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The feds passed this law to help out struggling schools and students. I believe they rather wanted to "level the playing field" (maybe make everyone dumber, I don't know?), but this has not been working IMO. I have yet to meet ANYONE who actually TEACHES in a school (not those yapping on a message board) who feels this is working. You know, those of us who actually TEACH- not those who read stats online.
I personally feel that the daily teaching decisions have been taken out of the hands of TEACHERS and put into the hands of the federal gov't (gasp). I'm sorry, but I feel that MOST things that are put into the hands of the gov't go to hell in a handbasket. I used to be allowed the freedom to decide the pace of my classroom. As subjective as that sounds- ALL my kids were ready to go on to the next grade.
Now- I teach them how to pass the state test.
For all those in teaching- what do we do? I have grave misgivings about the effects of this law. I know it's "purpose was noble", but the effect, IMO, had been disasterous. IMO, we are hurting the most vunerable of our students. The upper class (whose kids are all in private schools, anyways) and the middle class kids (whose families value education) will be OK- their families will see to that. But the ones who struggle, and the ones whose families use school as a babysitter (I've had my share of them) ARE going to be "left behind". You gear your teaching to passing ONE test, reduce the worth and value of parents, teachers, schools, the community to ONE score on ONE test- and you're left bereft. How is this possible? What do we do? Lobby the gov't? How do we change this? Again, I know of NO educator who thinks this is working, yet, what are we doing about it?
I know schools (like life) have become totally political. The public schools have become the last strong hold for the left, 'cause if you keep your population stupid- you can control them. That's just my opinion, but from what I've seen, that is what is happening, and it makes me ill to think that this country is allowing this to happen. YES, we need standards. YES, we need accountability. YES, we need to know what is going on in the classroom, and the public monies need to be accounted for. This is OUR tax money, but as a teacher, I do NOT see the "gov't" spending this wisely. What can we do? Is this law ever going to change? If not, I see huge problems ahead for this country. Even being the raging optimist that I am, I wonder. I know there are billions of teaching trends that come down the pike every year. But, of all the ones I've encountered, this "teaching to a test" seems the most dangerous.
I know there are many public school teachers on this board, and I would like to hear what you think. Don't get me wrong- there needs to be accountability for education/teachers and input from parents/community- but this law has really scared me. As a public school educator- all I did was teach kids how to pass a test, and I am NOT kidding. I used to teach all those great things that you needed in elem school- NO MORE. If I were a parent, I'd be looking into this further. I just do not get it. SURELY there is more to my kids than one score on a state test.
I know there are rabid teacher-haters on this board, and nothing short of slicing my wrists will appease you (shrugs), so, I'm really interested in what the other TEACHERS think about. We are the ones who are dealing with this each and every day. I cannot believe that educators find this law (and how it's being implemented) to be working. What do you think? I know the public school system has major flaws- always has- but this has gone way beyond "a bad school". This is now, IMO, a very bad national policy. Yeah, yeah, blame Bush, - this is not what I'm interested in, blaming GWB for all the world's ills. I'd like to hear what the classroom teachers think we can do about NCLB. This country is MASSIVE. Do we let each state take care of their own dept of ed? Do we have stricter national standards? What would be a national standard? Do we leave it to the local communities? I don't know, but I get very nervous when I hear parents looking toward public schools as their answer to their children's woes.
I'm not *technically* a teacher (I have my degree and subbing) but I think it would be better if each state took care of their own educational issues, like setting standards. The states realize that they'll need an educated workforce in order to compete. That should be incentive enough for schools to place a big emphasis on educating kids.
Smaller countries like Europe can afford to have a centralized education system for all citizens. We are the fourth largest (in land area) and third largest (in population) We're incredibly diverse in demographics. When you put a one size fits all system in place in a country as big as ours, the results usually aren't good.
Also, when you put high handed politians, politicians who haven't been in a classroom since college and don't even work with kids in charge it's bound to be bad.
I wonder if putting the control of educational issues solely in the hands of states may exacerrbate(is that spelled right?) the dilemma. To use an example from OldiebutGoodie26's post:
"IMO, we are hurting the most vunerable of our students. The upper class (whose kids are all in private schools, anyways) and the middle class kids (whose families value education) will be OK- their families will see to that. But the ones who struggle, and the ones whose families use school as a babysitter (I've had my share of them) ARE going to be "left behind". "
Perhaps if states were left to solely control their educational issues, maybe we would now wind up with a situation where the wealthier states (ones that have more revenue or a larger population and tax base) will produce students who will be more competitive, equipped and successful than the smaller, lower income and revenue producing states. Each state handles their affairs very differently so who knows what could happen. States cannot even centralize their DMV records to account for identity. In some states, I have read that there are cases were someone has simply dropped their middle initial or used a middle initial and this allowed them to get a license even though their license had been revoked by another state.
