Views on NCLB legislation…
A coworker sent me this link to an animated movie created by the American Federation of Teachers. They have a blog that reviews NCLB in action and allows teachers to express their views on the legislation. Basically, teachers seem to understand this legislation is more about numbers than education.
What this legislation has accomplished is to label thousands of schools across the country as substandard under NCLB. This has led many states to petition the federal Education Department to review the way they measure student progress. While the feds are considering the changes suggested by schools, they are not willing to compromise on “certain core principals,” including breaking down student performance by race, ethnicity, income, disability, and gender. All this does is force schools to focus on statistics, and education becomes subverted by the stress districts face to meet standards that may not be realistic in all cases. Districts that are in high poverty communities are feeling the effects more than most because it is impossible for them to make a significant turn-around in one year. What I want to know is what is the government doing with all of these numbers? It seems that it’s a case of rich get richer…
And when we consider what our students need to succeed in the world beyond high school, how effective is NCLB going to be in actually not leaving them behind? Is it helping students like Gabriela who decided to drop out of high school in the twelfth grade because she couldn’t pass the new state requirements even after seven tries? What will become of her? When schools focus so much on making sure the students pass these exams they necessarily ignore the needs of the students. I have personally seen numbers “fudged” in order to make the requirements of NCLB. How much is that helping the students?
Technorati tags: education NCLB education reform
