Continuing our series on education...

Here is more of the McCain platform:

2. We reject a one-size-fits-all approach.

And teh truth:

No Child Left Behind (NCLB) is entirely based on one-size-fits-all ideology. The law mandates that ALL students demonstrate proficiency on the exact same tests. Furthermore, school districts must demonstrate Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) across several subgroups. This means that ALL students (black, white, economically disadvantaged, students with disabilities, and students with limited English proficiency) must meet the benchmark, or the federal government withholds funding. The test is one-size-fits-all, the standards are one-size-fits-all, and the curriculum is one-size fits all. What’s left?

tanks, Douglas

A new series: "The Future of Education? Hell, No"

We are featuring a recurring series of articles on Education, in which my brother Douglas debunks the Republican Platform and offers insight into educational issues in general.

From the Republican Party Platform:

We renew our call for replacing “family planning” programs for teens with increased funding for abstinence education, which teaches abstinence until marriage as the responsible and expected standard of behavior. Abstinence from sexual activity is the only protection that is 100 percent effective against out-of-wedlock pregnancies and sexually transmitted diseases, including HIV/AIDS when transmitted sexually.

The Truth:

The largest research study to date indicated no connection between abstinence-only education programs and the sexual behavior of teens. “Findings indicate that youth in the program group were no more likely than control group youth to have abstained from sex and, among those who reported having had sex, they had similar numbers of sexual partners and had initiated sex at the same mean age.” (Mathematica Policy Research Inc.)

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BTW - So you know where this is coming from, here is a brief bio of Doug:

Dr. Douglas J. Fiore is the Director of the Ed.D. Program and an Associate Professor at Virginia State University . He received his Ph.D. in Educational Administration and Supervision from Indiana State University, and he currently holds a Virginia Postgraduate Professional License in Administration and Elementary Education, as well as a Virginia Superintendent’s License. A former teacher and principal, Dr. Fiore has worked as an Assistant Professor of Educational Leadership at the University of West Georgia and at Virginia Commonwealth University. He has also served as the Director of Professional Practice with the Virginia Department of Education.

Dr. Fiore is the author of six educational books, two of which are bestselling textbooks that are widely adopted at colleges and universities throughout the United States and Canada. Additionally, Dr. Fiore has written over a dozen peer-reviewed articles, and he has served on several editorial boards. .Dr. Fiore is a frequent presenter at national and international conferences on issues related to school-family partnerships, leadership improvement, and communication in educational settings.