Notice the funding for water projects was recently released, surely a coincidence.

The lower court judges that have been involved in the cases have largely been fine and just, but once you get to the appellate level it has become evident how partisan our court system has become. I should note that the fifth circuit (one of if not the worst in terms of partisanship) has now denied standing in this latest appeal by Jones, so potentially this is all coming to an end.

Depending on the terms of her probation, fraternizing with felons could be a violation, and I know a 34 time felon that she’s probably going to want to hang out with haha. Beyond that, her sentence is commuted and there isn’t anyone able to stop it once Polis signs the paperwork.

This entire saga has been so frustrating to watch unfold. Portions of the judiciary seem absolutely hellbent on denying court ordered financial restitution to the families. It’s not like Alex Jones has even put forward sound legal arguments. My tinfoil hat theory on this is the judges putting up roadblocks are doing it not because of alex jones or free speech, but because it has a connection to guns. They don’t want something even tangentially related to guns to get a win.

Fully, and if given the chance has a high likelihood of recidivism (in my opinion).

I’m sure she’ll immediately go on Fox News and show the world why her sentence never should have been commuted.

One of the main drawbacks of the program was that it punished schools for low test scores with decreased funding, which directly led to schools in impoverished areas or with high numbers of students with learning disabilities being further left behind.

Additionally, teachers in these schools were directly held accountable for students tests scores. While this sounds good on paper, it results in two obvious problems. The first being that good teachers at poor schools are either forced out or voluntarily leave as a result of a diminished workplace. The second applies to all schools and is that teachers no longer educate children, instead focusing on ‘teaching the test.’ Basically the entire focus of a child’s education was changed to making sure that they were prepared to pass a specific set of question types at the end of the year, as opposed to a more holistic education. ‘Teaching to the test’ also had other unintended downstream negative effects, such as reduced funding for the arts and humanities, as they were not a part of the testing protocol.

In [the most disadvantaged schools] in America, even the most earnest teacher has often given up because they lack every available resource that could possibly make a difference. ... When we say all children can achieve and then not give them the additional resources ... we are creating a fantasy.

-Susan B Neuman, U.S. Department of Education's former Assistant Secretary for Elementary and Secondary Education

As for my anecdotal experience, I went to a school in NC as part of the magnet program which, along with bussing, sent students to the poorer districts as an attempt to both integrate as well as increase funding and educational outcomes of schools in those districts. This all came to a screeching halt when the NC judiciary deemed this practice unconstitutional. As a result my school, which was largely held afloat by these measures was no longer capable of getting by. The results of this decision were immediately noticeable, with test scores plummeting and the state taking over almost immediately. This resulted in decreased funding, both from the state/feds and from the withdrawal of more affluent families in the Parent Teacher Associations (which have a high impact on school conditions in the state). All of the more exceptional teachers that were there when I was a student were forced out or chose to leave due to conditions, and I can remember reading articles of teachers literally driving around the ghetto trying to find their students to convince them to show up for the end of year tests. Twenty years later and the school still has not recovered.

After seeing the damage done to my high school in the years following my graduation, you can add my name to the large list of critics who argue that NCLB led us to where we are now. Although I should also give a shoutout to the state of North Carolina for their commitment to no longer being a serious state, after that brief window of time where they had their shit somewhat together.

The study found that the slowdown in learning coincided with two major shifts in American childhood and education policy: the widespread dismantling of test-based accountability systems that defined the No Child Left Behind era and the rise of social media use among young people. Reading scores, in particular, suffered consistently, with the average annual loss in the years just before the pandemic being just as large as the loss during it.

Even before reading the article I said to myself that timeframe would likely correlate to the kids going all the way through Bush’s Every Child Left Behind changes.

MTG is no longer in congress, so there is no reaching across the aisle to sign legislation. She quit literally the day her pension became vested.

Different guy, same ilk.

He’s an evangelical, so the only requirement he has is saying ‘I’m a pastor.’ This particular one already has a litany of controversial quotes and, like many evangelicals, is staunchly anti-catholic, calling them a satanic Babylonian cult at one point.