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A significant part of the problem is administrative and district weakness in the face of parental complaint over students' failures. Time and again, I've seen teachers with high standards (and excellent teaching methods) bruised, battered, and belittled by administration when parents complain that their child finds XYZ class "too hard" or is failing. Clearly, the easiest quick-fix of the problem is to pressure teachers to inflate grades, and most teachers will capitulate because they have no choice. I believe wholeheartedly in your equation of rigorous curriculum + sound, proven pedagogy = high levels of achievement, but it has to be backed up by administrators who are willing to support that rigor and good pedagogy.
I too have seen the good teachers knocked off their goals by administration and when NCLB arrived, we had a lot of excellent older teachers retire as they could not handle what it did to their curriculum.
I myself approached a head administrator and inquired about the phasing out of honor classes and he answered: "How do you tell parents their kids are not capable enough to meet the demands of a honors class?" His stance was, faster learning kids will pull up the slower learning kids within the classroom. Reality is, the faster learners sit there and read books because they have finished all the work while the teacher goes over it again and again for the slower learners.....so we're not penalizing the slow learners, we're chastizing the above average kids ....should play out really well on the world stage don't you think? Stagnant the learning of our future, that's all it accomplishes IMO>>>>>>>>>>>>
Last edited by Fallingwater79; 03-01-2008 at 08:19 AM..
I would truly like to see a district that enforces the NCLB expectations and is meeting the educational needs of all students. I don't believe it's possible.
It is possible to a certain extent. The school in Maryland is successfully moving a lot of students forward. Look at the difference in their test scores for different subgroups from 2003 to 2007: Remarkable Results
They're very successfully using an educational practice that most schools adamantly refuse to use - flexible skill-level grouping - even though it works because it allows a targeted, uninterrupted educational focus on moving each group forward from where they are - no one stagnates.
You would think that if schools are so worried about their test scores, they would be all over this.
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I have had lengthy conversations with personnel who worked on developing NCLB, comparing the original NCLB concept with what it has sunk to and they are two entirely different animals. It was not intended to discredit school districts capacity to teach their students but ultimately, that's what it does.
I submitted a lengthy comment during the public review time period before NCLB was enacted warning them that this is exactly what would happen. I told them that with what they were proposing, they would have a race to the bottom as all schools would focus on would be whatever is the minimum acceptable level of proficiency.
The response I received to my comment indicated that they had a lengthy debate over the concerns I had raised, but they decided that educators would not act so drastically to the detriment of their students so my concerns were unfounded. Hah!
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If you have children, ask them how many times they are told by their teachers: We need to learn this, BECAUSE it will be on the state test. Is this how WE learned? Based on "it'll be on a test"? OMG!!!!!
And again, I have witnessed it myself as recently as this week as we prepare for the NYS Math test. The teacher is randomly tossing in different math concepts based on what she assumes will be on the upcoming test. Sooooo, within the week, we are jumping from negative/positives numbers problems to distributive property equations and multiplying/dividing fractions!!!!!! The struggling students have developed the "deer in the headlights" look, and the middle/above average students are confused as well. Me? I'm sick to my stomach at the insanity of it all.
This sounds to me like there's a mismatch between the curriculum and the standards. Like I've said before, the educators who focus this much on test prep are doing so because they know their curriculum and pedagogy are weak - and they're worried the test results will show that.
It's no different than a student who's been slacking through a course cramming before a final exam. And, it's about equally ineffective.
Far too much of the public is satisfied with our current C- system.
I agree; this is a big problem (I would give it a D overall ). It's not just the public, though. Many, many educators defend the status quo, making it even more difficult to institute any kind of meaningful change for the better.
Business Roundtable groups are growing more vocal in their dissatisfaction with the system. This may be the quarter that can actually break through the wall of denial.
Businesses spend billions of dollars every year on remedial education for employees.
Just two examples from different sectors:
GM spends over $20 million annually on remedial education for its workers.
American Express reports that it spends $10 million annually to teach its new workers basic skills.
Businesses spend billions of dollars every year on remedial education for employees.
Just two examples from different sectors:
GM spends over $20 million annually on remedial education for its workers.
American Express reports that it spends $10 million annually to teach its new workers basic skills.
The end result of the "Dumbing Down of America".
Most colleges now have remedial english and math classes for their incoming freshmen.
Isn't that an oxymoron?
Is there a more indicative argument of how bad public education has gotten then college students who have to be taught basics skills before they can proceed?
But what did we expect? Brand every child the same, pour the same level of learning down their throats, overly concentrate on passing state testing and don't let a one of them step out of the box to expound on their natural talents and you get watered-down mediocre students......(that Pink Floyd movie with the cookie-cutter students rolling off the assembly line pops into view )
And the rest of the world is overtaking us educationally? Gee, I wonder why
Last edited by Fallingwater79; 03-01-2008 at 09:08 AM..
As an experienced teacher in large urban public high schools, I've been heavily exposed to the effects of the NCLB fiasco. It's based entirely on meeting minimum standards. That's it. Measures for performing above and beyond this low expectation are either not taken or de-emphasized. Whether students pass a state-approved standardized test is the only criterion.
