Today was a testing day for the No Kid Left Behind Program. It’s too bad that it came in the middle of one of the worst flu seasons on record. Several county schools in our state are closed. Not only are the students out, but also teachers, substitute teachers, and substitutes for the substitutes.
But the schools that remained open had to have testing. And if 95% ( I think that is the correct figure) of the students don’t show up, then the school automatically fails. Some of these schools failed last year. I think there are consequences if a school fails two years. I know there are for three years.
Sick students are coming in to take the test and, of course, spread the flu. Bless their hearts.
Not only is it foolish to schedule testing during flu season, but every teacher knows that the kids have trouble concentrating in the weeks just before Christmas. In some schools, preparations are underway for midterm exams that are given before the holidays.
The farther away from the classroom, the greater the decision-making power. That has always been one of education’s biggest problems.
According to PBS’s NOW with Bill Moyers, the whole No Child Left Behind program was based on the supposed success of a similar program in Texas. The results look good until you find out the results were lies. Poor students were shunted into remedial programs, where the test was not given. Dropouts were reported as moved to another school, so the dropout rate was unrealistically low.
My husband has a beef with this too, only for a different reason. He works in a school district where something like 95% of the kids pass the tests. But his school is not considered ‘successful’, because it hasn’t shown any improvement in test scores. Worse yet, they were denied a bonus last year because of ‘lack of improvement in scores’. WTF? I don’t see how it’s ever going to be possible to achieve 100%, unless cheating is involved.
Not to mention the increased demands on school systems based on promised funding, which did not materialize.
Well, this will be no thread left behind when it winds up in GD.
The NY Times has had extensive coverage of lies in the Houston school system, the former head of which is now Secretary of Education. The dropouts were reported as being moved since it was assumed they had moved since no one knew where they were. A similar policy was carried out for crime reports, in order to make it seem that the unsafe schools were safe.
Some schools near me have had the same problem as that of romanperson’s husband’s school.
In a related vein, this week’s Time magazine has an article on the increasing number of dangerously violent children in schools; some of the reasons cited for the increase were the “No Child Left Behind” program, which has reduced or eliminated the amount of recess/socializing time the kids get.
I went to HS in Tx, so I had plenty of time to think about the tests I took and laugh.
I had to take the TAAS test on several occasionals (don’t know what TAAS means, or how many times I took it, exactly.) But teachers would spend WEEKS prepping us for these tests, while I sat there thinking, “But what about the class? I’m learning how to take the History TAAS test, but not history.” Y’know, sample questions, sample essays, etc.
When I took said History TAAS, I finished in in 30 minutes, found it to be beyond stupid (a challenge only to students who lived under a rock), slep for the rest of the 2 hours allotec for testing, and got a 97%.
It was easier than book-aided questions.
I hated wasting time in class to focus on how to take a stupid test. I actually wanted to learn what the class had to offer. I’ve taken tests before, now teach me the information! Jesus. Because we spent so long preparing for TAAS (which my history/philophy teacher hated doing), we had to skip the entire section on Asia. This was my only class where I could’ve learned about Asian History, and we had to skip it because the TAAS got in the way. Now I know nothing on Asia. Thanks. (I read the chapters, but didn’t learn it as well on my own - I learn better in a lecture-type/taking notes kind of way).
Say it loud and say it clear. Maybe someone will finally listen.
The No Child Left Behind program is just another in a long line of cynical, hollow catch phrases, w/ another nasty level of bureacracy added. It’s a sick Darwinian scheme that focuses on paper pushers rather than the folks actually teaching real kids. My main bitch w/ modern education is the thick (expensive) layer of coordinators, etc. whose main role is playing the system.
I’m speaking as the daughter of a born teacher, more teacher than mom actually, who finally quit because the whole mess became unworkable. She had to civilize kids whose parents hadn’t bothered before she could even begin teaching them. The parents wanted the teachers to handle everything, administration was absorbed by statistics and the political demands du jour and kids kept paying the price.
The whole sick system sucks and I don’t have an answer.