Posted on 08/12/2008 3:22:13 AM PDT by Amelia
Congress has several concerns as it moves toward reauthorizing the No Child Left Behind Act of 2002. Whatever else they do, lawmakers need to strengthen the requirement that states document student performance in yearly tests in exchange for federal aid.
The states have made a mockery of that provision, using weak tests, setting passing scores low or rewriting tests from year to year, making it impossible to compare progress — or its absence — over time.
[snip]
Most states that report strong performances on their own tests do poorly on the more rigorous and respected National Assessment of Educational Progress, which is often referred to as NAEP and is also known as the nation’s report card....States are resisting the idea of replacing their own tests with the NAEP, arguing that the national test is not aligned to state standards. But the problem is that state standards are generally weak, especially in math and science.
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
The public school systems is but a day care center for working parents that have no money, the communist American government wants the children to be driveling fools and they have succeeded for the most part.
And the majority of Americans will say and do nothing.
The goobermint skrewels are a national scam.
That might be true in the cities where the dem/liberals have destroyed everything. In our town we sent our son, who will be six in Sept. to Kindergarten las year. By the time he got out in June he could read second grade level books, do some multiplication and can add and subtract. We have a pretty good elementary school here and the teachers are pretty adept at keeping us informed of his progress and any issues he might have.
Here is a case-book example of how this law is fundamentally flawed to begin with.
My school got the AYP reports back. We missed the cut in English/Language Arts by five(5) kids this year. Five. We are again on the naughty list for AYP.
Right when we thought we would have made it, the State of Georgia changed the rules on the passing scores on the test, without informing anyone, after the test was taken by all of the students in the state.
I don’t like NCLB, but I do like the accountability portion. As a professional, I really don’t mind being held accountable, but I do mind being held accountable in a game of Calvinball [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Calvinball#Calvinball], if you dont’ know to what I refer.
Your are absolutely right, schools tend to reflect the community. The schools in my community were very conservative. The majority of the teachers lived in the community and sent their children to the same schools.
A teacher friend of mine just changed schools because hers was so bad she did not want her kids going there. She moved to a school in a more stable community and she said the difference was astounding.
Unfortunately, my community has seen a lot of change recently, we are moving.
So it sounds like your main complaint matches this editorial - states moving the goalposts around and messing with the federal standards. Is that a fair statement?
Yes, it is, JenB. However, my state is fairly increasing the rigidity of the test. It is anything BUT watered down.
My issue is when they decide to raise things, they did it after the test was scored and submitted. We did not know what happened until later.
Make sense?
Yeah, that makes sense.
I’ve been hearing some really awful stuff about Georgia lately, mostly the new math program, so I guess I assumed they were dumbing the test down. Moving the goalposts partway through is just as bad though.
I was under the impression they were dumbing down the math also, I have been trying to find this evidence on the web, have you seen anything to this topic anywhere?
Here’s a thread from yesterday that turned into a curriculumn topic but you might find useful: http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2059836/posts
It doesn't help that they're used to Mexican schools where they can be beaten, and when they realize that there's no beating in American schools, they run amok, screaming in joy. Because once you've smacked a kid around, being given 15 minutes of trash pick-up doesn't particularly bother them. It's miserable. I am seriously considering relocating to Fargo if my writing career doesn't eventually save me from this job.
I feel your pain. My county in Georgia is the #1 agriculture county in the state and we have lots of migrant workers and a good many hispanics that have settled here.
Like you I have a problem with kids dropping in and out, and having to test immediately after coming to the country. NCLB has done nothing but shackle good teachers who are trying.
I don’t mind accountability, but I do mind it when the rules get changed in the middle of the game without knowing.
Just make sure you move to a rural area north of Austin, either East Texas, North Texas or West Texas. Teaching becomes fun again.
Background info., first: In our county, 71% of all minority (black) births are to unwed mothers. Many are in my daughter's non-tracked classes. (60% or so for hispanics in our county, and 25% or so for caucasian).
I knew those numbers, but here is the part that troubled me. The High School nurse was discussing teen pregnancies among black girls. She noted one senior girl who said the reason she really, really, really wanted to get pregnant was so that her mother would not lose her house after she graduated. (As in -welfare was paying for the house until the dependents were grown and she is the youngest child - she wanted to add another dependant so that they could keep their house).
So many of the state-dependent/welfare students do not have any hope (in their own minds) and truly believe they will have the same lives as their moms. When a student loses all hope that education will help, why even try? Why even stay in school? Just a thought. One of the rural south's many problems with education, as educrats try to educate the masses.
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