I agree that while the intentions were good for the No Child Left Behind Act, the teaching to the test and the incentives ($$$?) some schools have for a good grade from the state seriously skew evaluation of student ability and hinder the ability of teachers to be flexible and creative in the classroom when teaching their subject area. I went to Catholic elementary and high school so I choose to teach in a catholic school and one of the reasons I do is for greater flexibility of my curriculum (which follows state standards anyway) and no stupid state assessment tests. I can teach what the state says I should teach but I can also teach what students may actually ask about in class, thereby allowing them to actually learn something they want instead of what a state mandated test will want them to learn. I dont know this is a sticky topic to discuss because there is so much info out there that not everyone understands and its also tough to discuss objectively without the politics of education and "what is best mentality" getting involved.
There's nothing that teachers can do. If TEACHERS had the power to get rid of NCLB, we would have done it years ago. This legislation was put into action by the President and legislators and they are the only ones that can get rid of it. I would vote in any President, Senator, or Representative that would vow to get rid of this ridiculous piece of legislation. At the very least, they should rename it to fit what it really does: the Every Child Left Behind Act.
The upper class (whose kids are all in private schools, anyways) and the middle class kids (whose families value education) will be OK- their families will see to that. But the ones who struggle, and the ones whose families use school as a babysitter (I've had my share of them) ARE going to be "left behind".
Read The Other Crisis in American Education to see who's really been left behind - for decades.
"While students in the bottom quartile have shown slow but steady improvement since the 1960s, average test scores have nonetheless gone down, primarily because of the performance of those in the top quartile. This "highest cohort of achievers," Rudman writes, has shown "the greatest declines across a variety of subjects as well as across age-level groups." Analysts have also found "a substantial drop among those children in the middle range of achievement," he continues, "but less loss and some modest gains at the lower levels." In other words, our brightest youngsters, those most likely to be headed for selective colleges, have suffered the most dramatic setbacks over the past two decades--a fact with grave implications for our ability to compete with other nations in the future."
The Other Crisis in American Education - 91.11 (http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/educatio/singalf.htm - broken link)
Your question couldn't come at a better time. Just this week we learned that in our state, Florida, principals are being to told to set our daily schedules for us to the point where they do not even want us flip flopping anything. In other words, in my kindergarten class if my schedule says that I am to read to the children before lunch, I had better not get caught deciding to do it afterwards. We have extra PE now due to a state law, so recess is officially eliminated as we know it, even for kindergarten and first grade children. Of course some principals will be more strict about it than others. All this comes about because of the NCLB act and so many schools not making what they determine to be, adequate yearly progress.
I say if we want this law repealed, and I know it sounds simplistic, but we need to make a major change in Washington DC. The political party in control right now is very pro private sector to the point where they seem to do everything they can to cause the public schools to fail and to promote the private schools (I do realize that private schools are the right choice for many families and many teachers and I have nothing against them, but you cannot promote them at the EXPENSE of public education).
Minnesota is considering repealing NCLB. There is a bill in the works, although I haven't heard anything about it lately, to remove that from our state. We would lose some federal funding but for the most part that could be made up from the costs associated with the program. Since our governor has issues with raising taxes right now--at the expense of everything in the state, it probably won't happen until he is gone.
None of my friends (and only a few are teachers) like NCLB. We all understand that teaching is all about testing scores now and our kids are the ones that are missing out. Teaching to disinterested students is hard enough without saddling them with rigid rules that have no point.
I say if we want this law repealed, and I know it sounds simplistic, but we need to make a major change in Washington DC. The political party in control right now is very pro private sector to the point where they seem to do everything they can to cause the public schools to fail and to promote the private schools (I do realize that private schools are the right choice for many families and many teachers and I have nothing against them, but you cannot promote them at the EXPENSE of public education).
Nancy
Isn't it ironic that they aren't bound by NCLB unless they receive federal money?
I'm a high school teacher in the Los Angeles area. Lately, I've been hearing much that sounds like conspiracy theory in regards to NCLB - i.e. it was designed to help destroy public education. I don't know. That seems to be crediting the Bush administration with a lot more savvy than I think they are capable of.
The basic assumption (at least on paper) of NCLB is that all students and schools are at the same starting point in the academic race and that if they make good use of what they have at this starting point they will run like their competitors in wealthy suburbs. What is needed is punishment as incentive. I kind of think the Bush Republicans are truly this stupid and naive.
I haven't seen quite the same level of regimentation at the high school level in California as people on this thread have noted in elementary schools in other states. We have 4,500 students in our high school. We also have an administration made up of young district cronies and "must-place" screw-ups, and the harvest of nepotism. They are grossly incompetent and wouldn't know how to create, let alone enforce, a regimented pacing plan.
Even so, we are constantly being threatened over our API and AYP numbers and the district level bureaucrats are constantly coming up annoying top-down directives that make the situation worse. Charter schools are moving in and gradually eliminating union-won benefits and safe guards. This is not a good time for teachers.
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SURELY there is more to my kids than one score on a state test. 
Sick of the blame-the-teacher mantra
