Is this true about "No Child Left Behind?"

I just received this from an internet buddy.

I was not aware of any such thing but nothing would surprise me with this Gang in the WH.....


The "Certificate of Completion or Attendance" that is being offered in lieu of high school diplomas, is a part of Bush's "No Child Left Behind". This is how it works:

It is for students who are unable to pass both the Language Arts and Math portions of the 10th grade ISTEP. Students must take the same 10th grade test over in the 11th and 12th grades until they pass both portions. If they are unable to pass the 10th grade test by the 12th grade then they have two options:

1. Drop out and go to a GED program or,
2. accept a "Certificate of Completion" - it is NOT a diploma. Once a student accepts it, they cannot ever get a diploma or a GED. A
certificate of completion means that a student can never (as long as they live):

1. go to the armed services
2. go to college
3. go to trade school
4. go to journeyman's school
5. go to beauty school
6. go to culinary arts school
7. get a federal loan in their lifetime

This is the portion of NO CHILD LEFT BEHIND (2001) that Bush slipped in during the 2004 revision of the NCLB bill. It has not been publicized. At a high school in Indiana, in 2005, there were 87 seniors in the graduation class. Five got diplomas and 82 got "Certificates of Completion".

This is being referred to as the "Paper Plantation". It is better for students to drop out and get into a GED program so they may seek other forms of education, later in life, if they desire to do so. All 50 states have "Certificates of Completion or Attendance".

Please pass this information along to EVERYONE you know who has school age children. Clergy, please preach it from the pulpits. Our people MUST know this information. Thank you & stay blessed. ....


Please say this is not so! :crazy:

http://urbanlegends.about.com/library/bl_certificate_of_completion.htm

Comments: Though there are few elements of truth in this text, it is riddled with falsehoods and drastically misrepresents the implications of receiving a certificate of completion or attendance in lieu of a high school diploma.

For starters, graduation requirements and the rules governing the issuance of diplomas vs. certificates of completion or attendance are determined by individual state departments of education, not the federal government. The No Child Left Behind Act contains no provisions, "slipped in" or otherwise, mandating how or when such certificates are to be issued.

Though the specifics vary from state to state, generally speaking a certificate of completion or attendance is issued in cases where a student has not met all the academic requirements for graduation by the time he or she reaches the end of the 12th grade. There is nothing new or diabolical about this.

It does not affect future eligibity for diploma or GED

Does being a recipient of a certificate of completion render a student ineligible to receive a diploma or GED at a later date? No — although, again, the law varies from state to state, and there may be time limits or other constraints affecting a given student's eligibility to receive a diploma or equivalent.

In Indiana, for example (where this email appears to have originated), a student who has received a certificate of completion can still elect to return to high school and complete the requirements for a diploma (or enter a GED program), but only through age 22.

It is not a permanent obstacle to attending college, etc.

Does receiving a certificate of completion or attendance mean you can never, as long as you live, join the armed services, attend college or trade school, or get a federal loan? No, that's complete rubbish.

Nearly all colleges and most trade schools do require a high school diploma or its equivalent for entrance, so anyone holding a certificate of completion will need to go back and complete the necessary academic requirements to get one before they can apply. The same is true, generally speaking, for military enlistment and receiving federal student aid. But there is no sense in which the mere fact of having received a certificate of completion or attendance permanently disqualifies one from pursuing any of these goals.

it is hard to believe that people are still quoting this LIE of a title for the so called "PROGRAM."

are not a new idea. In Ohio if you don't pass all five proficiency tests that is what you get. The tests are writing, reading, social studies, math, and science. Bush may have forced states into doing this but many already did. The 82 out of 87 sounds very fishy. Even inner city Cleveland managed better numbers than that.

No Child Left Behind is a major source of frustration for students with disabilities, and it will leave many behind.

it is the Indiana state exam - and the graduation exam is called the GQE (graduating qualifying exam) - and is part of ISTEP. Each state has its own exam - and own graduation requirements. I am not sure that NCLB requires passage of the state test for graduation - but most states now do require passage. I have periodically heard (never officially) of states giving a 'certificate of attendance' in lieu of a diploma for students who have not met state requirements (often tied to tests). I have never heard, but that doesn't mean it isn't true, that receiving such a certificate means one can never sit for the GED exam and receive the GED, nor that one can not go to college (that depends on the college's admissions process - and some colleges have near 'open enrollment' status - as in you pay the money, and we will take it, whether or not you are able to pass any classes.)

In Indiana (referred to due to the 'ISTEP' reference) there is a waiver process by which students can still graduate if, I believe, they maintain a "C" average in core academic courses, earn enough credits in the required courses, have maintained a certain attendance rate, and a representative from each discipline tested on ISTEP (right now Language Arts and Math) signs off that the student has demonstrated competency in those skill areas. I think that the school has to submit the info to the state dept of education and the student only graduates pending acceptance of the petition (based on the above info. submitted).

Here is the thing - at the high school level there is a disincentive to keep struggling kids in school, as their test scores and 'graduation rates' will be held against the school - easier to push them out of school or into a GED program - with disregard to that student's needs or aspirations.

There is an idiotic repuke state rep in MO who is pushing a voucher bill. She is going around the state claiming that in the urban district where I work, 95% of the kids who graduate are functionally illiterate. Yes, 95%!! NCLB scores don't support that, SAT scores don't support that, ACT scores don't support that, college admission numbers don't support that. Yet, she continues to spread this lie.

Republicans hate public schools and lying about them is just SOP.

Innumeracy is an actual term.

Sorry I forgot what day it is.

:rofl:

Not hardly.

My friend is African American and concerned for our children.
Remember that our children are the ones they named the evil bill for ~
they wanted us to believe that OUR children would NOT be left behind.

They meant just the opposite.

certificates of completion to enter the armed forces.

which is known as Ignite! Bush boys own the company..

They sure didn't leave their profits behind!