That is where the problem is. First of all Coming from a poor black family you must realize that at home we do not think, eat or sleep the same as the rich. Each day is a struggle for us and in our homes by far do we get the educational support from our parents that is needed, because first of all most of them do not even have the proper education to support us. Our every day struggle is to make it to the next day. Half of our parents can not read, so how do you expect us to become great readers or good in math.

It’s a joke! It’s like a slap in our faces. Black students are already far behind their counter-partners (whites) in education and then you expect us to pass this test FCAT or whatever your state may requrie to go to the next level. Please that is just another way to hold back the miniorities, but in the public’s eye it looks like the government is trying to help. I know you that do not understand where I am coming from might disagree, but let me just throw this out to prove my point.

My own personal experience. I have a Master Degree in Business. Wow that great I made it out the hood! But my math is a less than a 6th grader! How is that possible?

And if in my time the FCAT would have existed guess what I would have not passed to the next grade or even graduated. Now what impact does that have on me and my mind stated? My moral has just been kicked to the ground. I know hate the school system and the governement. It makes me say the white man is evil and this is his way of still discriminating against me in a legal way. “The American Dream”.

We for me I was lucky that my state did not beleive in those kind of testing to go to the next grade or where would I be today? More than likely like the rest of my people that have for so long been failed by the US government in prison.

But thanks to the state of Wisconsin for realizing that just becuase I am not strong in one area doesnt not mean I can’t get the job done!

In addition, the idea that accountability is contingent on financing is the kind of thing you’d expect to hear from unionized bureaucrats. “I can’t do my job better unless you pay me more”.

In this economy, you can expect increasing pressure from- and acceptance of- school choice groups who make the point that private schools provide better outcomes for less money, and that competition and greater access to private schools is the next step in improving our education system. There are a whole lot of retired teachers who would be very happy to teach for less than what they were making five years ago.

If you want to engage in a philosophical debate about “teaching to the test” and how focusing on core reading and math concepts is not appropriate in this over-programmed internet age, or if NCLB could be improved, at least you can rely on soft epidemiological and predictive musings to support your efforts, but your article is severely damaged by your unwillingness to accurately consider and report factual data.