side, PROVIDED it is based on solid scientific research. This is a
particular sore point with me about the current administration.
Several important NIH advisory committees, which formerly had
politically neutral appointees, and who were on the committee because
of their skills and knowledge in the particular area, are now having
primarily political appointees whose knowledge is at best shakey.
Additionally several recent decisions have been made not for medical
or scientific reasons, but to shore up the administration's
conservative base. For instance look at the recent debacle on the
morning after pill.
As for the No Child Left Behind, I am very much against how its set
up. While I thoroughly agree with the goals, consider this, there are
something like over 50 different ways a school can fail, but only one
weakly defined wa to succeed. I heard one educator worry that given
the way things are set up, in 5 years over 90% of all public schools
will fail. Its interesting that even though these goals have been
mandated by the Department of Education, no funding has been allocated
to help schools meet the NCLB goals.
I could rant all day about this but have to take one of the ferrets to
the vet - a checkup only.
larry
On Fri, 30 Jul 2004 23:11:50 -0700 (PDT), Sam Morris
<[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> How bout that? I agree with you. :)
>
> I don't know much about it but I thought the main
> focus was standardized testing across the country.
> Standardized testing is as debatable as school
> uniforms. I believe the effort was a noble one but I
> don't think it's going over well.
>
> As for the abstinence issue, I think it's just a
> morale message and not part of the program or at least
> it has no effect on the funding. I could be wrong.
> Maybe I'll read up on it Monday.
>
> -sm
>
> --- "Larry C. Lyons" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
>
> > Actually legitimate peer reviewed research shows
> > that unlike the far
> > right and the administration's fantasies,
> > abstinence-only programs
> > don't work (see references below).
> >
> > To date a very few studies meeting reasonable
> > scientific criteria have
> > measured the impact of abstinance only programs on
> > sexual behavior.
> > The small number of studies, combined with
> > limitations, preclude any
> > conclusion about the impact of programs. Moreover,
> > no studies have
> > concluded that abstinence-only programs delay
> > intercourse.
> >
> > Overall the recent research, when it does not persue
> > a political
> > agenda, and follows sound research practices, does
> > not support
> > abstinence only education. What does appear to work
> > is behaviorally
> > based methods of teaching kids alternatives to
> > agreeing to sex, condom
> > and other forms of birth control are generally
> > effective in reducing
> > teen pregnancy rates.
> >
> > Kirby D. Do Abstinence-Only Programs Delay the
> > Initiation of Sex Among
> > Young People and Reduce Teen Pregnancy? Washington,
> > DC: National
> > Campaign to Prevent Teen Pregnancy; 2002.
> >
> > Kirby D. Emerging Answers: Research Findings on
> > Programs to Reduce
> > Teen Pregnancy. Washington, DC: National Campaign to
> > Prevent Teen
> > Pregnancy; 2001.
> >
> > Pew Charitable Trust Study:
> >
> http://www.pew-partnership.org/familieschildren/youthdev/preventteenpreg.html
> >
> > Voices for Children Study:
> >
> http://www.voicesforamericaschildren.org/Template.cfm?Section=Youth_Development1&template=/ContentManagement/ContentDisplay.cfm&ContentID=1050.
> >
> > Wilcox BL, Limber SP, O'Bierne H, Bartels CL.
> > Federally Funded
> > Adolescent Abstinence Promotion: An Evaluation of
> > Evaluations. Paper
> > presented at the Biennial Meeting of the Society for
> > Research on
> > Adolescence, Boston, MA, March 10, 1996.
> >
> > hth,
> > larry
> >
> >
> > On Fri, 30 Jul 2004 21:31:05 -0500, Andy Ousterhout
> > <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> > > Doug,
> > > Dana is in AZ, what about you?
> > >
> > > Also, educate me, is Teen Pregnancy part of No
> > Child or just a result of Far
> > > right BS on abstain or else?
> > >
> > > Andy
> > > -----Original Message-----
> > > From: Doug White [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> > > Sent: Friday, July 30, 2004 5:47 PM
> > > To: CF-Community
> > > Subject: Re: DNC
> > >
> > > Same here, where the program has been a huge
> > failure, and the high school
> > > dropout rate is higher than ever, as is the teen
> > pregnancy rate.
> > >
> > > ----- Original Message -----
> > > From: dana tierney
> > >
> > > Andy
> > >
> > > Don't get me started on No Child Left Behind :)
> > >
> > > ----- Original Message -----
> > > From: Andy Ousterhout <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
> > > Date: Fri, 30 Jul 2004 16:58:45 -0500
> > > Subject: RE: DNC
> > > To: CF-Community
> > <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
> > >
> > > Point of clarification on No Child Left Behind
> > -- Chicago Tribune reported
> > > today that test scores for underprivileged are
> > up and No Child Left Behind
> > > program gets much of the credit.
> > >
> > > Andy
> > >
> > >
> >
> >
>
>
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