It sounds great to the public but if you really research it and understand it you will see how ridiculous it is.  The government promises all this money to make it possible then they don't deliver and blame it on the schools.  Unrealistic!!! 

MommyH2 Jan. 23, 2008 at 1:43 PM

NCLB SUCKS!!!!!!! For one it does not work!!!!  I grew up in a public school system and believe me there were many children who tried but the teachers were like oh well if you dont get it you dont get it!! Um excuse me but you are supposed to make sure every child succeeds no matter what! Secondly in Va we have the SOLs which push so much material that the teachers are forced to make students memorize instead of learn so they can get through the material faster.And if you fall behind they pull you out of another class to give you help while you are failing the class they took you out of. I am so ready for change. This is the main reason i am saving up so my children are able to go to a private christian academy this fall.

willandbrismom Jan. 23, 2008 at 1:52 PM

why is it bad?  and how do i research it?  (in the beginning process of becoming a teacher and i'm not sure!)

ilovecasey Jan. 23, 2008 at 2:57 PM

I think school systems are overloaded and this type of program isn't going to help.  I think parents are going to have to be more active in educating their kids.

psychessun Jan. 23, 2008 at 3:01 PM

I am reading a book called "Many Children Left Behind: How the NCLB act is Damaging our children and our schools" by Meier et.al. http://nochildleft.com/2004/sept04book.html  

It helps clarify a lot. Until then, here's my summary of it:

For one thing, NCLB it binds teachers' hands

They don't get to teach so that children learn to the best of their abilities. It mainly focuses on testing (the MSA). They don't get to teach as they see fit, the way they learned in their teacher training programs (the best teaching practices). Instead, they have to teach the material that will be on the tests.
Which, in the end, is not real learning.

Your children will be learning how to take tests rather than to think critically. Teachers have to introduce a lot of new material very shallowly rather than take time to let it sink in. They have too many standards to reach, and that interferes with learning subject matter on a deeper level. If they barely understand a topic, it doesn't matter. They have to move on to the next subject.

 Also, another problem it causes is that it punishes schools that need help from the government the most. Moneywise, that is. If a school is deemed 'failing', funds are taken away from them...and they may even have to close a school.

This not only affects the students, but teacher quality as well. When a school is labeled 'failing', what teacher, in their right mind, wants to start a career there? They'll end up looking for a new job in a few years once the school closes. So, what happens is, these 'failing' schools get the only teachers they can...those who are not qualified, have not gotten a degree, and are basically off the streets; thus, maintaining the poor quality of education these unfortunate students are getting.

I'll be graduating with my masters in Teaching this December (i'm a career changer) and am pondering whether or not to begin my career in the schools that need it the most. If i do, I fear I'll end up burnt out very fast and leaving the profession altogether. I think a lot of new teachers opt out of this as well.

The system simply doesn't work.

There's so much. But these are the main points, I guess.

I see that I have rambled on.
Clearly I am very passionate about it and I'm not even in the profession yet.  :)

mybabies Jan. 23, 2008 at 3:17 PM

Oops, the MSA refers to the tests in Maryland. Sorry.

mybabies Jan. 23, 2008 at 3:18 PM

This is taken from the government's Dept. of Ed. website:

ED currently administers a budget of about $67.2 billion per year—$57.5 billion in discretionary appropriations and $9.7 billion in mandatory appropriations—and operates programs that touch on every area and level of education. The Department's elementary and secondary programs annually serve more than 14,000 school districts and approximately 56 million students attending some 94,000 public schools and 28,000 private schools. Department programs also provide grant, loan, and work-study assistance to more than 10 million post-secondary students.

$67.2 billion dollars - it doesn't seem like much written that way - but look at all of these zeros, = $67,200,000,000 for 66 million (66,000,000) students!  This does not include state and local funding.  One thing is does accomplish is to provide McGraw-Hill and companies of the like with an enormous amount of cash for a system of tools and techniques that are downright wasteful and useless.  It puts an enormous burden on local school boards and takes away from the necessary three R's.

We need to get back to basics and parents need to get involved.  Especially if they are illiterate or need help with their own education.  Children need to really learn not memorize.  They are not computers.  Remember, if we put garbage in, we get garbage out~

Della529 Jan. 23, 2008 at 5:52 PM

And I bet the schools that get all this funding are the ones that aren't deemed 'failing'. That's how you get funding...if you doing well.

 Oh, and don't forget, schools that are on the border of failing often transfer the 'unsuccessful' students to other failing schools so their AYP (the grading system for schools) remains high. All it takes is one subgroup to do poorly on a test and the AYP decreases enough so you're deemed 'failing'. 

How on Earth does this help those students? :(

What can we do about it all? 

mybabies Jan. 24, 2008 at 8:35 AM

Accountability is not bad, in and of itself. 

Asking schools to make progress is good.  NCLB is unrealistic.  It says that a student (we have a few) with an 75 IQ is going to answer questions on grade level (8th) when he reads at a first grade level.  A better "accountability" system would reward the school if we helped said student read at a 2nd or 3rd grade level (improving a level or better each school year).  After all, teachers in grades 2 - 7 weren't able to do it.  That would be major progress. (and may still be unattainable, even with all the resources available).

I've heard (but haven't seen it yet) that there were changes made last year that allowed schools to count progress if students went from Below Basic to Basic (that's huge for some kids) or from Proficient to Advanced.  Before, the only change that counted was from Basic to Proficient.  So you can see that schools would focus only on the kids who were close to reaching Prof.  (how many kids would be left behind then?)

I'm all for teachers being persuaded to stretch out of their box (Students, turn to p. 311 and do 1-20  - that's a thing of the past.)  Teachers should be using research-based teaching techniques and strategies that reach more students, and should be rewarded for showing progress with their kids.  But first, teachers have to be coached on how to teach better, and have good teaching modeled for them, and then be supported in their efforts to teach in new ways. (Incorporating technology, making activities creative rather than repetitive, collaborating with other teachers, etc.)

If you want a great resource, try Strategies That Work.  Our school uses it a lot, and we've reached AYP. (at least for this year!)  LOL (but not really funny).

 

3gymnastsmom Feb. 16, 2008 at 9:11 AM