High Schools in Need of Testing, Bush Says(bur $'s come from existing prog

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-bush13jan13,1,5892820.story?coll=la-headlines-nation&ctrack=1&cset=true
THE NATION
High Schools in Need of Testing, Bush Says
The president seeks to build on his No Child Left Behind law with his latest initiative.
By Nick Anderson
Times Staff Writer

January 13, 2005

FALLS CHURCH, Va. — Three years after he signed a landmark education law that strengthened oversight of elementary and middle schools, President Bush on Wednesday called for a mandatory battery of reading and math tests in the ninth, 10th and 11th grades.

He also proposed $1.5 billion in federal aid for high schools.

<snip>The president's allies acknowledge his education agenda is likely to face tough questions in the new Congress, with some conservative Republicans among the skeptics. Bush's new plan also could be hurt by an embarrassment the Education Department suffered last week with the revelation that it had paid $240,000 to conservative television commentator Armstrong Williams to promote No Child Left Behind. The payment drew ridicule from the left and the right and spurred calls for independent investigations into whether the agreement with Williams violated laws prohibiting the use of government funds for propaganda.<snip>

Under Bush's plan, the federal testing requirement for high school would triple, to three years, from the current one year.

Bush's $1.5-billion proposal, which expands on many ideas he put forward at his renominating convention in September, included:

• A new $500-million federal merit-pay fund for teachers who excel in low-income schools.

• An increase to $200 million, from the current annual fund of $25 million, for a remedial reading program for teenagers.

• $250 million to help states pay for new testing.

• $269 million for mathematics and science instruction.

• $52 million to help develop Advanced Placement and International Baccalaureate programs in low-income schools.

• $45 million for incentives to help students take more rigorous courses.<snip>

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A3461-2005Jan12.html?sub=AR



washingtonpost.com
'No Child' Expansion Is Outlined
High Schools Would Face Increased Accountability
By Michael A. Fletcher and Maria Glod
Washington Post Staff Writers
Thursday, January 13, 2005; Page A19


President Bush yesterday proposed extending federal testing and accountability requirements to the nation's high schools, which for decades have been plagued by troubling dropout rates and flagging achievement levels.

In a speech at J.E.B. Stuart High School in Falls Church, the president outlined a $1.5 billion plan that would require students to take annual tests in reading and mathematics through 11th grade. Under the No Child Left Behind Act, which Bush signed into law three years ago, public school students are required to take annual tests in grades 3 through 8. Schools face an escalating series of sanctions if students perform poorly on the exams.

"Testing is important. Testing at high school levels will help us to become more competitive as the years go by," Bush said. "Testing in high schools will make sure that our children are employable for the jobs of the 21st century."

Bush's plan to expand the testing requirements into secondary school was applauded by education advocates, who noted that school improvement efforts most often focus on students in lower grades despite clear shortcomings among high school students.<snip>

as long as he passes them himself, WITHOUT the box on his back to give him the answers!

with this increased testing