by Phillip Coorey, SMH

A program in which every school child in Australia would be given an identity number so their academic progress could be tracked through their school life is expected to be announced by the federal government as early as today.

The Herald understands the number, to be known as a ”unique student identifier”, will be annexed to the My School program, which publishes the performance of individual schools on the internet.

The number would allow the performance of individual students in each of the core subjects to be monitored for the duration of their school life so their progress could be measured.

The Education Minister, Julia Gillard, is expected to announce the proposal in a speech today at the National Press Club where she will also canvass a draft of the new national curriculum to be released next Monday.

The curriculum, a plank in the government’s so-called ”education revolution”, will apply to maths, English, history and the sciences and be taught at all schools, starting next year.

The ”unique student identifier” is expected to cause controversy and raise privacy concerns.

A senior source said strict privacy provisions would restrict its use to those who needed the information, such as parents. Protections would be built in to stop third parties being able to identify students.

The My School website is updated once a year and grades each school on its NAPLAN performance in reading, writing, spelling, grammar and punctuation, and numeracy for years three, five, seven and nine. Parents are sent the NAPLAN test results for their child each year.

The new identity number would allow parents and other concerned parties to access a database documenting the child’s performance throughout their time at school, regardless of how many schools they attended and whether they shifted interstate.

A student’s strengths and weaknesses could be monitored and addressed as their education progressed.

It is understood Ms Gillard will promote the measure as another way of ensuring maximum school performance. She may also signal the extension of the My School program to year 12.

A source said the identity number would be introduced after the next round of NAPLAN tests in May, possibly before the federal election.

Its implementation will be overseen by the Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority.

Teacher unions, which oppose My School, are threatening to boycott the tests this year.

Read the rest at this link.

Infowars.com

To President Obama and all 535 voting members of the Legislature,

It is now official you are ALL CORRUPT MORONS:

The U.S. Post Service was established in 1775 You have had 234 years to get it right and it is broke.

Social Security was established in 1935. You have had 74 years to get it right and it is broke.

Fannie Mae was established in 1938. You have had 71 years to get it right and it is broke.

War on Poverty started in 1964. You have had 45 years to get it right; $1 trillion of our money is confiscated each year and transferred to “the poor” and they only want more.

Medicare and Medicaid were established in 1965. You have had 44 years to get it right and they are broke.

Freddie Mac was established in 1970. You have had 39 years to get it right and it is broke.

The Department of Energy was created in 1977 to lessen our dependence on foreign oil. It has ballooned to 16,000 employees with a budget of $24 billion a year and we import more oil than ever before. You had 32 years to get it right and it is an abysmal failure.

You have FAILED in every “government service” you have shoved down our throats while overspending our tax dollars AND YOU WANT AMERICANS TO BELIEVE YOU CAN BE TRUSTED WITH A GOVERNMENT-RUN HEALTH CARE SYSTEM??

Folks, keep this circulating. It is very well stated. Maybe it will end up in the e-mails of some of our “duly elected officials” in Washington !! IN GOD WE TRUST