\doc\web\99\01\freecoll.txt To KVI's Weissbach and others Did you know that the idea of linking free college to passing new standards tests was first proposed by Marc Tucker to President Clinton in 1992? Tucker was largely responsible for selling the legislature on the current education reform law which mandates the WASL test and the 10th grade CIM. WA first state to promise free college education for all? Has any other state proposed free college education for all up to the first 2 years of college? What will this do to admissions standards when 50% of most college students already require remedial instruction, and most colleges are admitting nearly every student who applies, regardless of academic ability? Talk about welfare magnets, will everybody move to WA state for a free college education? re: Governor Locke's State of the State address Hi, sorry you didn't have any time to talk to me tues day night, but I've been watching this promise scholarship thing since it 's been in the papers, and it's a terrible idea. I was the last guy to comment on election night, the chinese Am guy supporting I200. I'm probably going to run for Superintendent of Public Instruction, and I probably know more about the education reform movement than anybody alive in the state. The 2 years of free college for people who pass the 10th grade test was first proposed by Marc Tucker to Hillary Clinton in 1992 as a reward for the Certificate of Mastery. One thing that nobody kept was the idea that people who didnt' get the 10th grade certificate of Mastery would not be allowed to continue 11th and 12th grades, or get jobs. Since the Certificate of Mastery is meant to be a credential that all will get, (the intention is that ALL high school seniors will meet "world class standards" this proposal basically means free education for all up to 2 years of college, when expenses can run anywhere from $15,000 to $35,000 annually for public or private colleges. Colleges used to be reserved for a rich for a very good reason - it's very expensive. It's one thing for the rich to pay for their kids to go, it's something else when working class taxpayers have to foot the bills of the top 25% that gets a 4 year degree and reaps the benefits of the highest salaries when they get out. People don't realize that except for Canada, no nation in the world comes close to the 60 plus % of students who go directly on to college after high school, or 25-30% of young people who get 4 year degrees. If anything, the reason for the whole "school to work" movement is the idea that 75% of jobs don't even require a college education, yet they're also working on making the first 2 years of college education mandantory. We already spend 9 BILLION dollars a year between K12 and college, guess what it's going to be when students get full tuition and expenses at any college of their choice, and private enterprise opens up colleges to collect all of this new money? And let's talk about the 10th grade test. Across the nation, they're coming up with crazy new tests where 50-80% of students are flunking. With the WA test, 80% of whites and nearly all blacks are flunking the 4th grade test and new 7th grade test, with no evidence it will get better at grade 10. Yet every other test shows WA students equal or better than national average, and at grade 4, the US leads the world in math. No one has ever bothered to compare the 4th grade math test with the state's own benchmarks - I have, and nearly half of the problems require skills specified at the 7th and 10th grade levels. Even when the skills are essentially 4th grade, they are much more difficult than the counterparts found in the COLLEGE LEVEL SAT! That's not even counting the fact that they cost ten times as much, take 10 times as long to take, are ten times less accurate, and deliberately test for what has not been taught in order to force wholesale redesign of the curriculum to reflect left-wing progressive radical reforms. All the officials say "we don't know if it will work, it will take at least 10 years to see if this will work as promised". Yet Marc Tucker already piloted all these ideas in the Schools for the 21st Century project which showed NO data to support increased learning, in fact these schools all scored LOWER than state average on the new WASL test which is tailored to a reformed curriculum. No state, city, or even small scale study has been able to demonstrate a curriculum that is able to guarantee high rates of mastery for all students, as has been promised by SPI Terry Bergeson and other promoters of reform. The RAND corporation has investigated Kentucky's disgraced KIRIS test, which the WASL is modeled after, and concluded that nearly all the alleged huge gains were hugely inflated and artificial, this largely explains the huge gains claimed on WA's 4th grade test when EVERY school district showed the same gains. Please visit http://www.leconsulting.com/arthurhu/index/washtest.htm and /edreform.htm for a full guide to education DEform, which has attracted nearly as many Republican supporters as Democrats. Higher standards is merely a trojan horse for dumbed down education. Excerpt from document which first ties free college to the CIM and new tests: A Human Resources Development Plan for the United States Marc Tucker 1992 Document is no longer posted, but the NCEE is at http://www.ncee.org Marc Tucker and the NCEE is effectively America's unelected Secretary / Office of Education Reform having designed reforms which cover over half of all US public school students, including the state of Washington's 1209 reform legislation which mandates the WASL and CIM. National Center for the Education