Stepping Into Another Dimension of Time and Space...

****Some recent pictures for your viewing pleasure****

Melody, Kelsey, and Ressa

Ashley and Mackenzie

--Three Generations--

After listening to Barbie's Harborlites concert at Orange Coast College. It was great!

At the St. George temple.

Dropping in on Ressa and friends in the cafeteria at lunchtime.

The girls being silly on their day down to "Chinatown" with Mark and Kelsey.

As someone who was forced to watch Star Trek with all it's generations and episodes from childhood...that's the only title I could think of. My dad had an interesting array of TV programming he liked to choose from. (I can hear my 9th grade English teacher gasping right now as I just ended two sentences with a preposition! There has to be a free zone...this is it!) Anyway, if my dad could watch an old Star Trek episode, The Three Stooges, a black/white Superman episode, and Kung Fu, all in one day he'd have been in heaven! If us kids had been jumping and standing up on the furniture, we'd have been likely to face some untold torture. But if we did it during any of those episodes....let's just say we could have been standing on the TV itself and dad would have never noticed. He would get soooo engrossed. I could never understand how "Kung Fu" could hold anyone's interest. Thinking back, I can't recall that there was ever any talking on that show. They would keep showing an old man with evil-looking light blue eyes that would scare any young girl. So much staring at each other....oh it bored me to tears. The men in my life have always held the remote. Not until recent years did a cable tech have mercy on me. He must have done a head count and noticed 3 males to 3 females. Hmmm. Well, he "leveled the playing field" a bit when he left behind 4 REMOTES! Now whenever we're watching TV and someone gets very disatisfied with the show that's on....well, you'll know it because out of nowhere somebody clicks the channel over to something else. It's more funny than anything, MOST of the time. For the record, I did come to love the Star Trek-New Generation episodes.

Well, back to the title. I can feel it happening again--- We're going through a period now when I can just feel that there are changes taking place that will cause life never again to be exactly as it is right now. All right, I'll spit it out. In a nutshell...

• Joey has a girlfriend.
• I'm sensing very quickly that the days of being the most important female in his life are over.
• (I know, I know, it's normal and supposed to be that way. I'm just slow getting on board :(
• He is no longer knocking on my door at night to tell me "just one more thing" he remembered about something.
• He's calling her instead.
• He's no longer hurrying home.
• He's no longer complaining at going back to school to pick up Austin.
• He's hurrying back to school early to wait for Austin and see her again.
• He's no longer asking what WE'RE all doing this weekend.
• He's telling us what THEY'RE doing this weekend.
• He used to be satisfied with his job and loved having money in his pocket.
• Now, it's "I gotta get a new job. I'm out of money and I need to make a whole lot more."
• I've seen her wearing his new $100 sweatshirt-jacket more than I've seen HIM wearing it.

Well, it's all ok. Just caught me by surprise and stings just a tad. Mark's attitude on the other hand is basically, "bout time". This week I'd walk down the hall at night and hear voices. He's on the phone with her chatting still! I told him 3 times last night to say goodbye, but it all caught up with him this morning when both he and Austin slept through the alarm and made it to school an hour late. That's the first time they've done that this school year.

This girl is very cute and very sweet. Joey invited her to church Sunday. She hesitated but thought she'd be more comfortable if she brought her best girlfriend along with them. So Joey picked up both girls and took them both to church Sunday. When it came time for the Young Women's meeting, she reminded Joey that he promised not to leave her alone, so Joey sat in with the girls the last hour in spite of all his friends begging him to join them in their class. It was hysterical. Joey felt like a gentlemen though and participated in everything. The girls seemed to really enjoy it. Kayla went with him to the activity Tuesday night as well. I made sure he drove Austin with him. Austin's making a terrific chaperone these days.

Yesterday sure didn't go the way I thought it would. Ressa came home from school and showed me a big red lump above one of her back molars and said it hurt a little bit. We were down at the dentist within a half hour. He said it was an absess and showed me how it had eaten away at her bone up inside to where it cut out an "A" shape. She brushes all the time, but he said it just happened from the nerve deteriorating in the baby tooth. He pulled it out right then and we go back in a week for a spacer to be put in. Mark took off the day today and accompanied Ressa on her 3rd grade field trip down to the Discovery Science Museum in Santa Ana. That was so nice of him to do that. I would have loved to, but I have to save my time for sick days at this point. I hate that!