The result is predictable: education in the public schools is being reduced to the lowest common denominator. Teachers are now required to "standardize" instruction, and that means teaching to the test.
The only valid conclusion that any analyst will ever be able to make when studying the result of all this test-mania will be that every school has performed exactly as well as the demographic it serves.
In my somewhat limited understanding of NCLB, that seems like a very fair assessment. It seems to me like this obsession with high-stakes testing is a very effective method to further the "dumbing down" of America. At the end of the day, talented students will have been underserved, and average students will have been bored, while below average students will have better skills at taking multiple choice tests.
Learning? Who cares bout learning any more? The teachers who still try to emphasize learning either get burned out and leave the profession or else get beaten down and stop trying.
Most colleges now have remedial english and math classes for their incoming freshmen.
Isn't that an oxymoron?
Is there a more indicative argument of how bad public education has gotten then college students who have to be taught basics skills before they can proceed?
But what did we expect? Brand every child the same, pour the same level of learning down their throats, overly concentrate on passing state testing and don't let a one of them step out of the box to expound on their natural talents and you get watered-down mediocre students......(that Pink Floyd movie with the cookie-cutter students rolling off the assembly line pops into view )
And the rest of the world is overtaking us educationally? Gee, I wonder why
I think remedial classes for college freshmen are more a reflection on the ever-increasing percentage of HS grads who nowadays continue on to college. These remedial classes weren't needed in the past because only the top 25% of HS grads went on to college. Now, it's probably over 50%. Many will be marginal performers with college level coursework.
As a student who actually gets to deal with the No Child Left Behind Act on a daily basis, it's failing my education and the education of my peers on many levels.
Not to sound conceited, but I'm one of those kids with well above-average intelligence. I'm also failing high school. Why? Because I am not motivated. The classes no longer stimulate learning. When I progress past where other students in the class are, I have been reprimanded for it. When I am the only student to ask "why," I get scolded. To make it short, I have to educate myself, by either ignoring the teacher and merely reading the textbooks while the rest of the class does something, or by going home and doing research online instead of homework. After feeding myself the information, I am then too burned out to even bother with schoolwork that is doing me no good in the first place, and as I have to educate myself instead of doing their worksheets, I'm probably going to have to get my GED instead of a high school diploma, simply because their system is failing me.
Not to mention that the teachers themselves are dumbed down to the point that it is disgusting. In my "health and life-management" class, we had an abstinence-only group come in and talk to us for a week. I did my own research and compared it to what they said and found the vast majority of their information to be false. Upon writing an essay to my teacher afterwards, she did not understand what I meant when I used the word "apt," as in "likely or inclined". I know that the teachers are not payed a great salary, but honestly! Incompetant teachers are going to produce incompetant students, and the circle of ignorance will just continue.
A significant part of the problem is administrative and district weakness in the face of parental complaint over students' failures. Time and again, I've seen teachers with high standards (and excellent teaching methods) bruised, battered, and belittled by administration when parents complain that their child finds XYZ class "too hard" or is failing.
I agree. Why is it that administrators will listen to those parents and do whatever the parents wish, but will not listen to the parents who express concern that their kids aren't learning very much?
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I believe wholeheartedly in your equation of rigorous curriculum + sound, proven pedagogy = high levels of achievement, but it has to be backed up by administrators who are willing to support that rigor and good pedagogy.
We need to be taking a long hard look at why they won't. Is it Ed Schools? What's the problem?
No - it doesn't have to be tracking, which is a permanent placement. Flexible skill/performance level grouping by subject provides targeted instruction that does a much better job of educating students because it meets them where they are and all of them move forward from there.
As a teacher in the nation's largest school district (NYC), I'm continually dismayed at what our students aren't learning in school. Because so many of the city's large high school were considered "failing," the new trend is to break up the large high schools into smaller ones -- sometimes housing three or four (or more) schools in one single large building.
The idea is that the students get smaller classes and more individualized attention from their teachers.
The reality is that kids get dumped into schools willy-nilly, and classes end up getting overcrowded because there's no room to expand. Because schools may have only 150-200 students, there's an extremely limited number of available classes. All students take the same English classes, the same math classes, etc. -- there's no room for classes offered at different levels.
It's left up to the teachers to "differentiate" instruction for their students. Of course, all teachers should be doing this anyway, but let's look at a typical 9th grade Algebra class with 27 students:
3 "gifted" students will understand the concepts the first time you teach them
12 "average" students will understand the concepts in twice the time as the first group
5 "slower" students will understand the concepts, but will need extra time and possibly tutoring to do so
2 students speak a language other than English (but they don't speak the same language) and understand only half of what you're saying
1 student works the late shift at McDonald's and is so tired that he/she sleeps through your class
1 student is only in school because his/her parole officer said so and refuses to do any classwork
3 special ed students: one is working on a 6th grade level in math, one is working on a 4th grade level in math, and one is autistic and spends every class staring out the window
And each and every one of these students will be expected to not only pass Algebra, but pass State-mandated competency tests.
welfare department and public school system have much in common.
they use slogans and shamelessly exploit their guardian relationship to children.
voucher system now please.
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). It's not just the public, though. Many, many educators defend the status quo, making it even more difficult to institute any kind of meaningful change for the better.
