Quote:
Originally Posted by epchick
Really unless you are a teacher, you won't really 'get' why there is so much hostility towards NCLB. It is a good system, in theory, but it hasn't been implemented properly.
ETA:
That's actually not true. NCLB may not be directly responsible for it, but there are consequences if schools don't meet AYP. If a school doesn't meet AYP, they get put on a growth plan (like i mentioned earlier). If after the 5th year, a school doesn't meet AYP (in any area) then the school will be taken over by the "government." It will be up to them what would happen to the teachers..they could keep them, dismiss them all, or just dismiss some of them.
That has been something that has been in place since the beginning of NCLB. I never had to take the TAKS (the TAKS started the year after me) but even then I heard that if the students didn't pass the TAKS, then teachers could be fired.
Like I mentioned before, there is one school in this area that is on their 5th year not meeting AYP's graduation rate (and we've already talked about that). If they don't bring up their graduation rate, then the school will be taken over.
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All the examples mentioned about outcomes for individual teachers are things the district COULD do, but they aren't things required by NCLB. There's nothing that requires that teachers from reorganized schools will be terminated, and honestly, I don't expect them to, especially if they are performing in the average or above range for the particular kids they serve. And in my experience, principals and districts know who teaches classes with more kids less likely to do well since in practice most places, they aren't equally distributed. If the particular teacher is performing worse that other teachers with comparable kids year after year, then he or she probably should be evaluated accordingly.
Districts taking tests scores seriously may be a product of NCLB, but how they respond to those test results is pretty much still up to them and I think anyone would be hard pressed to find examples of teachers getting fired for their special education students' performance. Pressured? Sure. Compelled to attend ridiculous time consuming meetings that do nothing to increase student performance, sure. But actually formally evaluated in a way detrimental to their careers, not so much.
And the thing about any special ed issues is that you kind of have to ask if special education STUDENTS were actually receiving better academic instruction before they counted in the data this much. If we're honest with ourselves, I think it's pretty clear that they weren't. They were much more likely to be in programs that didn't really push them very much academically, especially if they had parents who the district wasn't worried would sue. The present system may judge schools for their performance in a kind of unfair way, but I think the cases where it harms the kid are outnumbered by the benefits to kids who receive much more targeted academic instruction.
I'm not saying NCLB is flawless certainly, but it isn't really the great ruin of public education the way some educators and parents would make it out to be.