They changed my schedule around at school again. Now I'm going Mon-Thurs 11:30-2:30 and then Friday mornings 8:30-11:30. Can't interfere with tap on Friday afternoons. Mom and I really "rock" (as the kids say). We've got our 7-step riffs down to a science. I couldn't help but bust out a few routines in the aisle at Ralph's last night. Nobody else was around, of course... I just need a cuter outfit. Either that, or they need to take down some of those mirrors in the class. :D

Political Science Homework

Affirmative Action in the City of Pasadena

(This was our homework assignment last week to read about what happened when Pasadena's city council was confronted with the idea of including Armenians in the long list of disadvantaged minority groups with regard to "Affirmative Action." Armenians made up 10% of the city's population. Half of them were rich and were immigrants or descended from those who came here from 1895 to 1925. The other half were poor, newly immigrated and reluctant to assimilate into society. They were concerned about a "good ol' boy network" of white men in Pasadena and the fact that the city council was made up of 5 white men and 1 black woman--no Armenians. My choices were 1. I agree with it. 2. I disagree with what they did because it dilutes the program for the traditionally disadvantaged, or 3. I think Affirmative Action is just bad for society.) I picked #3.

I believe that Pasadena’s decision to expand Affirmative Action to include all immigrants who arrived less than fifteen years ago is generally a bad idea and not good for society. For a state or local government to establish a program that gives certain groups preferential treatment over other groups, based upon their skin color or heritage, is a backwards step toward ending discrimination and bigotry in America.

Taking the Armenian people, for instance, the case study indicates that one-half of the Armenian population in Pasadena were immigrants themselves or descended from those who came to America between 1895 and 1925. The case study explains that “on the whole…they were economically well off.” It seems clear to me that these Armenians who had found wealth in America did not gain it from working for the city of Pasadena, since the case study reveals that Armenians accounted for “less than one-percent of the [Pasadena] city work force.”

Pasadena’s concern for the Armenians and other recently arriving immigrants is admirable, but cannot be solved by including more people in the Affirmative Action program. The evidence supporting this is seen when looking at the blacks and Hispanics within Pasadena. The city’s population is 25 percent black and 22 percent Hispanic. The black population is proportionately represented as they also made up 25 percent of the city’s work force. The Hispanic population has a slightly lower representation at 16 percent of the city’s work force. In spite of being employed by the city, the fact remains that the blacks and Hispanics were still “the city’s most economically disadvantaged population groups.” Thus, having employment extended to them from the city of Pasadena, was not the answer to raising the black and Hispanic populations out of the classification of being “economically disadvantaged.”

Someone should have been doing more to look at the history and practices of those Armenians who assimilated into society and became economically well off, as the case study describes. A city mentoring or training program that would connect the former Armenian immigrants with the newly arriving immigrants might have been a more productive undertaking.

Austin's Results

I just got off the phone with the doc. All of Austin's bloodwork was normal. No mono, normal sed rate, etc. The ultrasound showed "borderline splenomegaly" (enlarged spleen). He said it's 13 cm. That's what mine was when I was having chemo. Before/after hodgkin's mine measured 9 cm. He wants me to talk to the psychiatrist, inform him and ask him if there are any liver enzyme tests that we should be having done, due to the medications Austin takes. That doctor actually gave me his email so I'll write him today. So that's all pretty good news. Austin has put on 2 lbs. since I've been reminding him to eat more. I'm noticing that he has no interest in eating after school. But from the start of school until a couple months ago, if anybody got in his way between busting in the front door and getting to the fridge or pantry, they might get mowed down. Lately though, I've started asking him if he ate anything since getting home, and he replies no, he's not hungry. That's odd, so I've been making up something anyway and he'll sample it. I have my political science class tonight. There's a one page write-up due, plus a chapter and two articles I'm supposed to have read. I've got until 3pm now before the kids get home, so I better get busy.

A Final Thought...

"I've spent more time in the principal's office at work then I ever did in my 13 years of public schooling. "

I Couldn't Get the Hallelujiah Chorus Out of My Head Today...

