more on "NCLB: The Implausible Dream"

[David Farber <dave () farber net>]

Begin forwarded message:

From: Bob Frankston <Bob2-19-0501 () bobf frankston com>
Date: June 11, 2005 7:15:21 PM EDT
To: dave () farber net, 'Ip ip' <ip () v2 listbox com>
Cc: Brett Glass <brett () lariat org>
Subject: RE: [IP] "NCLB: The Implausible Dream"


I agree that there are lots of problems with the current approach and  
we need a “do over”.

But blaming the parents is unfair – sure they are important but those  
students who most need help either have parents who need help  
themselves or may have neurological differences that are not amenable  
to simply trying the old stuff “more”. If parents are to be part of  
the solution then we need an education system that is more inclusive  
and continuing.

I agree that too much burden is placed on the teachers – why is there  
so little effort to take advantage of technology to make education  
more available to those who want to learn on their own. Imagine if  
text book and lecture content were available on the web so the  
teachers could assist learning rather than being the gating factor.  
I’m not talking about technology to make teaching more efficient but  
to make education more available and effective. (Yes, I know, it’s  
more complex than that)

Perhaps the bigger issue with these attempts to drag every child  
along is that at a time when the premium is on the ability to be  
adaptive and creative we are putting increasing emphasis on only what  
is measurable. Some testing and level setting is helpful but it’s too  
easy to standardize the approach and content rather. There is a  
strong incentive to teach to the test and only to the test. Base  
skills are a starting point not the goals in themselves.

It’s easy to find extreme examples of success and failure. It’s  
harder measure lost opportunity. Where will the disruptive innovation  
come from if everyone is tested on a scientific method premised on  
the assumption that science is about discovering the one truth rather  
than science as a means of questioning what we all “know” to be true.

The same simplistic approach can be found in nondiscretionary  
sentencing and the failure to recognize neurological issues in  
behavior. These align with the more general premise of a clockwork  
universe into each everything has its place – a quaint 19th century  
notion.



-----Original Message-----
From: owner-ip () v2 listbox com [mailto:owner-ip () v2 listbox com] On  
Behalf Of David Farber
Sent: Saturday, June 11, 2005 15:42
To: Ip ip
Subject: [IP] “NCLB: The Implausible Dream”







Begin forwarded message:

From:   Brett Glass <brett () lariat org>

Date:    June 11, 2005 12:01:02 PM EDT

To:       dave () farber net

Subject:            For IP: “NCLB: The Implausible Dream”





NCLB’s implausible dream
Jennifer Wilmetti

PERSPECTIVE



While the intent of the No Child Left Behind Act was praiseworthy,  
the means put in place to achieve the goals are flawed in several ways.

1.   This is an under-funded mandate. We are told to perform miracles  
for every student with a lack of necessary resources. I am supposed  
to make sure that all of my students read up to grade level, but yet  
I can’t buy any books to help me do it!

2.   We have been told “all means all.” In other words, when the act  
said that 100 percent of students would have to be proficient by the  
year 2013, they meant all. This includes students who have  
disabilities that make this completely impossible. By simply enacting  
a piece of legislation, it won’t get rid of the fact that we have  
students with mental retardation, cerebral palsy, fetal alcohol  
syndrome, Down’s syndrome, etc., who are never going to be able to  
achieve this. Period.

3.   Many people have started to call this act “No Child Left

Untested,” as that seems to be the focus of our teaching these days.  
How are we supposed to get these students up to proficiency when we  
never have a chance to teach them because we spend so much time  
testing them? We can test them until the cows come home but that  
doesn’t change the fact that as it stands we haven’t increased the  
amount of time that students spend in school. We have to find the  
time to test them somewhere, and that time is coming from our  
instructional time. Thus, we are teaching them even less than we were  
before this act.

4.   Finally, this act holds all school staff members accountable for  
student achievement (or lack of student achievement). But we are  
missing two key pieces of the puzzle: students and parents. Teachers  
can do everything imaginable to increase learning but if neither of  
these groups buys into the package, nothing will improve. In Wyoming,  
none of the mandated tests are used to hold students accountable.  
Students learn this very quickly and fail to take these tests  
seriously. A couple of years ago, I was speaking with a class that  
included the valedictorian at our high school about the WyCAS test.  
When asked, the students, including the valedictorian, said that they  
hadn’t taken the test seriously! If this young man, who was obviously  
bright and driven, didn’t take it seriously, how many students did?  
And yet, this is one of the measures of whether we as teachers are  
doing our job or not!



As for the parents, if parents don’t care about education, students  
usually don’t care either. Parents who don’t read to their children,  
don’t attend school functions, don’t participate in parent/teacher  
conferences, fail to provide safe home environments, etc., are not  
doing their job as parents. The schools can try to educate them on  
the need for these things, but sometimes there is just no reaching  
them. Sometimes they are worried about making enough money to keep  
food on the table. Others are caught up in a web of drug abuse.

The reasons are as numerous as the students who aren’t making  
proficiency.

Because no lawmaker wants to try to enact a piece of legislation that  
would hold parents accountable for their child’s achievement in  
school, the law was passed that made the educators solely  
accountable. This isn’t fair and it isn’t realistic. Education needs  
to be seen as a table with four legs: teachers, school  
administrators, parents and students. If any one of these legs  
doesn’t hold up its weight, the table will fall over and there won’t  
be a flat surface for the education to build on.

While I can agree that we do need to do something to reform U.S.  
education, “No Child Left Behind” is not the tool to do it. Let’s  
repeal this act and start fresh with realistic expectations. Let’s  
include everyone in the conversation, not just lawmakers. And we need  
to realize that we aren’t going to be able to reform society through  
the schools. Reforming society as a whole is a different conversation.

Jennifer Wilmetti of Rock Springs is a teacher.

http://www.casperstartribune.net/articles/2005/06/11/editorial/forum/ 
e223ef748e82be328725701c006ee83d.txt





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