by Julia Rosen [courtesy of Calitics - Front Page]

by Brian Leubitz [courtesy of Calitics - Front Page]



The Obama rally in San Francisco was your typical presidential rally. There were a bunch of people announcing they were endorsing him, including Reps. George Miller and Barbara Lee (who actually had already announced) and Supes Peskin, Daly, Dufty, and Maxwell. I imagine others will come on board the Obama train soon from what I hear.

Barbara Lee is always inspiring, but I'm always pleasantly surprised when I see George Miller in person. I don't know if it's just that he's not all that telegenic or something, but he's just one of those people who is better in person.  Others attending included Asm. Wilma Chan, SF DA Kamala Harris and Steve Westly. You can check out more photos of the event at my Flickr set .

[courtesy of The California Majority Report]

Julia Rosen at Calitics and the DailyKos has spilled extensive virtual ink battling Speaker Nancy Pelosi's and Congressperson George Miller's No Child Left Behind (NCLB) overhaul. No less than five posts (here, here, here, here, and here) are up refuting the policy, and an ad campaign is circulating around the progressive blogosphere too.

So what's the problem? As Julia explains, "The current proposal still relies on just test scores, instead of multiple measures of student and school success like attendance/graduation rates, a rigorous curriculum and the number of students taking honors and AP classes."

A singular emphasis on standardized testing also ignores regional differences. English as a Second Language and high rates of household poverty will drive scores down at precisely the schools that need the most resources. Indeed, NCLB's nationwide performance review ignores schools that have had marked improvements but still have not reached the federal minimum standard. Rosen again:

by Julia Rosen [courtesy of Calitics - Front Page]

(full disclosure: California Teacher's Association has hired me to do online outreach on NCLB)

x-posted on dkos

There are a lot of things wrong with NCLB, so why are George Miller and Nancy Pelosi insisting on adding new problems.  More specifically, adding a federal merit pay program for teachers.  First of all, studies have shown that merit pay just does not work.  It leads to divisiveness in the teaching ranks, makes hiring more difficult and tends to go to teachers in affluent school districts, despite promises to the contrary.  Just about every school that implements merit pay repeals it down the road.

by EmilyDu [courtesy of Calitics - Front Page]

Representatives Ellen Tauscher (CA 10th) and Jerry McNerney (CA 11th (with some guy inbetween). From Tauscher's website.

by Brian Leubitz [courtesy of Calitics - Front Page]

Well, George Miller gets many things.  That much can be seen through his stellar 93.52 score on Progressive Punch, but I'm specifically referring to his Internet game.

George Miller has a facebook account, but that's fairly common. Rep. Miller also has a Facebook Group. Ok, that's cooler, but still not unique.  But how many other Congress critters have their own Facebook app? Well, your answer would be 0. Toss in his cool "Ask George" website on the House server, and you have the Congressional leader in internet advocacy.

Rep. Miller gets the importance of the internet and two-way communication.  His Ask George Group specifically asks for questions and comments on issues that concern constituents, and netroots folks.

So, how cool would this be for, say, the governor? Or, wait, maybe George Miller could be our governor!  How sweet would that be.  I might need to start up a draft George Miller for 2010 right now. Summary of links over the flip...