• Today as it was, just happened to be
• The day the superintendent and his cronies see
• How our school is doing, just once a year
• They were coming today, there was no need to fear.
• Except for the boy that I watch, his dad arrived too
• To holler and fuss and complain--nothing new
• So the scene was set, the father ready to vent
• Across from him sat the principal and superintendent.
• They listened to dad as he started ranting and raving
• The service here's terrible, again we're complaining.
• Then the principal interrupted to strongly implore,
• "I've offered what I can, we can do nothing more
• But the abuse done to staff: hitting, spitting galore.
• It over today. Your kid's out the door!
• The father reared up, the hair on his neck standing,
• "It's homeschool for us, but I can't say where we're landing.
• I won't bring him back here! It's a horrible place.
• You don't help my son. You're all a disgrace."
• To which the principal responded with style and class,
• "Don't ever come back! You're a pain in the _ _ _!

All right so maybe I exaggerated while venting some pent up frustration and am guilty of having way too much fun with this poem. It didn't quite end that way, but close enough. The presence of the superintendent and company was intimidating. The principal made it clear he could not tolerate any more of this physical and verbal abuse from the boy. So the dad said they were not coming back. I still can't believe that chapter is over. What a relief. I hesitate to believe it though. I'm learning all about how valuable seniority is at a school. Those who have been there longest name their position basically as far as the aides go. I only know one who started after me. Most of the others have worked as aides from 4-10 years!

I'm Closing My Eyes...tell me when this ride is over!

What a couple of weeks! Joey missed Wed, Thurs, and Friday last week and Tuesday, and Wednesday this week. He has seen the doctor 3 times for his sinus/chest cold/ ear infection/hives condition. I would guess that his body reacted with hives to a virus and the virus is very long-lasting and resistant to everything we try. He started his 2nd antibiotic regimen last Thursday along with an allergy medicine. But after spending a half hour at school Tuesday, he called me in terrible pain with an earache. He's never usually sick so this is very odd for him. The doctor said Tuesday that if he's not doing better Friday to come in and they'll order x-rays...of his sinuses/head I guess. Joey's so grown up I've been able to send him by himself to our doctor now (he graduated up from the pediatrician) and then he can take my medical card to the pharmacy to pick up any perscription. Then there's Austin. He started off 9th grade last fall at 135 lbs. A little bit of chub around his belly, but hey don't we all.... He wrestled intensely between Sept. and Nov. and then had that terrible accident where they found he bruised his bladder, kidney, and also noticed he had an enlarged spleen. As much as he hated it, I had to take him out of contact sports because the medication he takes for bipolar slows his reaction time, unfortunately. He's such a tremendous athlete, but I've tried to encourage him in tennis, swimming, basketball, etc. He excells at any sport he tries...just like my dad and brothers always did. But the general consensus among the medical professionals we've seen over the past four years is that Austin's dad most likely had bipolar depression and so does Austin. The biggest form of evidence to that end is that only type of medications that have helped him be himself are the ones that "manage" bipolar. If he didn't have it, they would do nothing. The improvement has been astounding, I must say. He is a terrific student and manages the requirements of all his classes very well these days. He takes honors English, honors Geometry, Spanish 1, PE, Symphonic Band, and Earth Science. His last report card showed 3.8 GPA which was awesome. He's a lot like I used to be. He's in a quiet competition in Spanish class with another girl. They both hit up the teacher all the time (he a Mormon guy, went on a mission etc.) to know which one has the highest grade on THAT day? He'll come home and say nothing if he's in first place, but if he's in second, he'll walk in talking all about how "jacked up" that is. It's funny! If the kids turn their homework and reports on time, I'm satisfied with whatever grade they bring home because I know they did their best. Of course, the little secret I know is that when the child has gone through all those assignment most kids will generally retain what they read and score quite well at test time....except of course, for some of those kids in our special ed class. We have the sweetest 5th grade girl who's about my height and adorns herself in about as much jewelry as Grammy always has. Well, she approaches me everyday to show me what she's got on and to check out what jewelry I'm wearing. Poor girl, she's only working at kindergarten level due to a learning disability.