and the Economy (Founder and leader of outcome/performance/standards based and school to work education movements) "The advent of the Clinton administration creates a unique opportunity for the country to develop a truly national system for the development of its human resources, second to none on the globe" "The fourth [program] ... to advance the elementary and secondary reform agenda" "Clear national standards of performance in general education are set to the level of the best achieving nations in the world for students of 16 and public schools are expected to bring _ALL_ but the most severely handicapped up to that standard. Students get a certificate [Certificate of Mastery] when they meet this standard, allowing them to go on to their next stage of their education" "a system that rewards students who meet the national standards with further education and good jobs [those who do not get a CIM are barred from further education or the best jobs]" "All students who meet the new national standards for general education are entitled to the equivalent to three more years of additional education. We would have the federal and state governments match funds to guarantee one free year of college education to everyone who meets the new national standards, so a student who meets the standard at age 16 would be entitled to two free years of high school [since they are now, they would be forced to drop out if they do not] and one of college... Eighty percent of high school graduates would be expected to get some form of college degree... new professional and technical certicates will won within 3 year of the [CIM] so most most postsecondary students, they would be free ... Everyone who meets the general education standard [CIM] will be able to go to some form of college, being able to borrow all the money they need to do so beyond the first year." "This idea of post-secondary professional and technical certificates captures all of the essentials of the apprenticeship idea, while offering none of the drawbacks [Apprenticeship in Germany means most students must drop out of high school after grade 10 to work at half-pay for two years with little or no college-prep level academic education]" resp to Jim Keefe -------------------- Oh myyy Goooood! You're right! "This idea of post-secondary professional and technical certificates captures all of the essentials of the apprenticship idea... are getting more than just training; they are continuing their training.. Clearly this idea redefines college" Now I realize the full meaning of this passage. You call 10th grade "graduation", and use grade 11+12+ 1 year of college to get a technical certificate through school to work. I don't think this is what Locke has in mind, but it's a scary concept nevertheless. England's NVQs work this way - after grade 10, you study to get a NVQ in burger flipping, or hair cutting, Marc Tucker's Work Skills Standards Boards is working on American equivalents to the NVQ. The UK "college" is merely grade 11 and 12. Nobody here realizes this is what "world class standards" means! Date sent: Wed, 13 Jan 1999 13:57:43 -0800 From: Jim Keeffe To: arthurhu@halcyon.com Subject: Re: [wa-ed-deform] WA first state to promise free college education for all? > Arthur - > > There is the real possibility that the 11th and 12th grades will be the > 'free' college for all. In our state's STW grant there is the statement > something like; "...the Certificate of Mastery will be awarded in the 10th > grade and the last two years of high school will be re-defined." So Clinton > and Locke may actually be getting off cheap by re-defining the last two > years of high school as college. > > Jim > jimkeeffe@accessone.com > > arthur hu wrote: > > > To Weissbach and the rest of the KVI crew: > > > > Did you know that the idea of tying free college to passing a test > > was first proposed to Clinton by the same man who designed our > > current education reform law? > > > > "All students who meet the new national standards for general > > education are entitled to the equivalent to three more years > > of additional education. We would have the federal and state > > governments match funds to guarantee one free year of college > > education to everyone who meets the new national standards, so > > a student who meets the standard at age 16 would be entitled > > to two free years of high school [since they are now, they would > > be forced to drop out if they do not] and one of college... Eighty > > percent of high school graduates would be expected to get some form > > of college degree... new professional and technical certicates will > > won within 3 year of the [CIM] so most most postsecondary students, > > they would be free ... Everyone who meets the general education > > standard [CIM] will be able to go to some form of college, being able to > > borrow all the money they need to do so beyond the first year." > > > > "This idea of post-secondary professional and technical certificates > > captures all of the essentials of the apprenticeship idea, while > > offering none of the drawbacks [Apprenticeship in Germany means > > most > > students must drop out of high school after grade 10 to work at > > half-pay for two years with little or no college-prep level academic > > education]" > > Date sent: Thu, 14 Jan 1999 08:33:41 -0800 From: Jim Keeffe To: arthurhu@halcyon.com Subject: Re: [wa-ed-deform] WA first state to promise free college education for all? Arthur - Here is the exact quote out of the grant. "Comprehensive school reform legislation that integrates STW transition goals across the span of K-12 curriculum, establishes a certificate of mastery, and sets