The?Save?Our?Schools?Bill Sent?to?the?Santa?Monica?Daily?Press,?August?11,?2009
Unnoticed?by?the?media,?an?extremely?important?piece?of?legislation?was? introduced?in?the?House?of?Representatives?at?the?end?of?July.? Representative?Joe?Baca,?a?democrat?representing?Rialto,?has?introduced? the?Save?Our?Schools?Bill,?which?would?eliminate?all?required?No?Child? Left?Behind?(NCLB)?testing?in?the?United?States.? NCLB?has?failed?every?time?it?has?been?evaluated.?According?to?the?gold? standard,?the?National?Assessment?of?Educational?Progress?(NAEP),?grade? 4?reading?scores?are?up,?but?the?gains?occurred?before?NCLB?went?into? effect,?and?there?have?been?no?gains?for?grade?8?reading?under?NCLB. Math?scores?are?up,?but?they?have?been?rising?at?the?same?rate?for? years,?since?well?before?NCLB.?It?deserves?no?credit?for?the?higher? scores. NCLB?has?not?narrowed?the?achievement?gap.?The?gap?between?high-?and? low-income?children?has?not?changed?since?2003,?not?for?math,?not?for? reading,?not?for?Grades?4?and?8.?? We?all?want?accountability,?but?the?NCLB?tests?are?excessive?and? inappropriate,?and?have??turned?our?schools?into?test-prep?centers.?We? should?only?test?as?much?as?we?have?to,?and?use?means?of?assessment? that?encourage?real?learning.?Removing?the?requirement?of?using?NCLB? tests?has?the?potential?of?saving?billions,?and?making?life?easier?and? more?productive?for?students?and?teachers.? Baca's?bill?deserves?the?support?of?every?member?of?congress. Stephen?Krashen Professor?Emeritus University?of?Southern?California Copy?sent?to?Representative?Henry?A.?Waxman Philomena Marinaccio-Eckel, Ph.D. Florida Atlantic University Dept. of Teaching and Learning College of Education 2912 College Ave. ES 214 Davie, FL 33314 Phone: 954-236-1070 Fax: 954-236-1050 -----Original Message----- From: [email protected] To: Mosaic: A Reading Comprehension Strategies Email Group <[email protected]> Sent: Tue, Aug 11, 2009 1:20 pm Subject: Re: [MOSAIC] Creating a database I created a data base for the whole district when we created guided reading book rooms in each elementary building. I probably had more fields then you would need, but here are the fields I used most often: Title Author Genre Subject/topic (I used the library information at the beginning of the book) Reading Strategy Write Trait Fountas & Pinnell Level (I also had other level systems down, but didn't find that useful) Integrate with (If I knew a grade level studied a particular topic, I would add this) Publisher (I had this in case I needed to replace titles; some primary titles are repeated many times) If teachers would have been given the time to learn the system, it would have helped them tremendously in their teaching. But, again, there was never enough time to do this with the teachers. Carol ----- Original Message ----- From: "Sue" <[email protected]> To: [email protected] Sent: Tuesday, August 11, 2009 11:07:44 AM GMT -06:00 US/Canada Central Subject: [MOSAIC] Creating a database I am interested in finding out what you are using to create a database for book cataloging. All my books are leveled but not cataloged which can be frustrating when I am looking for a read-aloud book to match instruction. I would like to create a system to find the books I want to use instead of digging through 4 bins in a certain level (Then of course enlisting the kids! LOL) Sue _______________________________________________ Mosaic mailing list [email protected] To unsubscribe or modify your membership please go to http://literacyworkshop.org/mailman/options/mosaic_literacyworkshop.org. Search the MOSAIC archives at http://snipurl.com/MosaicArchive. _______________________________________________ Mosaic mailing list [email protected] To unsubscribe or modify your membership please go to http://literacyworkshop.org/mailman/options/mosaic_literacyworkshop.org. Search the MOSAIC archives at http://snipurl.com/MosaicArchive. _______________________________________________ Mosaic mailing list [email protected] To unsubscribe or modify your membership please go to http://literacyworkshop.org/mailman/options/mosaic_literacyworkshop.org. Search the MOSAIC archives at http://snipurl.com/MosaicArchive.