Back to Austin, I'm really worried about him right now. I looked at him Sunday and thought, "Geez he's looking skinny!" His church pants were falling off him without a belt on. I asked him to come get on the scale. After what I saw I had to call the doctor. We had the appointment yesterday. The doctors records showed he weighed 132 on their scale in Nov. but weighed 122 on their scale yesterday!?! He has been growing and is at about 5' 7-1/2" now which makes 122 seem a bit light. I then remembered that the CT in Nov. had shown he had an enlarged spleen. The doctors had said at that time that it was not likely that the wrestling accident could have produced that and to follow up on it when he's better. Well, the doc asked him all sorts of questions from anorexia to his appetite. The meds he takes have a side effect of obesity so that's not a concern. He hates the school lunches so I'm taking care of that. Doctor ordered all the usual blood tests, a test for mono, thyroid, inflamation, etc. We did that yesterday and now he's scheduled to go for an ultrasound Friday morning of his liver, abdomen, spleen, and kidneys. My spleen enlarged when I had Hodgkin's so it brings back that worried mindset a little.

As for school today. If I were a guy, this is pretty much what you would have seen.

Before I say more, you will ask yourself (as do I) WHY is she DOING THAT??? Well, the reasons are two-fold. One, being a teacher at the school closest to my house where I'm off on all the same days that my children are...would be ideal. Second, the money I get from Social Security for Joey will end on June 1st. The paycheck from the school covers 2/3 of it. So I'm really nervous about how things will go after that. Did I mention that I broke down into tears in the principals office last Friday. Hearing f - - - you b - - - - so much really wore me down and seeing the father at the end of the day and wondering to myself "does he REALLY THINK that I would pull his kid's hair??" That just crushed me after everything I've been through with this guy and all my patience to be presented with that was too much. Apparently, the principal spoke to the district and today I found the (mom would remember him as the handsome, bald principal) guy who hired me from the district there in the principal's office reading every page of the log I've been keeping of all the incidents that have happened. He came into the classroom and then realized I was Austin's mom. He used to be Austin's principal. I told him I'm this close to asking to be re-assigned. It's so very hard!! I told him I'd rather work with their most difficult 5th grader rather than this kid. I also reminded him (tongue in cheek) that I could have sworn that I checked the "mild to moderate" box when asked what level of disability I was willing to work with. (this kid is severe!) He said they'll be getting back to me. Later in the morning I was sitting to the right of the boy at a kidney-shaped table with another aide giving the lesson. Suddenly, he turned his body toward me and slapped both hands down hard onto my chest and held them there. I had to pull them away. The aide teaching shouted out to "STOP THAT J___!!!" I had to catch my air a bit. The teacher told me to start writing it down. After he left 30 min. later I went and sort of collapsed into a chair in the teacher's lounge. I told the friend across from me what happened and she said, "Well did he leave any marks." "I don't know..." "Go check!" So I did and there was still a pinkness on my skin like a sunburn from where one hand hit me. I went straight to the nurse in the health office, pulled down my blouse and showed her so she could document it. The principal insisted we file an assault report with the district. So I hope to hear some good news all the way around....soon!

Lots of Valentines' Gifts and All is Forgotten...

My little charge is never there on Thursday because he goes to a horse-riding therapy program for disabled kids. So Thursday's are always good days. I was still a little uncomfortable after the whole ordeal yesterday and being accused by this child's father of pulling the boy's hair. The craziest thing I've ever heard. My principal said these parents measure themselves as good parents by the degree of complaining they do....if they complain a lot, then in their minds they must be good parents. It's anybody's guess what they're thinking. So I walked in to class today and after parking my things in the closet, I go straight to my in-box to see if I have any messages or assignments there. And here's what I found: All the OTHER kids in the class brought me the nicest gifts and valentines. I found a big Hershey's kiss, a big box of chocolates, a small box of chocolates, a cup full of chocolates, a pair of valentines socks, etc. (most of which I don't need...) It all made everything better. Yesterday, I got to work with a little first grade black boy who cannot seem to retain the learning of a two letter word like "go" or "to". Within five minutes he has forgotten how to spell it. He can read these words, but when asked to write anything, he lays his pencil down and begins to sob. The aide who usually works with him was absent and so I got to take a crack at teaching this boy. When he was supposed to practice writing the small "g" I put two dots on his paper: one where he was supposed to start and one where I would start. As I wrote the letter I had him copy me and said, "Ok, we'll go around in a circle till our pencil kisses the dot (then a click of the mouth), and we make a tail down below. He said, "oh I can do that." In between him having to go blow his nose every 2 minutes (remember, it's a tough class :D) he did get about 15 "g's" written. Halfway through the teacher in charge (25 year old with a master's degree---a female "doogie houser" type) walked over and watched. She finally said, "Mrs. M _ _ _, they are really doing WELL with you." I replied, "For the record, I enjoy THIS type of hands-on teaching FAR MORE than the hands-on picking up off the floor type stuff I have to do with the other boy." UGH! She understood and said her wish is to have that boy move away and then have me work afternoons acting more as an assistant teacher to her. I was so thrilled. After going through all the required materials with this boy and an autistic screamer girl who doesn't really talk, I showed her the game of guessing which fist I've hid items in (beans, sunflower seeds, paper clips, etc.) and then we counted them. She was really into that and approached me today with both fists out, and alternating between tapping me on the shoulder and saying "which one? which one? which one?" It gave me such a feeling of satisfaction to see some success. In reality, the boy I typically work with is "moderate to severe" which is the group that belongs at the county level, not at a traditional elementary school. But, the parents rule everything. Parents have the ultimate 100% say as to ANYTHING that happens to their child. It's all up to the parents. It's just that most parents are not in denial as to the degree of mental impairment that their child has. Oh well...tomorrow's another day. I went to a training meeting where county specialists (most have been special ed teachers for 10-20 years in the past) hold training meetings for about 35 aides like me who specifically work in the special ed. classrooms. The school pays me for my time to go. We learn how to deal with the teachers, the parents, and mostly the kids we work with. They know it's a hard job and provide us with lots of support. Here is some of what we learned and what are the "latest and greatest" findings that research is showing:

