Let’s have a little fun with No Child Left Behind…after all, its goals are admirable, right???
This, from Susan Ohanian:
Anti-testing Letters
[Susan notes: Great list of people who should follow the NCLB model and achieve 100% success.]
To the editor
From Joanne Yatvin
Submitted to San Diego Union-Tribune but not published (10/01/2007)
As Ruben Naverrette reminds us ( Sunday, September 30, 2007), we need to
stand firm on No Child Left Behind, which holds schools accountable for
bringing all children to grade level in reading and math by 2014. In fact,
his enthusiasm and righteous indignation should inspire us to go further.
By 2014 we should require that:
Lawyers will win all their cases
Doctors will cure all their patients
Clergymen will save all souls
And, by the way, U.S. presidents win all wars with 100% of the troops
returning home safe and sound.
After all, shouldn’t all these professional groups be as accountable to
the American people as teachers and school administrators? If, not, as
Naverette says, “We’ll all pay the price–and for many years to come.”
E.C. đŸ™‚
Filed under: Uncategorized |
Guilford School Watch 
So, what percentage of children not receiving an education is acceptable? 30% 50%? 70%? Pick a number, anyone will do.
Complacency in education is unacceptable. One child that can’t read is one too many.
NCLB is flawed, no doubt, but without something such as this, how will school administrators and school boards be held accountable for results, while taking the money from the feds? I do not find fault in the teachers here, as it is the administrators that establish the curriculum that requires teachers to teach to the test. Their concern is well-founded. Dot Kearns and her friends always talk about unfunded mandates of NCLB, but at the same time they willingly apply for federal grant money.
Now, if school administrators and boards were honest about their problems with NCLB, they would just say no to federal funds, but they are addicted to it. What they want is the money with no strings attached. Imagine what would happen in GCS if they swore-off on federal grant money? Terry Grier would have to be admitted to rehab tko deal with withdrawal.
You raise a good point, Stormy. I do not oppose accountability if it is done right. And anyone who says our EOCs/EOGs is the answer to measuring accountability in North Carolina is living in a fantasyland. But it is the way it is done that I have a problem with. I personally know at least five teachers who have not had contracts renewed because of low EOC/EOG scores. And they were good teachers.
Now, you’re right, our board is always willing to take from the federal trough, yet they whine and whimper about unfunded mandates. The bigger answer (and one that I support) is block grants to states and doing away with the Dept. of Education. This system, in my opinion, would return local control to our schools, and they can measure accountability with their own systems, just like private schools do now.
It’s a bold approach, but one that is probably necessary to save our schools. Testing our children is necessary, but testing that is done right that produces real results (and not simply just to satisfy the feds) is more accountable. It’s not a test score, it’s a child.
http://www.nea.org/neatoday/0604/nclbtimeline.html
I thought some of you may enjoy this NCLB humor. I wrote this a few years back, but just now have an opportunity to post it to the web.
Enjoy!