No Child Left Behind (learning, students, high school, kids)

[colleeng47]

Originally Posted by stepka

You mean the "no child gets ahead" law?

Exactly

[lionsfan4]

I don't think it is working and it might of had good intentions. I don't think that Obama supports No Child Left Behind I don't know about McCain.

[sskkc]

Well, I've recently been asked to serve on a committee that will overlook the spending of the funds our school receives. The limits are interesting. Even more interesting is that each district can "opt out", but they won't get the additional funding. So, if you don't like the program, you should start attending district meetings and perhaps have a chat with the superintendent. (Seriously, parents have that power! )

I was also surprised by how the money is doled out. You don't get more based on test scores (high or low), but rather on how many "free lunch" kids you have. Our school district will receive just under $500k this year (their first year in the program). Military area + recent military raises = fewer free lunch students. The district just a few blocks over has fewer students, consistently lower test scores and will receive $11 million this year alone.

This program punishes the middle class who live in school districts where teachers and students are performing above the national average.

In our district, only certain students will be served (who the new programs will benefit has to be spelled out in the application for the funds). As one of my children will be in this program, I'll get to see how the tests affect her. (The fact that one of my kids will be in the program and one not is one of the reasons I was asked to do this)

Funny how many teachers and parents I've talked to in the past 2 months seemed to be under the impression that NCLB affects every student and has been in place at our school for the last 3 years. I was stunned to listen to a mom recently go off about how her son was struggling because of the stress the NCLB tests have put on him this year. Her ignorance was so blatant, I didn't tell her that he hasn't even been exposed to them... yet, and that if he wasn't in a "targeted" group, he still wouldn't be. (Our program excludes spec ed and "average" students. They will be targeting kids falling behind in the average classes, and the testing is so that no child IN THE PROGRAM will get further behind than they already are.)

We'll see how it goes.

[scorpy01]

The idea may have been fine but the implementation is all wrong. The schools around here spend entirely too much time preparing kids for The Test and not enough time teaching.

But then, I'd like to see the department of education abolished and all educational decisions brought down as close to the local level as possible.

[sskkc]

I wanted to add... the program does allow you to "opt out". Rather than seek permission from parents (every teacher who has waited for field trip permission slips knows this frustration), the schools automatically enroll the kids who are "targeted" in the program.

If you don't want your child to be part of the program, you can go in and ask they remove them. You will have to sign forms, but if you're truly against it, it isn't mandatory.

The reason for the testing (as it was explained to me) is that the program isn't meant to be long term. If a child can "catch up" in 3-6 weeks, then they will be removed and tested less often to determine that they are not falling behind.

The problems start when schools use the funds allocated to plump up their spec ed student budget and have to change student's categories to allow themselves to use the funds in a way they weren't intended.

If you believe your school is misusing the funds, get involved. It will take parents of the affected students speaking out (and not just in forum boards). I will be watching this stuff very closely myself at my kid's school. I am glad that I was asked to be on this committee. If I hadn't been, I wouldn't know what I do (limited though it is). I would've been asking questions though.

As I am known at the school as a parent who doesn't let anything slide, I think the principal knew I would be "sticking my nose in" anyway and decided to include me to save herself future headaches.

[jfre81]

Originally Posted by k350

I am not a parent but the results are very noticable, dumbing down of the student body.

Lowest Common Denominator Syndrome. If I had a kid and I needed him to barely get by in life I can teach him how to do that myself. I'm rather accomplished at it.

[Mathguy]

Decent idea on paper....really poor one in execution.

You need to ask yourself how this law came to be. Basically, certain parts of the country were doing terrible jobs with education so we all got to feel the heavy hand of the federal government.

My sister's kids are pretty gifted but her district is a bit cash strapped lately.
They definitely spend time making sure that EVERYONE gets up to the minimum level and that means the top students have to sit around bored.

My kids are pretty top students but our district is excellent, I don't see it having much of an impact on them.

Strong parental involvement and emphasis on education are key. However, we all know that an entrenched near-monopoly is ultimately inefficient so to some degree I like the schools and teachers to feel some of the same competitive pressures that most other people are under in their jobs.

Bottom line, I wish they left the whole thing at the state level and addressed states that had overall poor educational scores. That would then pressure the states that were doing poorly to address that and those doing well to just keep on that path.

[drjones96]

Originally Posted by FarNorthDallas

Here are some released TAKS tests in Texas.
TAKSâ„¢ Released Tests

My daughter who's in the 4th grade scored perfect (or nearly perfect) on the TAKS. Only 3 other kids in her grade at her school scored that high. Now...I don't consider her extrordinarily brilliant usually. I just think this test is dumbed down so more students can do well on it. But what is surprising is that she is ONLY 1 of 3 kids to score that high. I suppose I could possibly be underestimating her. Either that or her school is educating at a sub-par level.

[hypocore]

Originally Posted by drjones96

My daughter who's in the 4th grade scored perfect (or nearly perfect) on the TAKS. Only 3 other kids in her grade at her school scored that high. Now...I don't consider her extrordinarily brilliant usually. I just think this test is dumbed down so more students can do well on it. But what is surprising is that she is ONLY 1 of 3 kids to score that high. I suppose I could possibly be underestimating her. Either that or her school is educating at a sub-par level.

My daughter who also was just in 4th grade was one of many who had commended scores on all three tests, yet she was apparently the only one who scored perfectly across the board (minus the essay part where no one got a 4 that we are aware of). That being said, we transferred schools for this year and at her school last year there were far fewer who had a commended score.

I do agree somewhat that the tests are not all that challenging to the kids who are fine academically. However the problem in the math test, for example, is that there are many kids who cannot fish out the actual problems from the test questions. There are kids who can do the math problems if given them in a formula, but can't decipher the problem, therefore comes the 'teaching to the test' issue. The teachers have to teach the kids how to weed out unecessary information to get to the needed stuff so they can successfully complete the test.

[esya]

I had three kids in public school before & during this era. It was horrible. I never saw such BAD writing instruction as during the Colorado CSAPs. I am out now but for others I hope it is over soon. I feel sorry for parents that did not have skills to teach their own kids.