Report Says States Aim Low in Science Classes – New York Times

“Starting with the 2007-2008 academic year, science will become a subject that students will be tested on at least once in grades 3-5, once in grades 6-9 and once in grades 10-12 – although the results will not be used to measure whether a school has made “adequate yearly progress,” as is the case with reading and math. Schools that fail to make progress are subject to sanctions.”

Report Says States Aim Low in Science Classes – New York Times

Long-term goals people. You are going to start sanctioning schools before they even get their feet off the ground, and how is that going to help anyone? None of these laws are going to work for a generation or more, because it takes time for the knowledge to trickle down. So STOP making new laws, and start paying teachers more to do what they need to do, STOP dictating everything they need to teach, and let them do it within guidelines. Tests are not the way to teach kids how to think. MAKING KIDS THINK is the way to do this. If I have to spend 90% of my time teaching to a friggin’ federal test, there is no time to teach kids what they really need to know. Example: I know a Hell of a lot more than a lot of kids from NY simply because they had to deal with the stupid Regents Exam while I was busy learning how to deal with actual problems.