No child left behind - what do you think?

[Kimberle]

Is it working?

People in my community & state are getting very upset & frustrated. I'll give you an example:

My dd will be starting kindergarten in the fall. There are 13 elementary schools in my town. We "lucked out" to have boughten our home in one of the best. There were abt 3 put on the "NCLB warning list". Many of Brittany's friends are slated to attend this school. One of my employees children attend (her ds is now in middle school, her dd in 2nd grade.) This school is a Spanish Imersion school as well. Hense, many immigrent children are buses so they can attend their classes in Spanish. When the NCLB tests are given, many of the children don't do well because they just don't "understand" Many of the parents of Brittany's friends are panicing & looking for private schools. My employee says it is just like any other school, the kids who want to do "well" and have involved parents, do well.

I also have friends from all over the country who feel the teaching now is to "focused" on the constant preperation for these tests. Learning subjects such as art, are minimulized because they have no effect on the test scores. I have a couple of friends who've just pulled their kids out to homeschool out of this frustration.

Since my dd is going to be starting kindergarten in the fall, this is a whole new ballpark for me. I was educated in the rural mid-west. The education system is just so different now.

What do you think?

 

[GEM]

I think it STINKS!! It forces teachers to do nothing but teach the tests and it punishes teachers and school districts for having students with less than involved parents. Until parents are willing to get involved with their children's education, children are going to be left behind. Not much the teachers can do about it. The teachers in our district now spend weeks doing nothing but teaching test material in hopes of improving scores. No art, no music, no creativity for the teachers or the students. That's not why most of them went into the teaching profession. And, in the end, it doesn't help the students at all.

 

[Allie322]

Welcome to the fabulous world of public education! It can be so frustrating. I have 2 children, one in 4th grade, the other in 6th. (The 6th grade here is in the elementary school.) The school they attend has been ranked as "Low Performing, Not Improving" for the past few years but because we are not a Title I school, school choice is not an option. Having said that, I am very happy with the education my children are receiving. The reason: they are both in the Elementary Enrichment program (euphemism for accelerated or gifted). They consistently score "with honors" on standardized tests and achieve all 'A's on their report cards. This is all well and good for my kids but to get back to your original post, I think that NCLB hurts the middle of the road student. The overachievers receive services, and more and more money is being directed at the underachievers, and pity the poor kid in the middle! They are the ones left behind.
This is just my opinion....if your child is bright, the public school is the place for him/her. In most cases, these children will be sufficiently challenged and programs are often available. The same goes for children who need extra help. There are reading specialists, literacy coaches, OTs, PTs, etc. in the public schools to help children succeed. Which again leaves that middle of the roader to fend for himself.
Again, this is just my point of view and it is from my experiences.

 

[CRB#33]

What is terribly frustrating for a teacher, especially a special education teacher, is that these learning diabled children are not factored into the equation correctly. They contribute to the failure rate of a school with no allowances made for most of them.

My SIL teaches English as a second language. Most of these children are extremely bright. They cannot read English yet. During these tests, my SIL cannot help them read the questions in anyway. Questions these children can answer if they were translated to them. It doesn't matter if the child just moved here or if they have been in ESL classes for years. They are counted the same and in her school district attribute to the failing rating that many of the elementary schools get.

When many of your students are truly learning disabled or immigrants who haven't mastered the language yet, how on earth are you ever supposed to help them if you can't get a "proficient" rating? If you have a failure rate, you lose funds! These are the schools that need MORE help, not LESS.

It stinks.

It's a political thing thought up by people who have no idea what they're talking about.

 

[buzzlady]

Originally posted by Allie322
There are reading specialists, literacy coaches, OTs, PTs, etc. in the public schools to help children succeed.

Yes, public schools have the OTs, PT and reading specialists, but try to get a NON-Classified child to receive the service. It took me months after DS7 was evaluated to get him into OT. The big question was who was going to pay for it since he was not classified. I finally had to go to the head of Special Svc. and have it taken care of.

As for my DS11 I find that they are being taught a new math skill daily. They aren't giving these kids time to master any of these skills. There is just too much that needs to be covered in order for these state tests.

 

[Tinks]

Initlally I was very interested and happy about "no child left behind." There does need to be accountability, obviously, because many children are doing so poorly. However, the problem is that accountability needs to go both ways... the school and the parents. The teachers will get nowhere if it isn't reinforced at home. How do you hold parents accountable??????

 

[floridafam]

I think it stinks.

 

[The Mystery Machine]

My girls are the "average" student (1st & 7th). One is good in art and one loves music. As a parent I have taught my girls (through struggle btw) how to "excel" as an average student.
It wasn't easy. Alot of hard work on my part and I think dd has finally "gotten" it in 7th grade that she has to do well in her music to have recognition in school. This has lead to her doing well in her other classes.