the stage for redesigning the last two years of high school." It is interesting to note that the 'redesigning' of 11th and 12th grades will probably take on the aspects of vocational/job-skills training because another passage from the grant reads: "After earning a Certificate of Mastery ALL students will engage in work-based experiences that coordinate with their school coursework. These work experiences will be governed by a contract between the student, the school, and the employer that spells out what the student will both learn on the job and in school." So now we have mandatory job training throughout the 11th and 12th grades, which confirms Tucker's dream of redefining what the word 'college' means. Jim ------------------------ arthur hu wrote: > Oh myyy Goooood! You're right! > > Can you find that exact passage? > Did you KVI folks know that our legislation commits all kids,even the college bound to spending the last two years of high school working??? How does that make sense when Locke just promised that everyone would be able to go to college immediately after high school? STW assumes that nearly all will work after high school The promise scholarships promise that all will go on to college Which is it?? This is even more stupid than what I thought Marc Tucker was capable of. Where is the complete slide series starting point? [remember Marc Tucker is the architect of 1209 WA reform law] Here is a guy that promotes world standards, yet he's advocating that mass number of students drop out at age 16, just like in other nations. Then he says all students have to meet the same standards, yet some won't meet them until age 20?? How can it be a high standard when we're holding 18 yr olds to a 16 year old standard? And some of the 16 year old standards are really 14 yr old standards! How can a guy who proposes that nearly all students go on to college promote students dropping out at age 16?? How come nobody hears about this guy? He's really dangerous for somebody no one has ever heard of. Date sent: Thu, 14 Jan 1999 16:05:11 -0600 (CST) To: "ClearingHouse" From: "eca@fastlane.net" Subject: [education-consumers] free college education for all? Send reply to: "eca@fastlane.net" > > It does redefine college, or "higher education", and it does change high > school "graduation" from 12th grade to 10th. At the end of 10th, they > should be ready "to get on with their lives." > > Three slides from a set of 83 concerning STW: > > Tucker on school leavers > http://www.fastlane.net/~eca/27-Tuckerleave16.jpeg Leave School at 16 Some will opt to got right into the workforce or into a community service program, choosing to defer further education for a while... Even so, some ** some people will be horrified at the prospect of allowing youngsters to leave school at 16 **. The reality is that many bright and able youngsters are simply weary of school at this point and anxious to get on with their lives Marc Tucker President A School-To-work Transition System for the United States Workforce Skills Program > > Apprenticeships > http://www.fastlane.net/~eca/14c-OreGerStudents.jpeg Lessons from Germany -- Students & Workers * a really dynamic apprenticeship program would probably attract students who might otherwise go to college * at the end of the 6th grade, teachers track students into one of 3 tracks (1) university (2) apprenticeship at 9th or 10th grade, (3) apprenticeship after 10th grade with more technical training * Qualified apprentices spend 4 days a week working for the employer and one day in school; most last 2 to 3 years, the employer pays only 25% of a normal wage * At the end, there is no obligation on either the employer or employee to stay, [what really happens is that they get fired so that they can exploit the next batch of apprentices] * The unemployment rate is higher among Germany's older works [mostly because of this system!] than it is among the younger ones, this has social implications that are not positive Bruce Adams, Oregon Education Association Dec/Jan 1994 , comments by Barbara Tennison > > 8th grade "high skills" at the age of 16 > http://www.fastlane.net/~eca/26-NGA8th9thgradeskills.jpeg > Standards for "High Skills" = 8th grade Skills at Grade 10/Age 16 Academic educators .. are concerned about the level of achievement required by skill standards. The standards that focus only on entry-level jobs tend to define core academic skills at the eighth or ninth grade level (Preparing Students for the Twenty-First Century, 1998, National Governor's Association) Marc Tucker: [students should be able to get a Certificate of Mastery whenever they are ready, some at 14, most at 16, some might not be until 20] .. the schools would be held accountable for making sure that _all_ students meet these standards before they are too old to legally stay in high school A School-To-Work Transition System for the United States, 1994 > > Jeanne > > > > ===================================================================== > > EDUCATION CONSUMERS CLEARINGHOUSE > networking and information for parents and taxpayers on the internet > > Subscriptions & Archives: http://education-consumers.com or > > You are currently subscribed to education-consumers as: arthurhu@halcyon.com > TO UNSUBSCRIBE: Send a blank email to leave-education-consumers-989462S@lists.dundee.net > > ===================================================================== > > For less mail, click on the following link and choose > 1) a daily digest, > 2) a daily list of subjects, or > 3) no mail (read postings on Web) > > http://lists.dundee.net/scripts/lyris.pl?enter=education-consumers > > For more help & info: http://www.lyris.com/help or >