NEA - A Message from the President

NEA ^ | 4/25/2006 | Reg Weaver

[Diamond]

If you are unable to view the HTML below, please click here.

As president of the National Education Association (NEA), I share the deep frustrations many of you have with the so-called No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB). I have heard loud and clear from members across the country about the problems and concerns NCLB is causing, such as narrowing the curriculum, measuring schools by just two test scores, unfairly labeling and punishing schools, and requiring many teachers and para-educators to prove they are "highly qualified" through inappropriate and bureaucratic federal mandates.

I want to assure you that NEA has been leading the way in working to fix the many problems in this one-size-fits-all law and its implementation, fund its important programs such as Title I, and add positive provisions to help close the gaps in student achievement.

At our Annual Meeting in July, the delegates to the Representative Assembly will finalize our strategies for the reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA), of which NCLB is the latest version. Once those are set I will be calling on you to contact your members of Congress to support a course of action that will result in a Great Public School For Every Child. It will take all of us, working together and reaching out to parents and the public, to convince the President and the Congress to do the right thing for children and public education.

I want you to know that NEA has been actively working to obtain positive changes in the four years since the enactment of this law. Below is a progress report on the many successes we have had – with your help!

For additional information on our activities on ESEA/NCLB please visit www.nea.org/esea. If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to contact me at RWeaver@nea.org.


Reg Weaver

View The Progress Report Here

 

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[Diamond]

I got this email - Can anybody translate it for me? I tried Babelfish but it still comes out like gobbledygook.

Cordially,

[mnehring]

Translated.
Unless you give the NEA more money, we'll complain about everything you do.. and guess what, when you give us more money, we'll complain it isn't enough.. Because we claim to represent education and your children, the public will always think of us as impartial advocates.. Suckers!

[bereanway]

"and requiring many teachers and para-educators to prove they are "highly qualified" through inappropriate and bureaucratic federal mandates."

Hahaha, since when did "bureaucratic federal mandates" become distasteful to this pack of bureaucrats.

[snowman1]

What it says is they should not be required to show that they are fully quaitied teachers, and no school should have to produce students that are up to what they should be. In other words they want to just go ahead and produce a bunch of kids working at 5th grade level.

[Semper Paratus]

The NEA would endorse it if it was renamed "Leave no Child's Behind.

[maine-iac7]

ping

[snowman1]

What it says is they should not be required to show that they are fully qualified teachers, and no school should have to produce students that are up to what they should be. In other words they want to just go ahead and produce a bunch of kids working at 5th grade level.

[Diamond]

Hahaha, since when did "bureaucratic federal mandates" become distasteful to this pack of bureaucrats

Indeed clicking on the "Progress Report" reveals

NEA won nine changes in the national rules governing the law. Based on NEA proposals the U.S. Department of Education issued national rules changes to help correct some of the most unfair and impractical aspects of the law that:

• Allow more appropriate assessments to be used for students with cognitive disabilities;
• Recognize that newly arrived immigrant children who do not speak English should not be required to take the NCLB required reading test;
• Exempt students with serious medical conditions from counting in the requirement that at least 95 percent of students in each subgroup take the mandated NCLB tests or the school will fail to make Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP);
• Extended the deadline for certain rural school teachers with multiple teaching assignments to meet the "highly qualified" requirements and provided additional flexibility for some science teachers;
• Extended the deadline for paraprofessionals to meet their highly qualified requirements;
• Will allow some states to utilize a state-designed growth model to measure AYP, a more appropriate measure than the current practice of comparing this year’s third-graders to next-year’s third-graders
• Will grant some states a one-year extension of the deadline to meet the requirement that 100 percent of teachers be highly qualified;
• Provide a delay of sanctions for failure to make AYP for some states and schools affected by last year’s hurricanes.

Cordially,

[RexBeach]

My wife is a teacher and, as a result, I know a lot of teachers. NONE of them think the "No Child Left Behind" Act is a good law. My wife, btw, and many of her colleagues are quite conservative. So, how does one presume then?

Thoughts? Anyone? Bueller? Anyone?

[KarlInOhio]

As president of the National Education Association (NEA), I share the deep frustrations many of you have with the so-called No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB). I have heard loud and clear from members across the country about the problems and concerns NCLB is causing, such as narrowing the curriculum to academics, measuring schools by just two any test scores, unfairly labeling and punishing uncomfortably pointing out failing schools,teachers and administrators, and requiring many teachers and para-educators to prove they are "highly qualified" through inappropriate and bureaucratic federal mandates.

I want to assure you that NEA has been leading the way in working to fix the many problems in this one-size-fits-all remove accountability from this law and its implementation, fund its important programs such as Title I keep the gravy train rolling, and add positive provisions to help close the gaps in student achievement remove testing so that we can again claim all schools are above average.

[Loyal Buckeye]

I agree that many good teacher do not like NCLB. My question is, what do the critics suggest as an alternative?

[RexBeach]

Yup. I agree. What would be better than NCLB?

God, talking about public school curriculum is like hearding cats. There's a lot of commotion and dust kicked up, but few results.

[Diamond]

NONE of them think the "No Child Left Behind" Act is a good law... So, how does one presume then?

Separation of School and State?

Cordially,

[KarlInOhio]

What's their problem with it? The biggest complain I've heard is that they spend too much time teaching to the test. If the test covers what the children are supposed to learn, then "teaching to the test" is teaching the curriculum. If the test doesn't cover what the students should be learning, then the test needs to be changed but not eliminated. If the test matches what the students should be learning but something else is being taught, then the problem is not with the test.

I'm sure the car companies would love to not waste time and money running collision tests on cars and doing other testing. However without such testing they could not figure out what is wrong with a design until after it has been on the street for a while.

[MileHi]

I want to assure you that NEA has been leading the way in working to fix the many problems in this one-size-fits-all law and its implementation,...

How about supporting vouchers so parents can escape the many problems with the one-size-fits-all indoctrination camps?

[mikeybaby]

At lest aparrently, he can us spel chek.
Geesh.
mor money is th anser.

[Wristpin]

I think they hate NCLB the same way a military organization hates inspections and audits. They'll get used to accountability after a few years.

[dhs12345]

LOL! That should be the title of this post -- "bureaucrats don't like bureaucracies."

And leave it to a bureaucrat to make a mess of a system that might work, i.e., standardized testing.

OTH, I wouldn't want to be a teacher. Especially, in a low income area.

[RexBeach]

I think their problem is that the Act is too intrusive in that it controls, more than ever, what the kids are taught. I suppose that, to truly gifted teachers who spend tons of time developing lesson plans for their kids, that might be true. As for the rest of the teachers, i.e., the regular types who are competent but not outstanding, it could be argued that the Act IS good for the children. The whole issue seems terribly subjective.

As for myself, I think it's important children need to study what they need to know in life: English, reading and math skills.

I am not surprised that the NEA opposes it since it is such a hyper-liberal outfit. It would oppose anything Mr. Bush proposed. NEA seems more concerned about teachers than students. Similar to the way that UAW members are more loyal to their union than to the automobile companies that sign their checks.

That said, my wife and many of her colleagues teach in a politically conservative jurisdiction, and it also surprises me that they have grave doubts about effectiveness of the NCLB Act.

[dhs12345]

Good point. They don't. They whine and whine about how bad it is and offer no solutions or a way to make the NCLB better.