I hope and pray that they leave the arts alone.

 

[4greatboys]

Im not sure about other states but here in Texas when they started TAAS and now TAKS the whole school curriculum revolves around the test. And when testing time come they go all out tutoring kids--FOR THE TEST. Luckily our school started a new school to help out kids who didnt have disabilities in learning but who were at risk of dropping out due to poor performance at school. My 2 oldest will be in 11th and 9th grade next year but we are seriously considering private school for our 2 little who havent started yet.

 

[CBRorBust]

As a future teacher, I am not a supporter of it.

 

[olena]

I already have a low opinion of government schools, and the NCLB hasn't affected it one way or another.

 

[danacara]

My mother lives in the second-best school district in New Jersey. The elementary school just went on warning due to the fact that the third graders failed to meet the minimum passing percentage in reading and writing. Only 89% of them passed. Further analysis reveals that there are 29 third graders in this school district, and three of them are Yugoslavian triplets who moved to the US in 2003. The triplets flunked, the school went on warning. NCLB amuses me sometimes.

 

[Pin Wizard]

It stinks! I have DS in a private school since kindergarten, but they also have a different group of standardized tests they must measure up to.

I seem to remember quite a while ago that a radio station here was looking for people in FL gov't. to be good sports and take the FCAT. A few did and DID NOT PASS!! What does that tell you?

 

[Pete's Mom]

The school my son goes to is also a "Low Performing" school. We do have a high Spanish population of students which I feel does affect the score of our school (language). However, I am a very involved parent who tutors around 4 students in the after school program everyday and I can tell you that this scoring system has not affected them or my son. He is in the 1st grade and I can tell you that his class is very challenging and that his homework load is very high, far beyond anything that anything I had to do when I was his age. Still, he is an excellent student and at the top of his class. I guess I just don't fully understand how the system works.

What really ticks me off is that he has Spanish and Computer Lab twice a week and only Art or Music once every eight days! It was like that last year when he was in Kindergarten as well. Seems like they are doing all they can do to "phase" the Arts out of public school. :mad PE has also been cut down to twice a week.

 

[GEM]

As many have stated the main problem is that learning disabled students (even serverely mentally handicapped students in some districts), students who are new to this country and are non-native English speakers, and students with poor home situations (moms on drugs and dads in jail and no one cares at all what the kid is doing in school) are all tested and factored in with no allowances made for the way it affects the school's performance. My sister teaches in a very poor, urban area of Austin. More than 3/4 of her class are recent immigrants with minimal English! Many of the others come from horrible home situations with absolutely no parental involvement or reinforcement. That school, even with the best teachers in the whole world, will never perform well on those tests - and they should no be punished for it!

 

[GEM]

Originally posted by Pete's Mom
Seems like they are doing all they can do to "phase" the Arts out of public school.

Oh, that's not neccessarily because of NCLB. That bit of insanity has been going on several years. Don't even get me started on that one . . . . There aren't enough frowny face icons in the world!

 

[FINFAN]

NCLB is a DISASTER! Parental involvement? I'm all for it, all over it....however, I send my kids to school prepared, well-fed, well rested, well-mannered....and they come home w/full lesson plans for me to "support at home" that really means teach it at home as they have spent 3 hours of the day cramming the practice test down the kids throats. Then the kicker is that they kids are not learning at the same rate/style. I guess not if you have 30 parents teaching it instead of one. Switching to homeschooling....many are already doing homeschooling...and just don't realize it. There are however, good schools out there, that realize NCLB is not what it's supposed to be. Exactly what the OP is doing is what's needed. Parents HAVE to make their voices be heard. These kids are growing up stressed out and insecure about their performance levels. How is that preparing them for higher education? How is that giving the Gov't the "cream of the crop" students they seem to want? I better stop...but I will add that I have heard parents talk of not allowing their kids to take the tests...they may have something there if enough parents in enough states did that.

 

[Kimberle]

Originally posted by Pete's Mom

What really ticks me off is that he has Spanish and Computer Lab twice a week and only Art or Music once every eight days! It was like that last year when he was in Kindergarten as well. Seems like they are doing all they can do to "phase" the Arts out of public school. :mad PE has also been cut down to twice a week.

PE only TWICE a week, for a 1st grader?!?!?!

Wow, that's crazy. They should have it every day.

 

[ckr]

Teachers should be responsible for sparking interest and providing the information. Students and/or parents should be responsible for learning. This is just another part of our "It's not my fault" society.

 

[Kteacher]

It is Federal regulation without funding