• a child who's a good reader has certain parts of the brain light up brightly (burn sugar or metabolizing glucose is what's happening) during a ct scan while they're reading.
• a child who's a poor reader shows different section of the brain light up when they are reading.
• when the poor reader is taught with better teaching strategies and is caught up to a higher level, their scan now shows the same brain areas of their brain lighting up as were seen in the "good reader's" brain.
• Reading is more an auditory process than a visual one. This is why blind people learn to read braille and comprehend their reading at higher levels from hearing it pronounced with all the emphasis in the right places, but deaf people can never comprehend higher than a 3rd grade level, generally.
• Round robin "popcorn" reading going around a circle with everybody reading a small part is not productive nor does it promote good reading skills.
• We all speak at roughly a 3rd grade level. Children do not learn to comprehend levels higher than that (where they can predict possible endings to a story) by being sent off to go read alone. It is by sitting alongside a parent/older sibling/ etc. and following along while being read to, or by listening to a recording of a book being read. Hearing the proper blending of the sounds while seeing the words will get the child to the higher reading levels that are needed in high school and definitely college. Most kids in high school and college aren't there and have to take several remedial classes to try and improve.
• Begin a book by asking the child to describe the cover and some of the pictures inside the book. Ask them to predict what the story might be about. Encourage them to ask you questions they have throughout the story. Discuss and compare the ending of the book with the prediction they made in the beginning.
• Chinese proverb: "A person who asks a question is a fool for a minute. The one who does not ask remains a fool forever."
• A child who cannot read or has trouble feels just like we would feel when faced with a page of Arabic or Chinese characters. It doesn't matter how much homework they did the night before or whether they point to every word with their finger...it's the practice (while reading a book at their comfort level) of associating simple letter combinations with hearing their sound. (ay, ai, ea, ee...) Hearing us read their favorite story to them over and over will do much good. Don't force them to change books every day. Let them hear the same one over and over if they want. (I was always switching....sorry Joey and Austin...)
• There is nothing wrong with accommodations being made for people. They just level the playing field. For instance, glasses.

There was lots, lots more that I just have to put in another time...

At one point the teacher passed out a paper to every person in the room and asked one person after another to please read it outloud. Most had to say, "I can't. I don't understand it." Every person was handed a paper with a different type of "hieroglyphic code" all over it that made no sense. One person (we found out later) got the page in English. When SHE was asked to read, we all stared at our nonsensical pages in front of us, wondered how SHE could read it, and started whispering/talking amongst ourselves at our individual tables. The teacher quieted everyone and pointed out to all of us, "Now see there, how quickly you all turned to misbehaving (talking) when you got bored and couldn't read the page in front of you. That's how the children in your classroom who are poor readers feel when they look at the things placed in front of THEM." A definite lightbulb moment....

Our 9th Anniversary!

Happy Anniversary Mark! I know you read this everyday. Here are some of the things I love most about you....

