President Obama has agreed to exempt 10 states from the most rigorous tenets of NCLB, in exchange for adopting higher standards and creating more innovative ways of measuring student achievement. The president essentially signed this executive order because Congress has failed to amend the law in spite of widespread agreement that it needs to be revised. Let's face it, NCLB's main goal, getting all students up to par in reading and math by 2014, is not within reach, but it is a noble idea.
When George W. Bush and his bipartisan team originally drafted NCLB, I seriously doubt that they believed all of its provisions were possible. However, they knew that if the dream of educational equality was to ever be achieved in America, something drastic had to be done. The idea of 100% of America's students becoming proficient in the core subjects by 2014 was meant to send a message. For that, I applaud President Bush. He had the guts to draw a line in the sand and stick to it.
Now don't get me wrong, President Obama is my guy, but issuing waivers exempting 10 states from the 2014 reading and math proficiency deadline is a step in the wrong direction. I applaud him for calling on Congress to amend NCLB; however, the waivers serve as band-aids and cannot be considered viable school reform. Many of NCLB's goals were unrealistic, but by shooting for the stars, it dreamt that our children would land somewhere in the clouds. Scaling back accountability at this juncture is tantamount to retreat, and guess who will be the collateral damage? Our children. Regardless of what anyone says, leaving states to their own devices is lowering accountability. In order to appease the federal government, states will put on yearly dog and pony shows in an effort to feign compliance.
Now I agree that NCLB should have been amended a long time ago, but that's Congress's cross to bear. With a major overhaul of its provisions, NCLB could have fostered genuine school reform in the U. S. However, proponents and opponents of the landmark bill were too pigheaded to compromise and in the end, who suffered? America's children. Both political parties know that NCLB has serious flaws, but neither has made a serious play to amend it. NCLB was primarily created to ensure that poor and minority students received a quality education. Most of the public outcry against NCLB was fixated on maintaining programs and paying adults, not on seeking the best way to educate our children and for that we should be ashamed.
Schools in the states that were granted waivers will not face the sanctions outlined in NCLB, but they will be subject to a range of interventions, which will be determined by the state itself. Essentially, leaving the states the latitude to deal with failing schools as they see fit. But what about the least among us? What about poor and minority students attending schools that may treat them like collateral damage and focus on "students who can learn?"
I do realize that the president is attempting to operate proactively in areas where congress has failed to act, but there has to be a better way. This move is supposed to give states "flexibility" and that's exactly what it does. It gives them the flexibility to do as they please; leaving poor and minority children behind. In the end, me and the president will have to agree to disagree. However, in spite of my reservations about his latest decision, I will be casting by ballot for him on November 6, 2012. Team Obama!
Follow Matthew Lynch, Ed.D. on Twitter: www.twitter.com/@lynch39083
Americans are mystified by education. It is so simple to teach another. It is the context of education that must change for the beauty of education to unfold in the life of a child. We must give the taxpayers the vouchers necessary to form excellent schools. At $5,000 per student voucher, any group of parents could create a school. One hundred children would bring $500,000 to the table, enough to hire qualified teachers and pay overhead. Schools of every size would establish around the country. The home school movement is on the front side of this idea. We simply don’t have the vouchers, our tax money. It is being kept from us. (We are very liberal, BTW, not conservative). Public schools must be made to compete for their students, prove that they can educate. If not, let us take our money elsewhere. This is the way inner city education will transform itself, from without, not from within the current system. Please read John Taylor Gatto is his entirety.
It should be repealed.
I am planning on retiring at 55 ( in 17 months - Even though I won two awards just last year -one associated with test score improvement) because No Child Left Behind is an insult to my intelligenÂce, makes classroom management more difficult and overall diminishes the quality of education in the district that I teach..
Rule 9: Life is not divided into semesters. You don't get summers off and very few employers are interested in helping you FIND YOURSELF. Do that on your own time.
Rule 10: Television is NOT real life. In real life people actually have to leave the coffee shop and go to jobs.
Rule 11: Be nice to nerds. Chances are you'll end up working for one.
Whatever else may be said about problems we have with education, the one thing that is not subject to debate is that the NAEP studies have shown consistently that the achievement levels in mathematics and reading have varied little over the 40 years the program has been conducted.
To conclude that our educational system is a failure when its most basic responsibility is to provide knowledge and skills in certain disciplines, then one would have to have clear evidence of its failure to teach those disciplines in an acceptable manner.
While stories may abound about deficiencies of students attempting college, one must bear in mind that today 75% of high school graduates attempt college compared to 40% in 1960. And these academically weaker students are in college because society gives them few other ways to get a job that actually earns a living.
Even a grade school teacher knows that if you reward bad behavior, you will get more of it.
NCLB is no more a good law than was separate but equal
The apparent current push to "perfect" every person is misguided, if an honest attempt. There is no imperative that every human being be able to solve quadratic equations in their head while engaged in erudite discussions of existentialism. The NAEP tests, given in public schools in the US since 1970, have recorded remarkably consistent results despite the fact that education has gone through several transformations including expanded services to the under-served sectors of society, inexpensive handheld calculators, experimentation with numerous teaching theories, computer resources in more homes, the birth of the internet and portable computers with software for every interest.
What one does not see in the NAEP tests is evidence of a decline in the overall capacities of students in general. What one does see is a failure of our leadership to align our society to its resources, an obligation that includes creating employment opportunities for all strata of our society.
Without fundamentals the students do not have the tools to engage in really worthwhile investigations and make personal contributions to their own fields. Math is the most inclusive language ever developed and effectively describes the world of Science which, sorry you obsolete "postmodernists", really does work for human progress.
At another level, English is the lingua franca of the world and proficiency is helpful in gaining cultural literacy which is highly-important for understanding the concepts inherent in the humanities (I'm, of course, talking about students in the US).
So: What does the test assess if not the fundamentals of Math, Science, Language, and the cultural structures in which they exist and apply? A student that does well on the standardized test has the basic proficiency to go off and explore on a more creative level. A creative student who can't read or do math is, unfortunately, gonna be left behind.
The idea that kids learn through play and experimentation is misguided in that they absolutely must have a handle on the fundamentals or it is just screwing around and will remain so.
One cannot engage in critical thinking, group discussion/education, and such without some understanding of issues and subject areas. A background of knowledge is necessary.
Not just for higher levels of education, but to understand and interact with the world. Too often this is lacking. A lack of proficiency in a language results in an inability to communicate effectively. A lack of basic knowledge in science--hard and social--renders one unable to fully explore the world.
The damage done by MCLB to teacher morale, teacher-retention and attracting people to the profession is difficult to fathom.
What other profession has an expectation of its professional practitioners that is scientifically impossible to achieve?