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Politics : PRESIDENT GEORGE W. BUSH -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: ColtonGang who wrote (53125)	10/27/2000 10:24:44 AM
From: ColtonGang	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 769667

Bush education stance hit Gore rips voucher plans, calls governor's record `hollow' By PATTY REINERT Copyright 2000 Houston Chronicle NASHVILLE,Tenn. -- Vice President Al Gore attacked George W. Bush's commitment to education Wednesday, saying his record as Texas governor is "hollow" and his nationwide plans would hurt schools if he is elected president. "There are only two real proposals of any substance in his entire education plan -- private school vouchers and what he calls accountability," Gore told students and teachers at the historically black Tennessee State University. "His vouchers would actually harm education. And his claims to accountability rest on half-measures and a hollow record." Associated Press Democratic presidential candidate Al Gore talks with Capt. Terry Secrest while sitting around the kitchen table at Nashville Fire Station No. 9 during a campaign visit Wednesday morning. Gore cited Tuesday's release of a report by the nonprofit Rand Corp., which questioned the significance of gains Texas students are making in math and reading scores on the Texas Assessment of Academic Skills (TAAS). When comparing those gains to scores on another test, the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), the Rand study found only small improvements in Texas test scores, similar to those found nationwide. Rand researchers also found a large and growing gap in average scores between Texas' white students and students of color on the NAEP test. Bush, relying on TAAS scores, as well as a previous Rand study, has said the state's gap is small and has decreased greatly during his term as governor. Gore noted that Rand researchers suggested that the higher TAAS scores were due to Texas schools emphasizing TAAS test preparation in their curriculum. "We cannot afford to just teach kids how to take a state test, while leaving them with serious learning deficits," he said. "We need to measure performance with tests that have integrity. And we need to put an end to what's called `teaching the test,' and any other shortcuts that produce illusory test scores that might elevate the reputations of school administrators and politicians but actually do nothing to really raise standards or lift up our children." Gore also criticized Bush's voucher plan, saying it would drain public money away from the public schools that educate 90 percent of the country's children. Bush's plan, he said, would provide vouchers for such small amounts that only one child in 20 would be able to leave a failing public school and go to private school. He also said Bush's plan would order states to offer vouchers whether they want them or not, and it would force states to pick up the tab. "Governor Bush says he doesn't want a national superintendent of schools, but his mandatory voucher plan would make Washington a national private school headmaster."