No Child Left Bahinf

The Salt Lake Tribune ^ | February 5, 2004 | Ronnie Lynn

[leprechaun9]

Opposition to President Bush's No Child Left Behind education law is gaining traction, and Republicans -- even in GOP strongholds such as Utah -- are among those digging in deepest. .....

[sauropod]

per our earlier discussion.

[sauropod]

Thank you.

[HELLRAISER II]

The problem is THEIR POLITICIANS, it doesn't make any difference on whether their Dems or Republicans. They all want to take the credit for the good and blame the other party for the bad, irregardless of who's fault it actually is.

[Badray]

BTTT

[TheSpottedOwl]

You're welcome! I just got off the phone with someone at the high school suggesting that I take advantage of a homeschooling option for ill students. They're sending out the paperwork. His English, social studies, and history papers will kick ass....I'll have my son in law do the math homework.

[CMAC51]

However what they don't tell you is that even special ed students & foreign kids who don't even speak English are also used in the percentages and that is not fair...I know this for a fact because my wife is a teacher, the Administrators and the Politicians are the only ones to benefit from this fiasco.

I find it necessary to totally disagree with you. My wife is a teacher dealing with dyslexia and reading recovery. According to her the real benefits of testing rose dramatically after exemptions for learning disabilities were removed. The delivery of the test is modified to compensate for the student's specific disability, however they are tested on the material and their results are included in the overall results. Administrators were no longer able to hide problems. Now the problems get addressed and fixed.

[CMAC51]

The schools will just do what Capistrano Valley High School in California used to do when my daughter was a student there. They require 100% attendance, then send all the low performing kids and goof offs to the library to make up the allowable percentage of absentees.

And exactly how will that work if the student has to pass the test to advance to a higher grade level? ...Can't stay in the library forever.

[CMAC51]

Amen to that. Putting the special ed, non-english speaking AND "troubled" (rotten to the core) kids in regular class rooms only hurts the kids who want to learn and who can learn. It SOUNDS like the politicians and school administrators are doing something to improve schools when in reality it's all smoke and mirrors.

I think you have it backwards. Mainstreaming was a liberal concept inteded to prevent the ego damage from being seperated. It put "special" kids in with everyone else, regardless of outcome. When testing is fully enforced, the tests dictate which students need special circumstances to address their problems, based on quantitative data, rather than qualitative. This inhibits the parents ability to force the school to make exceptions for their students. It inhibits the schools from hiding their problems by placating parents and passing the problem student on to the next victim. Both discipline and performance improve because the parents can't "bully" the test and administrators are ultimately held responsible for performance.

In the short term teachers will take it on the chin. Administrators will try to make them a scape goat rather than addressing the real problems. In the long run the teachers benefit from the improvements that will take place because the testing will hold administrators responsible.

[eyespysomething]

you have FRmail

[Eva]

Does each student have to pass the test or is it a composite score that is taken?

[ladylib]

Testing companies really benefit.

My brother taught ESL. Last year, a kid came off the plane from China who couldn't speak a word of English and my brother had to give him the test a week later.

There is some woman from the fed ed department who was interviewed and claimed that Down's Syndrome kids will be held to the same "high" standard as normal kids.

Meanwhile, schools which don't want to be labeled "persistently dangerous" and really are fudge their statistics or, in the case of NYC, a girl can be raped in a stairwell, but unless the perp held a gun to her head, the school isn't considered "persistently dangerous."

Kids are told they can leave failing schools, but if they are in a failing district, where do they go? Other public schools aren't required to take them.

No Child Left Behind isn't what it's cracked up to be.

[Xenalyte]

No Child Left Bahinf

You're not supposed to smoke that Pot of Gold.



Actually, you're supposed to SHARE!

[Xenalyte]

The Students dictate what work they will do and what their grades will be by having their parents come up to the school and threaten to sue the school if their child is not passed to the next grade.

So? Let them threaten. I assume the district has a lawyer on retainer . . . if not, what are those school district fees for? (I mean, I'm paying 'em, and I have no children.)

[Xenalyte]

How can you judge the teachers when the students aren't required to do anything? That is until this test is given and then they can't do simple arithmetic & basic Science and English. Then all the sudden it's the teachers fault.

I can judge the students and the teachers PLENTY, because I got to teach 'em after the teachers got rid of 'em. I taught freshmen in college, and I was appalled at how many lacked eighth-grade reading proficiency.

[Little Ray]

Actually, you can bet that no child will be allowed to get ahead, regardless of ability, enthusiasm, etc.

[TomServo]

Something tells me you were left behind.

[Xenalyte]

. Putting the special ed, non-english speaking AND "troubled" (rotten to the core) kids in regular class rooms only hurts the kids who want to learn and who can learn.

Not at all true, in the case of non-English speakers. Ever hear of immersion? Best way to learn a language.

[Xenalyte]

But now the only thing anybody worries about is making sure that Special Ed & less educated children are put into main stream classrooms.

Mainstreaming special ed and "foundation" students is a horrible idea. Who ever thought that would work has obviously never spent time in a classroom victimized by mainstreaming.

[leprechaun9]

I have all the results of the NJ statewide testing for the 4th, 8th, and 11th grades for several years. The results are in three classifications: Regular, Special Ed, and Limited English Proficiency.

The results in each classification are grouped into three levels: I, II, and III with I being the highest. Level III is below the state minimum standard (or to be politically correct, they are partially proficient!)

For example, for the 4th grade, there are 1308 public schools with a 4th grade. The students are "assessed" (politically incorrect to test) in Language Arts, Mathematics, and Science.

The first year that the test was given, the best school in the state (across all income and education levels) had 11% of their Regular students in Level I for the three skills (and it was the only school in the entire state to be in double figures). There were more than 1100 schools that had 0% of their students so grouped.

With each passing year, the results are improving but no where near the expectations for the $Billions of taxpayer money that is expended each year.

[CMAC51]

Does each student have to pass the test or is it a composite score that is taken?

I am speaking here for Texas, which much of the Federal bill was modeled after. There are benchmark grades that the child must pass the test in order to proceed to the next grade. Third and fifth grade in elementary, I believe the 8th, and then they can start taking the high school exam in the 10th grade and have to pass it by the time they graduate. Testing is done at the other grade levels, but it is for diagnostic purposes, identifying needs, not for promotion to the next grade.