So much work...
I'm slammed! I have to grade papers, do more studying for prelims, and a host of other stuff, including another entry in the Encyclopedia of Third Wave Feminism, this time on essentialism. I'll post drafts of these entries and solicit feedback as soon as I receive the guidelines on how they are to be written.
Today I found out that NCTE is supporting the Pathways for All Students to Succeed (PASS) Act and the Graduation for All Act. Both acts center on improving literacy among adolescents. I would have quoted some sections of the letters, but NCTE has specified in the Document Properties of Acrobat Reader: "Content copying or extraction: Not allowed." Great. Yeah, I could type out what I want to quote, but it's the principle. The acts seem like a good idea, but I'd have to learn more about exactly how they'd work before endorsing them myself. All I know now is that PASS would provide grants for promoting literacy and would place "literacy counselors" in schools to work with teachers and with students who at risk of dropping out of school. "Academic counselors" would work with students and parents. The Graduation for All Act is basically the same, except it would target the schools with the lowest graduation rates.
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Contrarian POV (Slightly OT)
There are two issues here, it seems to me. Nobody in her right mind would deny that there is vast and profound dysfunction & inequity in primary and secondary education that shortchange students and stunt their potential for intellectual and emotional development. On the other hand, is the solution to make graduation qua graduation a goal? I'm not sure. Are we legitimately doing students a service when we say "everyone will graduate" when the message should be "Everyone will get the opportunities to succeed they deserve, but what they do with those opportunities is up to them." Note that I'm not speaking specifically about the legislation you mention--I've had some conversations about these issues over the last week and they've been percolating.
MRBS
Graduation
You bring up a good point. My qualms have more to do with the fact that I don't know what exactly these "literacy counselors" and "academic counselors" are going to do. The paranoid part of me sees this as a somewhat corporate move, bringing in consultants to clean house. I'm not necessarily against it, but like I said, I want to know what they'd say to the students, teachers, and parents. I wonder what Erin O'Connor's take on these acts is?