardized testing as the only way to accomplish it.  As Sanda's Blog  SB736/HB7019: The trouble with value-added measurement points out, there are other well researched opinions about the usefulness of the tests.  At least one State, North Carolina is making clear they don't want to play the testing game any longer..  

There's another idea being floated, one that could completely change the the entire standardized testing industry, if the concept starts to gain traction, you might want to sell any stocks you own it test related companies.   

But that, is another blog..

17 comments:

  1. North Carolina discovered they could SAVE money by stopping end-of-course tests. What a discovery! Legislative initiatives across the region are all over the place. Looks like an educational reform non-profit company of consultants called The Keystone Cops. It looks like we have all the time and money in the world to get it wrong and no time to get it right. The proponents of SB736/HB7019 are silent on costs....still. The silence is unacceptable.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Sandra... any idea why else the schools would be boycotting Obama's Commencement Challenge?

    I think North Carolina will be the start of something. It's the only proposal so far that cuts costs instead of increasing them, and it does in a way it can't hurt anything

    ReplyDelete
  3. It could be evidence of real unhappiness with Race to the Top. The educational community was looking for relief from NCLB mandates and they consider Race to the Top, an extension of NCLB on steroids.

    The years North Carolina invested in end-of-course testing didn't work out. It should be the start of something! I hope you are right. The Florida legislature, on the other hand, is hurling forward ignoring evidence and experiences around them and maintain radio silence on the costs...all the costs. Accountability anyone?

    ReplyDelete
  4. NCLB gave us FCAT,it grandfathered RTTT

    Sandra you've shown studies that questiion the validity of test statistics. The privicy concerns,,, at a dozen other things. Just Jeb and Barack acting like old friends scares me.

    Mosy of you've shown no one in Tallahassee has the guts to tell us what this will cost.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Race to the flop
    W.H. sounding a little embarrassed
    Politico

    Something isn't working," the White House concluded.

    Ya think? In fairness, a lot of schools probably would love to have Obama as speaker. Do you remember your high school commencement speaker? We had Michael Dukakis.

    To qualify for the competition, a high school must demonstrate how they prepare students for college and a career, according to the White House (in increasingly desperate-sounding appeals). Maybe the commencement challenge dropoff is a result of budget cuts.

    http://www.politico.com/politico44/perm/0311/race_to_the_flop_824f4876-a888-47a0-8522-2f0bb9c95955.html

    ReplyDelete
  6. Haven't we already heard most of barry's BS. Why burden anyone with more?

    ReplyDelete
  7. "Just Jeb and Barack acting like old friends scares me."
    That comment speaks volumes. Lots of BS going around these days, wouldn't you say?

    ReplyDelete
  8. I would think Obama has more important things to do than bother school kids. He still thinks he is a community organizer.

    ReplyDelete
  9. In the meantime, back in Tallahassee, legislators are unable to state the costs of SB736 that they say they need to pass now and figure the rest out later. Who will pay "later?"

    They are silent on costs...anyone have an idea WHY?

    ReplyDelete
  10. Sandra.. the short answer is they don't want to tell people the they're about to shove a tax increase down our throats.. It's no different than the games Pelosi. Reid and Obama were playing with Obamacate.

    ReplyDelete
  11. Grumpy - And everyone stopped asking questions about cost on this one? Just a few days ago, Gov. Scott was cheered for saving Florida taxpayers from a "boondoggle." And what shall we call this? Tea Party activists notably missing. Why is this the case?

    This one is a poster child for Lew, the resident Libertarian...all Parties, sort of Parties, non-profit organizations, and big corporations pushing for this in collusion.

    ReplyDelete
  12. American Crossroads says they are spending $750,000 to run their 60 second commercial on national cable news and business news networks
    http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2011/03/09/republican-group-takes-aim-at-unions/
    AS THE ABOVE PROVES, IT WAS NEVER ABOUT BUDGETS, IT IS A CONCERTED TEABAGGERS REPUBLICAN EFFORT TO MAKE THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES FAIL TO WIN RE-ELECTION, BY TRYING TO STRIP ANY UNION FUNDING OR ORGANIZATION OF THE DEMOCRATIC PARTY.
    ITS THE BIG TEABAGGERS LIE, IN FLORIDA AND WISCONSIN!
    TEABAGGERS AND REPUBLICANS ARE CONFIRMED LIARS AFRAID OF UNIONS, LABOR, AND CIVIL RIGHTS...
    SHAME SHAME SHAME SHAME SHAME SHAME SHAME SHAME SHAME SHAME SHAME SHAME
    this just in...
    A NEW MICHIGAN BILL WANTS TO GIVE TEABAGGERS GOVERNOR THE RIGHT TO REMOVE ANY LOCAL OFFICIAL THAT CAN'T MAKE THEIR BUDGET AND REPLACE THEM WITH GOVERNOR APPOINTED BUSINESS MEN (UNELECTED) THE GOVERNOR THERE IS SIGNING BUDGET BILLS AND TAX CUTS FOR RICH AND BUSINESSES THAT WILL CAUSE THE LOCAL BUDGETS TO FAIL, SO HE CAN TAKE OVER THEIR CITY AND COUNTY GOVERNMENTS...

    ReplyDelete
  13. I see Florida Today's varmint decided to visit. Off topic, and spamming the same cut and paste BS on several different blogs, as always. Cayote (critter) doesn't seem to be foaming at the mouth as bad as usual this morning. At least it's not threatening 8 year old kids.

    Guess the mangy mutt is having a hard time accepting that 90% of the high schools who Obama to speak last year accidently forgot to send him an invitation this year.

    ReplyDelete
  14. Isn't there a court order banning barry from coming within 1000 feet of school property?

    ReplyDelete
  15. Very possible, I know they lock down the school and call animal control when wild dogs get to close.

    ReplyDelete
  16. Do you think that Mr./Mrs./Ms. PARALYZED ON CAPITALIZED is CAYOTE/FATZ/DBFL/NOTEA/SHEREE? Could they all be the same person. They sure sound a lot alike. That might explain why 90% of the posts on Talk To Me all sound like the same "insane in the membrane" poster.

    But it is good to hear some happy non-sense once in a while.

    Moe T.

    ReplyDelete
  17. Moe, don't think Sheree is the varmint, I do have concerns she might be feeding wild animals. A dangerous practise.

    ReplyDelete

Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.