Ds and Fs for No Child Left Behind

[LWolf]

By Chris Levister

<snip>

Nearly four years into the federal No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) the nation’s urban school districts have shown little benefit from the law which mandated annual reading and math tests for all students in grades 3 through 8. But the most worrisome trend is that most urban schools are making no progress in reducing the achievement gap between white and minority students. That’s the word from eleven large urban school districts including Los Angeles.

Some of us easily predicted this when the standards/testing behemoth stomped into town, for those few who were listening.

<snip>

“Our children have been hijacked and shackled by bad policy and bad politics,” says Marian Wright Elderman, president of the Children’s Defense Fund. Elderman who has accused the administration of stealing her successful child achievement concept, is both worried and angry.

“This nation has squandered away four years and billions of dollars in education funding. Our children have been tested to death, forced to regurgitate and at the end of the day they haven’t learned to do basic reading and math or much less learned to think. It’s a national shame,” said Elderman.

It sure is. You know what else is a national shame? That parents and all voters in the general population allowed this to happen; that they didn't stand up and say "NO" when the hijacking occurred.

<snip>

When the Assessment Board did the math the trend showed in the last two to three years achievement gaps between Blacks, Latinos and whites has stayed the same. And in cities like Los Angeles the gap is widening.

That’s really bad news for the Bush administration because during that period of time the White House insisted that under NCLB the gap is closing.

It's only really bad news if people will hold the Bush administration and the Democratic congresspeople who supported this weapon of mass public education destruction legislation accountable. In all of the cacaphony surrounding accountability, no one seems to want to be accountable in Washington, and the Bush administration is accountable to no one.

The rest:

http://www.blackvoicenews.com/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=3945&mode=thread&order=0&thold=0

[TallahasseeGrannie]

1. In my school

we call it the 'NO SCHOOL LEFT STANDING ACT.'

[kcass1954]

2. No surprise - I'm the parent of a child being left behind.

Damn schools are teaching a straight FCAT curriculum. My son's having math trouble - he does not know the basic math facts, and no one in the school has ever let us know that. He got A's and B's in 3rd grade, and is on track to for the chance to do 4th grade again.

Also, 4th graders take the "Florida Writes" test in February. He has maybe 1 writing assignment every week. When my older son was in 4th grade, he had daily writing assignments beginning in October.

Our kids are being taught what they need to take the stupid tests, not what they need to know to be successful.

I hate Jebbie!

[LWolf]

8. Yes.

All of the "accountability" measures in NCLB assume that it is incompetent teachers, and their admins, that are responsible for achievement gaps. In reality, it is the national abandonment of the underclasses that the U.S. government, and the voters who keep them in office, that create that gap.

What NCLB does, with it's threats and sanctions, is to first narrow curriculum, and then narrow how that curriculum can be taught. It starts as soon as a school doesn't make AYP for 2 years in a row; districts start scrambling to appease the sanctioners, and part of that appeasement is using their approved "programs," staff developers, etc., and regulating and standardizing every breath that takes place in classrooms. Teachers have 3 choices: toe the line, find another district that isn't yet under the gun, or leave the profession.

I chose door number 2.

[countingbluecars]

3. NCLB is a setup for failure.

I have watched in dismay as NCLB has shifted the focus in education from teaching thinking/problem solving strategies to teaching factual recall/test taking skills. Just a few years ago my school district was offering staff development courses based on learning models that recognized individual differences and learning styles. I took courses like "The Artistry of Teaching", "Thoughtful Assessment", "Multiple Intelligences", "Children's Engineering and Design". Today most of our staff development is about how to interpret and improve test results.

[LWolf]

4. Exactly.

I conferenced with a parent this week; a doctor concerned with the decline in enthusiasm for learning his children exhibit, and the more rigid curriculum. When I reminded him that the problem is nation wide, not local, and that our local area has actually done a really good job trying to resist the march to standardized regimentation, he agreed, and sighed in discouragement.

[WindRavenX]

5. NCLB is the worst piece of legislation to come out in decades

And that says a lot.

[LWolf]

7. Yes, and that assessment raises a question:

Am I, as a teacher, unreasonable in resenting the bipartisan group of reps that helped craft it, or the general population that has put it on the back burner as "bad, but not a priority?"

[leftofthedial]

6. everything this bunch of criminals does gets an F

except making money for Halliburton, Carlyle Group and the Saudis.