M-akes me laugh, smile, and giggle at his jokes and incredible wit.

A -lways kisses me first before he ever leaves the house.

R-eal hard working, but always prefers to be home with the family.

K-eeps his feet on mine to warm them up in bed, no matter how icy cold I may be.

And for the remainder of the day, I have to prepare 24 valentines for the kids in my special day class, 20 for Melody's class and 20 for Ressa's class, plus a treat for all of them too! Help!

I Should Never Have Gotten Out of Bed...

Just when I thought I'd seen it all, a day like today comes along. Joey and Austin are both home sick and I'm back on antibiotics for my third sinus infection since Christmas. The little guy I "shadow" at school everyday has missed about 10 days of school since the first of January. I've gotten quite a bit of copies made and books bound in the teacher's workroom. I love working in there. Every office or art supply you can imagine is there at your fingertips. Well, today I walked in to find another classroom aide in a big tiff over something. Then I find out that my little guy's father called in to the principal to say that the boy says I pulled his hair. The dad also complained that I appear a little worn out at the end of each day. To which the principal responded, "Well anyone in her position hearing f_ _ _ you b _ _ _ _ from this boy all the time and getting constant opposition is going to be worn out. The dad asked for a replacement for me so the boy could work with a different "personality". So the aide who was asked to take him for his 30 minute recess had to relinquish her autistic girl to me so I could take HER to HER recess. The aide marched to the principal to complain for a half hour, but lost that battle. It was unbelievable! I had to go speak to the principal later and assured him that I've never pulled anybody's hair. And furthermore, if I was inclined to pull that guy's hair I'd have done it long before now! And lastly, if there's anybody getting their hair pulled, IT'S ME!!! This is the most thankless job I've ever experienced. The principal did commend me for my willingness to do whatever they need me to do and not complain the way so many other aides do. I just hope to get to be a teacher there one day. I don't know of any other elementary school where they listen to Rush Limbaugh in the teacher's lounge and put up a huge Christmas tree in the front office for a month at Christmas. This semester I have political science on Tuesday nights from 7 to 9:45pm. Then Child Development: infant through adolescence on Wednesday nights from 7 to 9:45pm. Then there's the online US History class (1600s to the civil war), and last but not least...Tap dance on Fridays for 2 whole hours. No exaggeration there. Mom and I are doing it together and it's awesome. Mom is a trooper all right. Nothing slowed her down or held her back. It was me who got so dizzy from all the turning we did to get across the room and back....well, it left me with a pounding headache for the next 24 hours. UGH! We'll see how Friday goes...

My First Three Pages of a 12-page Term Paper

*(I wish I had more interesting things to say, but this is what I've been working on most recently. In my political science class, the teacher assigned a 12 page term paper entitled a "Depp Essay" based on a current public policy. The D is for Describe, the E is for Explain, the P for Predict and the other P for Prescribe. Luckily, the 12 pages are divided over the semester with the first three due last night. So here's the "Describe" part.)

