Education Commissioner Lyonel Tracy

Heterogeneous grouping and standards based grading are being perpetrated upon us here in Maine as well. I have studied this issue at length as the parent of four sons and I reject the notion that this is good for our students. I even phone interviewed Dr. Tom Loveless at the Brookings Institution who is opposed to this educational model, but my research was ignored by my local district. I have moved my high school age son to Hebron Academy, where his gifts will not be ignored because hard working teachers are so busy helping struggling students in the same classroom setting. This is a tremendous financial hardship for our family, but we have no choice. Parents of public school students under this model will tell you it's a horror. The NH education commissioner is simply out of touch with reality, as is Susan Gendron here in Maine.

Why do you insinuate that there isn't accountability already required? Why do you endorse bills restricting and burdening homeschoolers when there are laws in place already providing annual educational results?

There is no silver bullet, but the largest single contributing factor to a child’s academic success is parental involvement. Too many of the policies the DOE is supporting ask parents who are doing a great job to abdicate control so that the state can address the problems created by a few. How about some policies that restructure education so that the job of educating the next generation really IS a shared responsibility between the parent and the teacher? I appreciate Commissioner Tracey’s advocacy for a growth model, but NH could push back meaningfully against NCLB, which takes control away from parents and teachers. Give parents (not the district) the right to choose between public, charter, private, and parent-taught content on a course-by-course basis. Require the parent (not the student) to obtain the waiver for an alternative learning plan (see RSA 193:1(h), effective 7/1/09). Make the grievance process for special education less cumbersome for parents. Stop supporting bills that eliminate the autonomy of homeschooling parents – they already are required to provide annual evaluations. Devote as much attention to solving the charter school funding issue as to the funding issues of district public schools, so parents can have meaningful choices.

Thank you commissioner Tracy for realizing that it is your "time". Your true knowledge, or lack of, shined like a beacon in the night. I refer to your comments on HB367 & HB368 when those issues were raised, you may review it if you would like it was recorded for history. You made it quite obvious that you have no clue as to the Home Schooling laws that already exist in the State of New Hampshire or you have some hidden agenda. You gave listeners the impression that Home Schoolers are not held accountable by any means. When in fact there are laws in place and we already do have to submit yearly progress to our School Superintendents for evaluation. How else would you know that there are some who are "falling through the cracks" as claimed, and I am sure there are some. I think time would be better spent helping those who "fell" rather than reinventing the mechanism that found them, because it sounds to me like the current laws work.