Posted on 10/21/2004 6:17:28 PM PDT by mlmr
I have had to place some of my children in the local government schools. I am keeping the school on a fairly short leash and spend more than the usual amount of time talking to school employees.
Every school employee except for the busdriver has, each time we have spoken togher, has put in a POINTED slam of the No Child Left Behind program. All of them. All the time. One employee told me that I had to provide a reason and a note when the child is missing for a day...becasue No Child Left Behind requires it. Althoug friends in other districts deny thier schools requiring any such thing. And I certainly know that this is a FEDERAL mandate since the speakers all refer to this issue.
Is this a NEA or state union push. It is very effective for on a one to one basis with all parents during the teacher meetings this year, which are mostly held before the elections, parents are being told that the present administration is screwing up their child.
Any other government school parents experiencing this???
The government takes over, and teachers will teach precisely the liberal mantra you don't WANT taught.
This is a great way to invite the government into the minds of your children.
Yeah, hav the child tell teh teacher she had to have an abortion and NO note will be required - mums the word on THAT.
>>A second graders speech problem most of the time works its self out. Sometimes that little do-little thing under the tongue is too big causing the tongue to be restricted but a trip to the doctor cures that. If by the end of the year there is not an improvement then maybe in 3rd grade a speech therapist will be needed.<<
Really?
has anyone else noticed the anger in this thread? we have posted over 103 angry comments in less than 50 minutes since the initial posting. for those of you who love stats and metrics, i think this tells us where one of our major social problems is -- the education system.
She's had a more major problem. She's been in speech since she was 2.
She has a problem called apraxia. It doesn't go away by itself.
Thank God, the one with the bad teacher has really worked hard and you can barely tell she has a problem.
Her twin sister is still struggling and probably will never talk normal.
My son could not say his ewls or awwwrs in second grade and received speech therapy in third.
"My mother-in-law, after many years of teaching elementary school, had to get a Masters degree in order to be considered "well-qualified," which is pretty stupid. But that may be that particular state's implementation of NCLB, rather than anything in the federal statute."
A Masters degree is becoming more common. If she didn't get it she'd probably be squeezed out for someone who had it. Plus a Masters degree gets them more money automatically.
This is new? When I was in school.... a long time ago, we always had to have a written excuse if we missed a day. For that matter, so did my daughter.
A Masters degree is becoming more common. If she didn't get it she'd probably be squeezed out for someone who had it. Plus a Masters degree gets them more money automatically.
I disagree. Experience counts. Performance counts. I am sick of laws that are basicly make work programs for mediocre grad school profs.
This is new? When I was in school.... a long time ago, we always had to have a written excuse if we missed a day. For that matter, so did my daughter.
Not if your parent walked you into school and discussed the absence with the staff.
or speak normally.
amen!
Thanks for the info.
The school districts I work in are so separate and defined by district money, cut-backs, rules and regulations, that realizing that they are all one and the same, under the state and federal government, seems strange.
As a former teacher who got out of teaching, worked in industry and went back for a short time due to a RIF, most ADMINISTRATORS do not like NCLB. And most teachers that do not like NCLB are either parroting NEA talking points or their principals.
Why? Accountability. Having to meet standards. Being held responsible for what the students learn. It's amazing how teachers hold students to high standards but don't like having high standards imposed on them. I really like NCLB and I let people know it the last time I taught in a public school. Didn't make too many friends but that wasn't my intent.
I hear the same thing from teacher friends. Much of it is caused by silly, bureaucratic requirements and mind-numbing record-keeping, Teaching to the tests is another big complaint. Part of this is due to the local administration which is so PC that all classrooms in a grade level must be arranged the same and teachers must make home visits to parents who won't come in for teacher conferences.
Needless to say, the turnover rate for teachers is astronomical.
My brother is an elementary school principal in California. He's not very crazy about "No Child Left Behind" either. His complaints are levied at the reports he has to provide showing improvements for age groups, individual minority groups, boys, girls etc. His school got pinged because the hispanic boys group failed to meet the minimal standards for 3 out of 5 measurements. It takes a great deal of time for the teachers to collate the data for these reports. Instead of submitting scores for the class, the teacher must submit several reports representing each minority group, etc.
It kind of reminds me of what happened in hospitals when they took away Ward Clerks and all the nurses and docs had to start doing the paper work in addition to using computers to provide hospital administration the "data" they needed to measure work performance.
I think these reports are a necessary hassle in public schools if we're going to target teachers who don't teach and identify students who aren't learning.
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