No Child Left Behind Act of 2001

Lyndon B. Johnson’s Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 was the first time a large amount of federal dollars were set aside for the K-12 education of American children. In the decades that followed, the focus in American schools was turned away from academic performance and toward the need for desegregating, finding ways to educate children with disabilities, and solving the increasing problem of educating non-English speaking immigrant children.[1] A widening gap became evident between the academic achievements of white children and the achievements of Hispanic, African-American, and Native American children, respectively. The educational crisis in American schools was brought to light in 1983 in a report entitled A Nation at Risk.[2] This report, prepared by the National Commission on Excellence in Education, began to raise awareness thoughout the country that American children were lagging behind children in other countries of the world in areas of reading, mathematics, and science. A Nation at Risk “admonished the nation in forceful, martial language that America faced a momentous problem, one that threatened its national security, and its economic vitality.”[3] President George W. Bush made education a major priority upon entering office in 2001. His “No Child Left Behind Act of 2001” was adopted by Congress with overwhelming support from both republicans and democrats, in January of 2002. His major supporters were the chairmen of the congressional education committees: Sen. Edward Kennedy (democrat from Massachusetts), and Rep. George Miller (democrat from California).[4] Bush made several promises in the No Child Left Behind Act: 1) to bring children to their respective grade level in math and reading by 2014, 2) to raise the accountability of schools and the expectations of students, 3) to measure progress with annual testing, 4) to require that teachers meet certain qualifications, and 5) to keep parents informed and aware of their options.[5] The NCLB Act set a national goal for all American children with provisions in place to insure that schools would start making a swift turn toward progress. The nation’s schools, on the other hand, became highly motivated to comply with NCLB so as not to lose any federal funding. The NCLB Act was especially attractive to congressmen who are primarily concerned with the needs of minority groups living within their respective states and/or districts. Ideally this new policy could help close the “decades-long achievement gap” in comparing the academic performance of minority children with the performance levels of white children of the same age.[6] In general, if schools annually meet their progress markers, there are financial incentives given to those schools. If the schools do not, they face being taken over by a state agency, among other possible consequences. At the sixth year anniversary of NCLB, co-author, Senator Edward Kennedy praised the progress being made, but also criticized it saying, “The law still needs major changes to bring out the best in all children. The process for rating troubled schools fails to reward incremental progress made by schools struggling to catch up.”[7] Over 129 organizations have joined forces and are calling for fourteen changes to the No Child Left Behind Act. These organizations include the NAACP, the National PTA, and the Children’s Defense Fund among others.[8] One of the major concerns of these groups is that NCLB has become an unfunded federal mandate and that more funds are needed for the states to comply. In support of NCLB, Education Secretary Margaret Spellings said, “Student achievement is on the rise. No Child Left Behind is working." She acknowledged the need for revision as she continued, “Legislation proposed by Senator Lamar Alexander to expand flexibility options for states under No Child Left Behind is a reasonable and responsible step forward."[9] Generally, these groups are opposed to schools being sanctioned financially for reasons they deem unfair. Students can improve in their test results from one year to the next, which is successful according to state standards, but is grounds for sanctions in the eyes of the federal government if it was not sufficient improvement according to federal standards. This is of greatest concern to schools with mostly bilingual, minority students. In a February, 2007 newsletter, Duke University expressed concern that 2.4 million children labelled as gifted and talented have been ignored by the No Child Left Behind Act. They believe that Bush’s policy should have addressed the needs of gifted children. “And as they wait, these students lose interest in their passions, become frustrated and unmotivated from the lack of challenge their school curricula provides them. As a result, they become our lost talent.”[10] [1] Koret Task Force on K-12 Education, Our Schools and Our Future…Are We Still at Risk? Edited by Paul E. Peterson. Stanford, CA: Hoover Institution Press, 2003. [2] Nakaya, Andrea C., “America's Education System Must Be Improved” Detroit: Greenhaven Press, 2006. Opposing Viewpoints Resource Center. Gale. Chaffey College. 11 Feb. 2008 http://find.galegroup.com/ovrc/infomark.do?&contentSet=GSRC&type=retrieve&tabID=T010&prodId=OVRC&docId=EJ3010444223&source=gale&userGroupName=ranc95197&version=1.0. 2/11/08. [3]Ibid. [4] “No Child Left Behind Act Under Attack”, United Press International, Washington D.C., Apr. 2007, CountryWatch, http://search.countrywatch.com/cw_searchdocument.aspx?DocNumParam=18, 2/11/08 [5] “No Child Left Behind’s 5th Anniversary Keeping Promises And Achieving Results, U.S. Department of Education, January 2007, http://www.ed.gov/nclb/overview/importance/nclb5anniversary.html, 2/11/08. [6] Ibid. [7] Kennedy, Edward M., “How to Fix No Child”, The Washington Post, Jan. 7, 2008, p. A17, http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/01/06/AR2008010601828.html 2/12/08. [8] Packer, Joel, “The NEA Supports Substantial Overhaul, Not Repeal, of NCLB”, Phi Delta Kappan, v89 n4 p265-269, Dec 2007. 5 pp. [9] “No Child Left Behind Reauthorization”, US Dept. of Education, 6 Nov 2007, http://209.85.173.104/search?q=cache:l98Xgd9SLM4J:www.ed.gov/nclb/overview/intro/reauth/index.html+who+supports+NCLB&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=19&gl=us 2/12/08. [10] Stephens, Kristen and Riggsbee, Jan, “The Children Neglected by No Child Left Behind”, Office of News & Communications-Duke University, February 1, 2007, http://www.dukenews.duke.edu/2007/02/gifted_oped._print.ht.