Senate committee approves DeVos nomination

The Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) on Tuesday morning approved Betsy DeVos’s nomination to lead the Department of Education.

DeVos was confirmed 12-11 along party lines. Her nomination will now go to the Senate floor, where she’ll need only need a simple majority to be confirmed.

The billionaire GOP donor faced a contentious hearing earlier this month when Senate Democrats questioned her commitment to public education and grilled her on her conflicts of interest.

Source

Well. F***.

Trump's worst cabinet appointees is more or less confirmed now. Pretty much her only qualification is that she donated a ton of money to Trump's campaign. Her policies have already had a negative impact on Michigan. Especially in the inner city. The one place the US education system primarily suffers.

The sad thing is that test scores actually started improving over the past year or so. Guess all that hard fought progress will be trashed.

I really don't see how anyone can support this woman. She actually said that teachers are paid too much.

She's a complete idiot and has no business being in any kind of power.

The way it goes is that some appointees are made at first based on politics. After a while, they fail or realize their inability to cope, and leave after having checked the box for the Secretary of Something-or-Another or AG-for-a-week.

Let's hope that she doesn't do too much damage until she is canned.

I don't see a problem.

For decades educations solution has been to throw a hell of a lot of tax payer money at the problem, and it's suppose to make people smart.

So what if a billionaire is now the head honcho. Let's see what they do.

Can't be any worse than it is now.

Since the creation of that government agency.

Americans haven't gotten smarter.

They haven't gotten more successful.

And Private education is the preferred avenue for most people.

And we can't forget college and university's around the country that are more like country clubs with amenities, and political agendas than actually teaching their students the skill sets to make it in the real world.

And we can't forget the asinine course now offered. Like 'White Privilege' and other rubbish.

Maybe she will start by cleaning up the mess left by past policies.

All the failures need to be assessed.

a reply to: neo96

We know what she can do. Michigan is currently suffering from her policies. She actually managed to take Detroit's abysmal school system and make it worse.

originally posted by: Xcalibur254
a reply to: neo96

We know what she can do. Michigan is currently suffering from her policies. She actually managed to take Detroit's abysmal school system and make it worse.

I think Detroit made itself worse without any "help".

a reply to: neo96

Moreover, if we don't mess them up in their first twelve years, we take out best shot of destroying their minds when they hit the secondary circuit.

a reply to: Xcalibur254

The main problem with your complaint is that people who supposedly know what they're doing have made a complete mess of things.

a reply to: TheBulk

Under the oft maligned Common Core we have actually seen test scores increase for the first time in a long time. That includes math. Historically our worst subject.

So clearly something is working. But I can understand why the Right doesn't want to admit that. They're guy completely f***ed things up with No Child Left Behind.

a reply to: Xcalibur254

To quote president Trump:

"I love the poorly educated!"
Source

a reply to: Xcalibur254

Huh?

This is from the Huffington Post:

Results Are in: Common Core Fails Tests and Kids

The Results

In Fall 2015 the NAEP tested a representative sample of high school seniors in the 2016 graduating class. After seven years of Common Core curriculum and assessment, the NAEP tests showed:

The average performance of high school seniors dropped in math and failed to improve in reading from 2013 to 2015. Performance was also down on both tests from 1992, the first year that similar tests were used.

There was a decline in the percentage of students in both public and private schools that are rated as prepared for college-level work in reading and math. In 2013, 39% of students were considered ready for college math and 38% were prepared for college-level reading. But in 2015, only 37% were prepared for college.

Worse, while scores improved for students in the highest percentile group in reading, they dropped in reading and math for students in the lower percentiles. The number of students scoring below “basic” in both subjects also increased from 2013. These were the students that Common Core and the high-stakes testing regime were supposedly designed to support the most.

Test scores for students in 4th and 8th grade who have been trapped in Common Core classrooms with Common Core curriculum for pretty much their entire school careers showed a similar decline in math.

Terry Mazany, the chairman of the governing board for the test, called these results “worrisome.”

The Conclusion

These tests, as U.S. Secretary of Education John King concedes, are basically designed so that 70% of students will fail, with a much higher percentage among students with disabilities, English Language learners, and children who live in poverty. Fairfield University Professor and Network for Public Education Board member Yohuru Williams argues these tests, which are manifestly unfair to the neediest children, feeds into racial determinism in American society while closing doors of opportunity for Black and Latino children.

