Posted on 06/06/2007 1:48:30 AM PDT by ricks_place
Study's Authors Unsure Whether to Credit Law for Gains
The nation's students have performed significantly better on state reading and math tests since President Bush signed his landmark education initiative into law five years ago, according to a major independent study released yesterday.
The study's authors warned that it is difficult to say whether or how much the No Child Left Behind law is driving the achievement gains. But Republican and Democratic supporters of the law said the findings indicate that it has been a success. Some said the findings bolster the odds that Congress will renew the controversial law this year.
"This study confirms that No Child Left Behind has struck a chord of success with our nation's schools and students," U.S. Education Secretary Margaret Spellings said in a statement. "We know the law is working, so now is the time to reauthorize."
The report, which experts called the most comprehensive analysis of test data from all 50 states since 2002, concluded that the achievement gap between black and white students is shrinking in many states and that the pace of student gains increased after the law was enacted. The findings were particularly significant because of their source: the nonpartisan Center on Education Policy, which in recent years has issued several reports that have found fault with aspects of the law's implementation.
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
I still think vouchers and encouraging more private education is the way to go... and that we need to continue working toward that eventuality.
I think the main problem is that the Federal government should not be funding education in the states due to Constitutionality. That said, all three branches of government seem to step all over the Constitution anyway, so it is not surprising that the President and Congress pass laws that violate it.
Only folks that like NCLB are the big gov't suits that are far removed from the classroom.
You nailed it, misterrob.
No doubt that explains the results as well as anything. I still believe that the ability to read Bacon in Latin and Aristotle in Arabic should be demonstrated before graduation.
Why parrot the tired "teach to the test" meme? "Teaching to the test" is a Good Thing. It's part of what's been missing in education.
Testing measures knowledge, so the only way to "teach to the test" is to make sure students know the material that will be tested! That's exactly what school is supposed to do.
And, as much as I hated it and teachers hated it, repetition is a necessary and effective tool in teaching. Everyone would love to find another way, but repetition works.
I heard on the radio this morning that our congress in Sacrament is trying to pass a law that will end the high school exit exam.
If you cannot test, you cannot measure or, hold anyone accountable.
I’m laughing when you wrote Ted Kennedy is good for MA because I’ve lived in MA for 13yrs and I do not see it.
I have voted against him TWICE; however, there is absolutely no viable candidate against him, he does not even campaign, it’s ridiculous.
What legislation has he been involved with that is good for the country or Massachusetts? The “Big Dig” which brought federal money to MA is/was full of corruption.
NCLB is a nice idea, but I agree with many posts about teachers “teaching to the test”. I’ve got a son in 3rd grade and they spent WAY too much time “preparing” for these tests.
As a parent who has seen first hand its flaws, I disagree with your comments. My kid has been taught to take multiple choice tests. She is drilled on questions that show up the test and the test scores are managed carefully. It’s not a question on how much she actually learns or if she is being trained to think, she’s being conditioned to pass a multiple choice test. Take away the 4 choices for her to pick from and she falls down. That’s not education, that’s meeting standardized benchmarks.
You can drill basics like simple math, spelling and the like. You cannot drill to teach reasoning or working through a problem to the end.
I see it first hand here at home. Nothing wrong with doing numerical drils of 1+1, 1+2, 1+3, etc., of spelling words or other items that kids just need to practice but that doesn’t translate to word problems, science, or interactive subjects.
That they can so easily work the numbers is sickening.
BTTT!
What I noticed, which seems relatively common in the results from state to state, is represented on pages such as that for Florida, under the title “Percentage of Students Scoring at the Proficient Level or Above in Reading.”
Look at that graph. What does it really say...?
Does it not indicate, as with so many of the other states, that the longer the average child stays in public education the further they fall behind...?
Not in Los Angeles, Alta California, Mexico.
“All they do is teach to the test now. “
Prove it! Which states are handing out the questions to the testing so teachers can “teach the test?”
Please provide resources to support your assertion.
“I can’t respect such intentional ignorance of how things work; I can’t understand such “values”.”
Both my wife and I, and about a dozen of our close relatives, have teaching degrees and credentials.
We are already dumping money into public education at an alarming rate. The cost of putting the average American student through a year of public education is over $10,000. Multiply that figure...and often more...by the number of students in the average classroom and its obvious that many public schools are awash in money.
What public schools are not awash in is success.
If you haven’t seen the test, I’d reserve comment. You can’t just bubble A,C, or E and stand a decent shot at guessing.
The test penalizes guessing, actually. I’m not wild about federalizing public education, but your comment about the test isn’t accurate either.
If the scores are going up, while it might be true they are teaching to the test, it also means the kids are mastering what IS being taught.
This isn’t the SAT.
Exactly. The teachers go into panic mode just before test time. But in-between tests, they are still having Rachel Carson days, teaching Chicago math and showing 'An Inconvenient Truth' in science class.
The teachers send home a packet of questions that they ask us to review with our child. These have been gone over in class. These questions are the same ones that show up on the off-year SOLs.
The teaching methodology is geared towards multiple choice.
Those of us with kids in school know what’s happening. If you talk to teachers they will basically tell you that they are pushed to teach to passing the tests, not educating the kids. It’s not about accountibility, it’s about making the stats look good.
It’s the methodology that is the problem. Kids are not being taught to think and problem solve, they are being trained to take multiple choice tests. If the answer cannot be selected from one of 4 items then they kid can’t answer the question.
I see it in the homework that comes home, the tests that they administer in class, the review notes that they want us to work with and the teaching agenda in the classroom.
You can drill a child on what the answer is without actually teaching them why the answer is correct. That style also removes the elements of critical thinking and reasoning.
Do you have any proof, other than your own anecdotes?
I don’t know what state you live in, but they’re not doing that here.
I’ll tell you what, post your name and contact details here and I will send you over a bunch of stuff.
Otherwise, quit expecting people to dance hard enough to convince you of things that go on outside of your world.
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