EDITORIAL: Nix NCLB

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EDITORIAL: Nix NCLB

Posted by

Mike Buffington

in Editorial Archives

Friday, May 8. 2009

Comments (5)

The president has sent his Education Secretary on a “listening mission” across the nation to hear from people about the No Child Left Behind law.
Hopefully, Secretary Arne Duncan will get an earful.

A creation of the Bush Administration, NCLB has done nothing more than have federal bureaucrats make a bigger mess of education.
Its faults? Let us count the ways:

1. No funding. Despite promises, the federal program created a slew of new mandates, but doesn’t allocate enough money to pay for them. The result is that local school systems have increasingly had to raise taxes to fund these federal rules.

2. Inane rules. For example, a small subset of students who do poorly on one part of standardized testing (ie. Immigrant students who don’t speak fluent English) can have an entire school labeled as “not meeting adequately yearly progress,” although all students but that small number are doing fine.

3. Teaching to the test. Although testing is an important part of school accountability, NCLB has made standardized testing the Holy Grail of school life. These tests have taken on far too much importance and class time, often pushing aside subjects such as music and art that don’t receive testing.

That’s a sampling of the problems with NCLB. While many people would agree the nation’s education system has problems, this law does not fix them.

For one thing, many of the problems in public education revolve around family and demographic issues. Too many minority students are failing at a higher rate than their counterparts, not because they don’t have opportunity, but rather because they lack the kind of support at home needed to be successful in school. No federal law aimed at public schools will fix failing families.

If the president really wants to address NCLB, he will propose that it be abolished and that control over education in the country revert to the states and local school systems where it belongs.

The NCLB gets a grade of “F,” Mr. President. Hopefully, that is what you will get from this “listening mission.”

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#1 Amanda on 05/09/09 at 06:48 AM [Reply]

I completely agree. Especially the comment that students are lacking the support at home needed to succeed. It's difficult being an educator, giving students every opportunity possible but the lack of support is devastating. It would be great if everyone could be on grade-level at the same time, but it is not possible. It's like asking babies to all walk by 10 months old, but they don't. They have their own pace. Some are slower while others learn faster.

#2 Karen on 05/10/09 at 07:32 AM [Reply]

The idea of NCLB was and is a good one but the implementation of it needed more thought.

For example, if there are students who need extra help in say math or language arts, they are pulled out of regular classes and placed in smaller classes so they can get more individualized attention or at least that's how it's suppose to work.

In actuality, these children may be placed in smaller classes, but the work isn't the same as the regular classes. They are given "easier" assignments. Their education plan may state, give student only one or two choices in answers, or highlight "important" words, or read test aloud or give extra time. This small subset of children IS NOT made up of "non English" speaking children; however it may include them.

The truth is the majority of those "immigrant students" are very intelligent. If given the standardize "CRCT" test in their native language, they would do better. If the standardized test is so important in deciding if a student is learning why not give the test in their native language?

In New Jersey, these students (English as a second Language) are taught classes separate from English speaking students in their native language. They are also taught English. When the student becomes proficient in English, they are transitioned to a regular class room. Students do better and test scores are up.

But let’s get back to the REAL problem with NCLB; all students are entitled to an education and must meet the standards. This includes students with low IQs, and even non-measurable IQs. You have students in schools that have such severe disabilities they live in a world of their own. And the schools are obligated to "educate" these children until the age of 22. They have to show these students are actually "learning" the standards. How do you teach a student with an IQ of say 20 the same math, language arts, science or whatever that is required by the “standardized” testing? In Georgia, they have come up with Georgia Alternative Testing. Major resources are being used to "show" that these special education students are "learning" when in fact, the student doesn’t have a clue.

#3 Barrow Teacher on 05/11/09 at 07:03 AM [Reply]

Amen. Thanks for voicing that. Teachers have known from the start of this awful program that it was a joke and a horrible burden. Families need to take responsibility for their children and only then can improvements be made in education.

#3.1 Dana Fletcher on 05/11/09 at 04:50 PM [Reply]

I dont pay school taxes OR your salary to teach my kids at home!

#4 Barrow Parent on 08/23/09 at 09:42 PM [Reply]

The few of you that blame the children and families for the districts inability to meet NCLB should be ashamed of yourselves. You obviously don't understand NCLB,IDEA, ADA, Section 504 or Special Education or RTI or even standard education, QBE, or whatever term applies to BASIC EDUCATION this school year.

Karen, how dare you speak of children with profound cognitive disabilities the way you have in stating that the children,"don't have a clue." Not all children in special education have cognitive or intellectual disabilities or low IQ of 20 as you noted. Not all disabilities are mental in nature , some are physical. Did you know that a child needing only speech services in school needs an IEP and special education plan just for speech?