Despite claims that the new federal ESSA law reduces emphasis on high-stakes testing, companies are scrabbling to make money off of the Common Core tests. The latest big entries seeking to profit from the testing bonanza are the SAT and ACT testing companies. Thirteen states are either currently using, planning to use, or considering using these tests to satisfy ESSA mandates. Scott Marion, the executive director of the Center for Assessment, a nonprofit organization that helps states design and evaluate tests, accuses the SAT and ACT of a “land grab.” He describes what is happening as a “little like the Gold Rush.”

a reply to: Xcalibur254

That's because the "new test" has been "fitted to the curve" of common-core test responses.

Basically, the test is designed to so kids who've been common-cored will do better on it than other kids the same age. It's like an IQ test, where the average kid's response is now the "correct" answer for that problem.


But the good news half of all common core kids now as score as "above average".

originally posted by: xuenchen

originally posted by: Xcalibur254
a reply to: neo96

We know what she can do. Michigan is currently suffering from her policies. She actually managed to take Detroit's abysmal school system and make it worse.

I think Detroit made itself worse without any "help".

there was plenty of right-wing help...the republican governor doesn't give a s**t about black, brown or poor people...

originally posted by: Xcalibur254
a reply to: neo96

We know what she can do. Michigan is currently suffering from her policies. She actually managed to take Detroit's abysmal school system and make it worse.

The facts: Since 1994, there has been an extreme decline in Detroit Public Schools’ enrollment: 73 percent. This has had a huge impact on the financial stability of the district and the performance of its remaining schools. However, the expansion of charter schools is just one reason for the decline in enrollment. During that same time, the overall population in the city declined by 33 percent. In addition, the district lost a considerable number of students to inter-district choice programs with neighboring school districts, which enroll more students statewide than charter schools.

Source

I would say that it is not fair to completely blame Devos for Detroit. I am on the other side of the state and considered more rural. Yes, some public schools are feeling the pain...but not because of charters...more due to school choice. Parents are allowed to have more input in choosing education for their children. They are not forced to send their children to a specific public school based solely on their location. In my area, it has created more diversity in our schools. That is a good thing. The schools that our failing are crying foul, but the fact is that they mishandled their budgets and let down their students...thus the students chose another school.

Democrats run around screaming that DJ Trump has appointees that are "wildly-unqualified" to hold office.


That's because they consider being a careerist bureaucrat as the only proper qualification.

Liberals believe that being a successful capitalist is a disability, and should preclude persons from "public service." It's how they manufacture the paradigm that all democrat politicians are genius experts, and all conservatives are idiot noobs.

a reply to: CynConcepts

so are all students going to move to the better schools, or just the ones that are close and have the money to do so?.....and what happens to the rest?.....s**t schools, with s***ty outcomes, that's what...and the poor???......they can go screw themselves

a reply to: Xcalibur254

Don't you love when billionaires think you make too much money..I have been around for about 50 yrs..never seen anything like what is going on now, I feel like this is some mind trip episode of the Twillight Zone

originally posted by: redempsh

Democrats run around screaming that DJ Trump has appointees that are "wildly-unqualified" to hold office.


That's because they consider being a careerist bureaucrat as the only proper qualification.

Liberals believe that being a successful capitalist is a disability, and should preclude persons from "public service." It's how they manufacture the paradigm that all democrat politicians are genius experts, and all conservatives are idiot noobs.

the republicans have for more than 50 years, screwed over the poor and non-white...that's no opinion, that's the facts....tell me one federal law that congressional republicans have voted for, that has helped the poor and non-white economically?

originally posted by: jimmyx
a reply to: CynConcepts

so are all students going to move to the better schools, or just the ones that are close and have the money to do so?.....and what happens to the rest?.....s**t schools, with s***ty outcomes, that's what...and the poor???......they can go screw themselves

School choice allows poor families an opportunity to choose their public school, not simply choose private, and or charter schools. One school in my county was losing too many students due to school choice. It forced them to re-evaluate what they were doing wrong. They began to listen to the families. They made changes and now, are gaining more students back. They focused on the actual needs of their students. It made a difference.

Let me just ask one question. Does anyone in here know a single educator that supports this appointment? I know plenty of educators from all parts of the country with all kinds of political leanings and not a one supports DeVos.

I feel like that should be a huge indicator that this woman is wholly unqualified.