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I have been pretty involved in my daughters homework. This past year in 7th grade, she had very little homework. I always questioned it. Her first report card and her math was down. Barely passing.
Math has always been her weak spot. Fractions for her was a nightmare.
I tested her and she did know crap. Basic algebra.
Even for me she wasn't getting it.
Tutoring and she improved, but still struggling.
TAKS testing day and she was nervous. I know damn well she didn't pass it. She got the minimum passing grade on the math TAKS.
All year I was having a major problem with homework, not getting assigned.
I myself could not evaluate my own daughter on what she knew.
Is this their new tactic? No homework, so the parents cannot see where their kids are lacking, or to criticize the school for their lack of educating our kids?
The wife and I are seriously thinking about taking out a loan, just so our daughter can go to a private school.
My oldest starts hi skool this year and he hasn't had any homework for the last two years. He gets straight A's but is never challenged. He's not really learning anything. Oh he gets to learn spanish this year I guess. My two youngest start sixth grade and are about the same. They spent the last month and a half in science class learning how to design a eco friendly home and told by the teacher to ask why their parents don't have solar panels and crap like that. It's sickening.
No they are not. You've got kids pushed from grade to grade without having attained their skills and you end up with functionally illiterate school children that couldn't even learn if they were left back.
By 16 an 8th grader is automatically sent to high school regardless of if he passes. Now he goes into Algebra and can't even do his times table.
NCLB also has set the goal for 100% proficiency by 2014. Perfection in school tests. No one fails..got that..no one. The only way to pass that bar is to bury it underground and carry those kids across it.
NCLB never raised the bar...it ended up lowering is so that more kids passed, so that "No Child was Left Behind.".
A decade later and we have a sad, broken education system that pushes them through.
You nailed it, HappyTexan. Everyone knows that you cannot get every single child to pass the state test, but schools need their funds too. So naturally they will lower the bar so that everyone will "pass" The North Carolina state test for English, for example, is rediculously easy--stuff my 3rd grade teacher taught us in Michigan--but my 9th graders had to take the test. Furthermore, some of my students who passed the EOC still couldn't read a New York Times article, so it wasn't even completely accurate. But that didn't matter. Only the test result mattered. Forget critical thinking.
Not only that, but I had to spend the final two months of the school year on review for the test. Not much literature or critical thinking--review. It was rediculous!
I'm not surprised that so many teachers cheated. It's shameful, but it's tempting when your pretige, job and school are on the line.
Quote:
Originally Posted by KUchief25
Bullk****. First of all if your 16 and just getting into 9th grade you've already got problems. This is a systematic problem. The teachers aren't doing their friggen jobs. No it didn't raise any bar it just forced teachers to teach and they couldn't even do that. A decade later? You think our school system was fine before NCLB? If so your lost. The reason it was implemented was because so many were being spit through the system without being taught anything. Now the teachers work harder at cheating the new rules than teaching the kids. Its pathetic. But they keep their damn jobs because they can't be fired. There is your problem with schools......UNIONS.
What a rediculous, blanket attack on teachers. NCLB might have kicked some teachers in the pants, but there are better ways to improve teaching. (like tenure reform) Consider this: The entire focus of my English class was the EOC (The name for North Carolina's state test). To guarantee the highest test scores, I had to teach the material that would be tested. I wanted to go higher. I wanted to teach college level material--some pretty challenging stuff. But I was discouraged from doing so. If I did that, then it would actually take time away from teaching to the test. I think I would have been a better teacher if the EOC weren't so *high stakes*
Thank god I'm now living and teaching in a state where kids are educated and not simply taught to take a test.
I have been pretty involved in my daughters homework. This past year in 7th grade, she had very little homework. I always questioned it. Her first report card and her math was down. Barely passing.
Math has always been her weak spot. Fractions for her was a nightmare.
I tested her and she did know crap. Basic algebra.
Even for me she wasn't getting it.
Tutoring and she improved, but still struggling.
TAKS testing day and she was nervous. I know damn well she didn't pass it. She got the minimum passing grade on the math TAKS.
All year I was having a major problem with homework, not getting assigned.
I myself could not evaluate my own daughter on what she knew.
Is this their new tactic? No homework, so the parents cannot see where their kids are lacking, or to criticize the school for their lack of educating our kids?
The wife and I are seriously thinking about taking out a loan, just so our daughter can go to a private school.
Not necessarily. I would often give students time to work in class (about 10-15 min) so that I could help them and answer any questions they had. Our school also had a study period in which some students did their work. the more industrious ones finished their work before the end of the day. This wasn't the case every day, of course, but it was a common occurance.
You nailed it, HappyTexan. Everyone knows that you cannot get every single child to pass the state test, but schools need their funds too. So naturally they will lower the bar so that everyone will "pass" The North Carolina state test for English, for example, is rediculously easy--stuff my 3rd grade teacher taught us in Michigan--but my 9th graders had to take the test. Furthermore, some of my students who passed the EOC still couldn't read a New York Times article, so it wasn't even completely accurate. But that didn't matter. Only the test result mattered. Forget critical thinking.
Not only that, but I had to spend the final two months of the school year on review for the test. Not much literature or critical thinking--review. It was rediculous!
I'm not surprised that so many teachers cheated. It's shameful, but it's tempting when your pretige, job and school are on the line.
What a rediculous, blanket attack on teachers. NCLB might have kicked some teachers in the pants, but there are better ways to improve teaching. (like tenure reform) Consider this: The entire focus of my English class was the EOC (The name for North Carolina's state test). To guarantee the highest test scores, I had to teach the material that would be tested. I wanted to go higher. I wanted to teach college level material--some pretty challenging stuff. But I was discouraged from doing so. If I did that, then it would actually take time away from teaching to the test. I think I would have been a better teacher if the EOC weren't so *high stakes*
Thank god I'm now living and teaching in a state where kids are educated and not simply taught to take a test.
If kids are far enough along in hi skool to take college level courses then this "test" should be a breeze. How can you want to move on and teach some "really challenging stuff" when they can't even pass a hi skool test first? You make no sense.
Not necessarily. I would often give students time to work in class (about 10-15 min) so that I could help them and answer any questions they had. Our school also had a study period in which some students did their work. the more industrious ones finished their work before the end of the day. This wasn't the case every day, of course, but it was a common occurance.
Maybe your school should use school time to teach instead of allowing the kids to do their homework at school and go home and play the xbox???
If kids are far enough along in hi skool to take college level courses then this "test" should be a breeze. How can you want to move on and teach some "really challenging stuff" when they can't even pass a hi skool test first? You make no sense.
They didn't take college level courses, but I knew that most of my kids could at least pass the state test. However, schools care about the test scores more than anything else. And officials get skittish about teachers veering off the path to the almighty test score. And frankly, being a new teacher, I didn't want to run afoul of administrators. My pass rate was very high (low 90 percentiles) but I wasn't satisfied. I didn't feel like I educated my kids, but that I simply taught them how to pass a test.
Quote:
Originally Posted by KUchief25
Maybe your school should use school time to teach instead of allowing the kids to do their homework at school and go home and play the xbox???
I did teach, thank you. But I don't like to introduce a new idea to my students without giving them the opportunity to ask for my help (which, by the way, is a form of teaching on an individual level). Again, I didn't do that every day, but mostly when I was introducing a new concept or project. They took any extra practice on subsequent days home.
Last edited by mackinac81; 07-07-2011 at 07:18 AM..
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