The Department of Defense (DoD) doesn’t follow No Child Left Behind, nor Race to the Top. Standardized tests are not the focus of education, said Leigh Anne Kapiko, principal at one of the seven schools at Camp Lejeune Marine base in North Carolina. “We don’t have to be so regimented, since we’re not worried about a child’s ability to bubble on a test,” she added.
Indeed, the DoD doesn’t “micromanage” its teachers, and provides schools the autonomy to make their own curricular decisions. Ms. Kapiko is allowed “discretion in how to evaluate her teachers,” whereas “under Mr. Obama’s education agenda, state governments can now dictate to principals how to run their schools.”
It appears, the children of military families have performed better because the DoD recognizes the importance of class size and life outside the classroom; both of which are largely ignored or marginalized by the current crop of corporate reformers. The military classes are on average 18 students and “Military parents do not have to worry about securing health care coverage for their children or adequate housing”.
“NYT: Dept. of Defense Less Strict than Dept. of Education”,
Author: Adam Bessie
Source: The Daily Censored, December 11, 2011.
URL—http://dailycensored.com/2011/12/11/nyt-dept-of-defense-less-strict-than-dept-of-education/
Student Researcher: Laura O’Rourke, Sonoma State University
Faculty Evaluator: Eric Williams, Sonoma State University