NCLB

[Kevin]

Here in OKC, NCLB has been great. My wife, a teacher hates it. My mother, a teacher, hates it... I just have to point out to them that despite the fact that they have to put up with this annoying testing, the benefits realized by the students have been great.

Here in Oklahoma City, our public schools have year after year been complete failures. NCLB finally held them accountable. The result? Charter schools moved in -- a lot of charter schools. Now, those same kids who were dropping out are going to college.

It seems that most of the opponents of NCLB are laser-focused on the success of our schools. Unfortunately, they seem to be so focused on that aspect of things that they forget all about the success of the students.

[KSig RC]

Originally Posted by Kevin

Here in OKC, NCLB has been great. My wife, a teacher hates it. My mother, a teacher, hates it... I just have to point out to them that despite the fact that they have to put up with this annoying testing, the benefits realized by the students have been great.

Here in Oklahoma City, our public schools have year after year been complete failures. NCLB finally held them accountable. The result? Charter schools moved in -- a lot of charter schools. Now, those same kids who were dropping out are going to college.

It seems that most of the opponents of NCLB are laser-focused on the success of our schools. Unfortunately, they seem to be so focused on that aspect of things that they forget all about the success of the students.

This may be why the program was not called "No Teacher Left Behind" - it appears quite a few have been . . . although I must admit, teachers make the best half-assed analogies to distribute via email.

[JonInKC]

Talkin' out of turn - that's a paddlin'.

Starin' at my sandles - that's a paddlin'.

Paddlin' the school canoe? Oh you better BELIEVE that's a paddlin'.

[DolphinChicaDDD]

I can't believe I'm going to get into this...

In theory, NCLB is great. In practice, unless you are from a wealthy, upperclass neighborhood where mommy and daddy give a damn, it doesn't work and it never will work. NCLB will only work IF the STUDENTS want to work. I have 5 students who flat out will not do work, and because I push them to do work and fail them, they told me they will fail their standardized test so that I get in trouble for it. Why am I going to get in trouble for it? Because despite the fact they had different science teachers for the last 10 years or so, I am the teacher on record. I am their science teacher for the year they took the exam. So the results fall back on me. When they fail the test, it becomes my fault.

I also believe the reliance on standardized testing has lead our children to not be able to think. They are so accustomed to have a question, and be able to pick out the answer from the few in front of them, that they are unable to complete the simplest task that invovled a small amount of thinking. Five times this year, I asked for an opnion paper about something we researched, ie- stem cell research, genetic engineering, evolution, etc. Each time, I recived a research paper in return, not the required paper. Hell, last time I had 60 movie review of the movie GATTCA, when all they needed to write was a one page reaction on how they would feel living in a world like the one in the film.

NCLB is one of the reasons I will be leaving the education world in June. I will not be held accountable if the students and families are not held accountable. I will not stress myself out daily when they will not take a book home and do homework, and I will not exhaust myself when the parents won't care enough to make sure they do work either.

When society has come back to the point where responsibility comes back to students and parents, then I will come back to teaching.

But I'm not holding my breath.

[Kevin]

Originally Posted by DolphinChicaDDD

I can't believe I'm going to get into this...

In theory, NCLB is great. In practice, unless you are from a wealthy, upperclass neighborhood where mommy and daddy give a damn, it doesn't work and it never will work. NCLB will only work IF the STUDENTS want to work. I have 5 students who flat out will not do work, and because I push them to do work and fail them, they told me they will fail their standardized test so that I get in trouble for it. Why am I going to get in trouble for it? Because despite the fact they had different science teachers for the last 10 years or so, I am the teacher on record. I am their science teacher for the year they took the exam. So the results fall back on me. When they fail the test, it becomes my fault.

It's very interesting that you say that -- in OKC, NCLB has been very unkind to our public school system. The result has been a huge surge in charter schools. These charter schools primarily serve the poorest parts of town. My wife works at one of those schools. The school is well over half minority and vast majority are on assisted lunch plans. They have a fraction of the funding that the local public schools get (who just got a several million dollar infusion of money from the city in a sales tax we passed)... despite many of those factors which should be weighing against them, they expect a lot out of their kids and they get a lot. They had one of the top NCLB scores in the entire state last year and this year will be again looking at the top spot -- that's in comparison to the rich suburban schools with college educated parents, that's in comparison to the magnet schools which skim off the best and brightest from the public system, that's compared to a lot of things -- and they're at the top.

There's also the KIP Academy (a middle school)... it's over 95% black and is in what would probably be considered the 'worst' part of town. They have school from early in the morning 'til around 5:30 in the evening. They top that off with about 3 hours of homework. Consequently, about 85% of their graduates end up in college.

I could name off many other success stories, but it's plain to see that these charter schools (which probably wouldn't exist but for NCLB) are doing great things for their students.

Sorry about your situation, but as RC pointed out, NCLB is not "No Teacher Left Behind." Someone has to be accountable for these students' success and failure and currently, the only people we can hold accountable are the ones we pay to teach them.

As far as your arguments on standardized testing go, I'm going to have to respectfully disagree. If the American Bar Association thinks that standardized testing is okay for admitting people to the practice of law, then it's fine with me.

Of course, at my wife's school, that's not really an issue. Standardized tests are not allowed -- all tests are 100% essay.

Your 5 kids were going to flunk anyhow -- and they probably bring other kids down with them.

Why not allow those other kids to leave your school and go somewhere where they might have a better shot at success?

I also believe the reliance on standardized testing has lead our children to not be able to think. They are so accustomed to have a question, and be able to pick out the answer from the few in front of them, that they are unable to complete the simplest task that invovled a small amount of thinking. Five times this year, I asked for an opnion paper about something we researched, ie- stem cell research, genetic engineering, evolution, etc. Each time, I recived a research paper in return, not the required paper. Hell, last time I had 60 movie review of the movie GATTCA, when all they needed to write was a one page reaction on how they would feel living in a world like the one in the film.

NCLB is one of the reasons I will be leaving the education world in June. I will not be held accountable if the students and families are not held accountable. I will not stress myself out daily when they will not take a book home and do homework, and I will not exhaust myself when the parents won't care enough to make sure they do work either.

When society has come back to the point where responsibility comes back to students and parents, then I will come back to teaching.

But I'm not holding my breath.

[DolphinChicaDDD]

I agree, Charter schools can be great.

Keep in mind, though, a student in a charter school has opted to be there. Usually, parents must go with their children to sign up/enter the lottery for a charter school, thus the parent/family cares what is going on with that student.

[Kevin]

Originally Posted by DolphinChicaDDD

I agree, Charter schools can be great.

Keep in mind, though, a student in a charter school has opted to be there. Usually, parents must go with their children to sign up/enter the lottery for a charter school, thus the parent/family cares what is going on with that student.

That's not always the case though. There are kids at this school who have been dumped by their families and thrown out by age 14 or 15. A couple have even been taken in by teachers.

But let's go back to your classroom.. you say you have 5 kids who are doomed to fail.. that means you have what..25 kids who are possibly going to succeed? Would you say that just about every teacher in your district is going to have similar results due to the kids coming from fairly similar backgrounds?

Assuming your classroom is composed of a fair cross section of the community, you, personally shouldn't be in trouble. Maybe the school, but as I recall, there are allowances for lower expectations of schools in certain areas.

At some point, there has to be a choice made between what's best for our students and what's best for our schools. I'm completely convinced that NCLB is great for our students and can be devastating and even unfair to some schools. In my mind though, the benefits definitely outweigh the costs.

I think it's really great that a quality education is now available to basically anyone who wants one... or is that bad?