There are plans even for the most profound intellectually disabled (PID) child. If the district staff that call themselves Program Coordinator or LEA Reps.( or whatever title makes them feel important and meets their own needs) would get out from behind their desks and actually educate themselves ( there is more than one type of assessment for these children besides the standardized ) and hire QUALIFIED school psychologist and SLP's who have knowledge of valid test selection for each INDIVIDUAL child then they would be able to set INDIVIDUAL goals that are attainable for the child within the school year, if the evaluators have enough sense to assess the child with a SKILLS assessment.

The A in AYP stands for "Adequate", defined as: sufficient, satisfactory, passable but not outstandingly good. I have full understanding of how the Barrow IEP teams, including the special education teacher, are profoundly undereducated in the field of special education. I have set at a few meetings, with a special education attorney (which is very expensive for families) and the IEP team and was shocked to learn of their lack of education.

The special education department in Barrow County is profoundly inefficient, uncoordinated, uneducated, discriminatory, abusive to parents and children with special needs and retains some ( not all) special education teachers that should be replaced. The restructuring needs to begin at the top ( special education director) and trickle down ( special ed. teacher). If a sports team is failing it isn't the players who are fired or replaced.

BCSD should be all over teachers and administrators who have a consistently failing subgroup. Especially when it is the same subgroup year after year. Don't blame it on the children! There are other schools in Georgia that are showing consistent gains in all areas.

Oh! I forgot, no need to do this now. Barrow is petitioning for a Charter System. Most schools that are in their third and fourth year of not meeting AYP face serious consequences. I'm not going to tell you the whole story, you read, you do the homework.

I also have a child that is above grade level in every subject and has been taught on the same low standards for the past three years. But I will continue to teach him at home until he gets so bored of learning the same thing at the same level over and over year after year until I remove him to home school so I can challenge him. I'm not stating that this is the regular ed. teachers fault as my child has had some wonderful reg. ed. teachers, its sad that this district doesn't understand how to utilize their most precious resources (teachers).

Barrow Teacher, you poor thing! Why would any parent or government expect you to set high standards of effective teaching by using an awful program that tests children using unbiased testing and unbiased methods of data reporting that either validates or invalidates your teaching.

I don't understand why everyone can't just take your biased " word"
for what you do or do not do behind closed education doors. Actually the "joke" is on you in that you actually have to do some work to retain the teaching certificate you have and to continue to be paid by the irresponsible parents that send their children to school for an EDUCATION due to a mandatory compulsory education law. If not for this mandatory law there wouldn't be a need for your profession. Irresponsible parents could use the school tax money for home school supplies or tutors. I think you need to take the word, " families" out of your last sentence and replace it with the word "teachers" , only then will this sentence be comprehensible to all who reads it. e.g. Teacher's
need to take responsibility for teaching children, and only then can improvements be made in education.

Before I sign out, I have a question for Karen. What "major resources" are being used to "show" that these special education students are "learning" ? Is it money or funding ; teacher time allotment; falsifying documents to "show learning" or just what are you stating? Could you please do me the honor of CLARIFYING this statement for me? I am a Georgia edumacated person so you will need to translate your New Jersey dialect (words) so that I may confer some meaning of your sentence as a whole. You did note, " in New Jersey" in your blog so I assume you are from New Jersey. I have never met a person from New Jersey that I befriended. You just fit the Jersey profile of an arrogant know-it-all. What prompted your move to Georgia? Could it be for employment?

I will list information that explains the intent and purpose of AYP.

The ABC's of AYP
Raising Achievement of All Students.
www.edtrust.org/NR/rdonlyres/37B8652D-84F4-4FA1-AA8D-319EAD5A6089/0/ABCAYP.PDF

No Educator Left Behind: Safe Harbor
www.education-world.com/a_issues/NELB.NELB146.shtml

NCLB: ACT II : School's Seek ' Safe Harbor' From 100 Percent Proficiency.
www.blogs.edweek.org/.../06/charlie_barones_reacts_to_the.html
left click on: Charters & Choice
scroll down to: Ga. Charter Schools Struggling Financially (8-11-09)
skip ad- go to Article by Cynthia Searcy, a Ga. State professor and co- author of the study.

What does the term 'safe harbor mean as used in education?
"Safe Harbor provision is a loophole, essentially in the education law... well, it does, and this is how it does that", said Michael Petrilli.. Tilden used the safe harbor provision to have low scores in two other subgroups.
www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/.../AR2008040601998.html

Do you know that Georgia ranks #41 out of the 51 states?
www.alec.org/AM/Template.cfm?Section=Report_Card_On_American_Education.com

Under "Report Card Sections"
choose: "State Snapshots" and listing of all States
Charted Rankings are listed in alphabetical order

2008-Ga. Ranks #48 in SAT Scores
2008- Ga. Ranks #41 in ACT Scores

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