Teachers, What Can Really Be Done re NCLB?

[InformedConsent]

Originally Posted by golfgal

Then if you read further their 'benchmarks' indicate that the remaining almost 70% are not going to make it past their first year in college--sorry, just don't buy it. The drop out rate is NO WHERE near that so what are these 'benchmarks' actually measuring. Maybe we just have friends with exceptionally bright students and the students I have be associated with in various ways are just extremely well above average for these 'surveys' but NOTHING I have seen in schools around here matches these findings, from where ever they get them. Looking at the top graduates in this past springs class from our high school, Notre Dame, Madison, Yale, Harvard, Julliard, the list goes on and on. The 'dumb' ones end up at the University of MN--oops, that would be one of our national merit finalists because she is studying trombone performance there. How are these kids getting into colleges, GOOD colleges when they can't seem to pass a math class according to your 'benchmarks"--oh, and then the number of them that test out of math and other subjects in college??

They're not my benchmarks. They're the ACT's Benchmarks which were compiled by analyzing the ACT score and college course grades data of over 90,000 first year college students at 98 colleges and universities.

The ACT doesn't claim that students aren't going to make it. Many students who don't meet the benchmarks take remedial non-credit classes when they get to university before taking credit classes for their degree. The most recent figure for the number of students taking remedial classes at four year colleges and universities is around 40%. Even the top colleges and universities offer remedial courses. You'd be surprised...

This may be why the percentage of students at four year universities who did not complete their undergraduate degrees within six years is more than 50% (the article I linked below has the 1997 figures, the drop out rate has increased since then). It's even higher for 2 year colleges - around 75%.

U.S. College Drop-out Rate Sparks Concern (http://www.diverseeducation.com/artman/publish/article_6422.shtml - broken link)

[RachelSCarlson]

Great posting. I am a former foreign language teacher who, although not teaching towards a standardized test, was encouraged to have as many students passing as I could. And what was thrown up in front of me regularly was each student's rights and disabilities like they were golden tickets to greatness. I am much happier having gone the way of Montessori. The parents are in it to win it, the administration sees things differently and the children are responsible for so much of their days that they actually have self-esteem and a drive to live as productive citizens. It is a world that I am so glad to have stepped in, or I would have left teaching long ago.

And I wasn't born to do that! I went to The Center for Guided Montessori Studies (GuidedStudies.com). Let's staty positive, find the success stories and reasons why, and let's make it work for us, just as much as it does for the kids we care about.