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* From a Sun-Times editorial…

One promising proposal that will be brought to the Legislature when it reconvenes would offer prisoners at least 50 years old who have served at least 25 years an opportunity to go before the Illinois Prisoner Review Board and request parole. By no means should all these inmates be freed, but those who are ill or who have changed their behavior should be considered.

Older prisoners cost the state roughly $75,000 a year, prison reform advocates estimate, compared with the average of about $22,000.

Wow.

* The Tribune gets a bit snippy over some numbers…

The leaders of Chicago Public Schools thrilled the crowd last week with the announcement that the system will drop a raft of standardized tests beginning this school year.

Teachers have complained that standardized tests drain valuable class time and constrict what they can teach. Some parents have joined the chorus, arguing that their children spend too little time on instruction and too much time drilling for test prep. At a Chicago Tribune forum this year, schools CEO Barbara Byrd-Bennett got lots of applause when she emphatically stated that kids take too many tests.

The new move means CPS will administer 10 tests this year across all grade levels, down from 25. […]

We suppose there has been test creep, but pardon us if we don’t join the hallelujah chorus.

Test creep? It looks more like test takeover.

* SJ-R...

Gov. Pat Quinn has signed into law a bill that allows gambling winnings to be seized to pay past-due child support. The bill is effective immediately.

Under the bill, larger winnings that are required to be reported to the Internal Revenue Service on form W-2G can be seized to pay overdue child support owed by the gambler. Those winnings include things like $1,200 or more from a slot machine or $600 on a $2 bet on the horses.

* From a press release…

Thanks to a bill signed into law last week, victims of child sex abuse will now be able to obtain justice.

“As we have seen time and again, people are often well into their adult lives before they are psychologically capable of coming forward about abuse inflicted on them as children,” said State Senator John Mulroe (D-10th), the bill’s co-sponsor. “By then, the timetable may have run out, making it impossible to seek justice from abusers.”

Senate Bill 1399 removes the statute of limitations for civil actions based on childhood sexual abuse. Under former law, the statute of limitations to report childhood sexual abuse was 20 years from the date the victim recalls the abuse. The new law, which will go into effect January 1, 2014, removes the statute of limitations altogether, allowing a person to bring a civil action based on childhood sexual abuse at any time.

posted by Rich Miller
Tuesday, Aug 13, 13 @ 10:31 am

Comments

I went to school with a person who committed an horrific crime not long after graduation. He would be in his late 50s now. He should NOT be allowed out of prison. The Doors song comes to mind - “there’s a killer on the road, his brain is squirming like a toad”.

Comment by dupage dan Tuesday, Aug 13, 13 @ 11:03 am
I suppose one question is, where are the older prisoners going to go and will there be services to keep them in the community. Giving them a bus ticket and lunch money won’t be enough for those with few family ties, especially those who are chronically ill, which is many, I imagine.

I think this is a good idea, but I foresee implementation problems, not to mention the usual suspects who profit economically from overstuffed prisons doing the usual scare-mongering.

Comment by Cassandra Tuesday, Aug 13, 13 @ 11:14 am
And as to standardized tests, I understand the objections, but haven’t they become a gateway to educational and professional success in the US. Some competitive colleges and professional schools may have dropped them as admission criteria but I believe many still require them. Those prep courses are still raking in the $$.
So children who don’t learn how to take these tests may well be at a disadvantage, especially in neighborhoods where the parents can’t afford the fancy prep courses.

Comment by Cassandra Tuesday, Aug 13, 13 @ 11:20 am
Re: CPS. This will be an interesting experiment. If we reduce the number of standardized tests, what will be the effect on test score? See you in a few years…

Comment by Cincinnatus Tuesday, Aug 13, 13 @ 11:22 am
Looks like some more Trib editorial board zealotry on the testing issue. If the teachers are for it, it gotta be bad!

Comment by My thoughts... Tuesday, Aug 13, 13 @ 11:32 am
The problem with releasing the prisoners comes down to whether they want to leave. It seems counter intuitive but i have known several inmates who violated parole to come back to prison because of health care issues. Most had renal failure. Many of the inmates that are costing 75k+ a year are not going to want to leave and if they leave they may decide to come back. As Cassandra mentioned when they need that high priced medical care it is going to look very inviting to recommit and let the state cover it.

Comment by Mason born Tuesday, Aug 13, 13 @ 11:34 am
“Test creep?” That’s a new one! Unless they’re talking about the creeps who think standardized tests really measure anything worth knowing …

http://theclosedcampus.org/2012/10/05/659/standardized-test-cartoon-picture-2/#.Ugphwb_FFz8

Comment by olddog Tuesday, Aug 13, 13 @ 11:43 am
“who have served at least 25 years”

There is usually a good reason they have been sentenced to over 25 years.

And that reason ain’t pretty.

Comment by Keep Calm and Carry On Tuesday, Aug 13, 13 @ 12:06 pm
Test creep, my foot. The explosion in standardized testing is big business, with costs now approaching $1 billion a year.

It’s an expensive scam that leads to teaching-to-the-tests and cheating. Has very little to do with learning.

One of the big proponents of testing, Michelle Rhee, formerly DC schools chancellor and now head of StudentsFirst, is lucky she wasn’t indicted for the massive test cheating there that, before it was discovered, showed “great reults.”

Now she now flogs for the testing industry, all in the “interests of the children.”

Comment by wordslinger Tuesday, Aug 13, 13 @ 12:37 pm
There’s big money in offering assessment tests, then selling school districts expensive academic programs guaranteed to produce multi-year growth. These programs use doctored scores and tables to measure improvement that isn’t really there. The 21st century’s new con game. (Actually, these test-training scams usually result in loss, not growth.)

The Tribune doesn’t care; they see testing as the way to judge and bounce incompetent teachers. They’re not interested in student progress.

Comment by Wensicia Tuesday, Aug 13, 13 @ 4:48 pm