The Edutopia Poll
by Sara Bernard
A little over a year ago, when we asked, "Can the No Child Left Behind Act be revised and improved?" votes were split fifty-fifty. Today, even closer to the reauthorization of NCLB, national sentiment appears to be no less contentious. Though current proposed revisions include easing penalties for schools that barely miss academic targets, broadening the kinds of assessments used to measure student progress, and making testing allowances for special education students and English-language learners, the law's detractors are still fiercely opposed to it. Many people find these changes to be cosmetic in nature, doing little to solve the problems NCLB has caused. Tell us what you think.
Will current proposed revisions to the No Child Left Behind Act benefit public education?
Yes. The proposals ease many parts of the law that were too stringent and strengthen parts that were too weak. Congress is moving in the right direction with the NCLB revision.
5% (4 votes)
No. These changes don't address NCLB's major flaws. The act needs to be thrown out completely.
77% (68 votes)
Maybe. The goals of NCLB are good ones, but I'm not sure these specific revisions will do enough to meet those goals.
16% (14 votes)
None of the above. (Comment below.)
2% (2 votes)
Total votes: 88
Survey Questions
Submitted by Michael (not verified) on April 24, 2008 - 05:33.
I am forced to agree with the comment that the survey questions yield misleading results. When making the point that someone was not grasping basic concepts, my father would ask, "Do you walk to work or carry your lunch?"
Perhaps a more useful (although time consuming) survey would look at the various pieces of the law, asking respondents to support, reject or comment on each.
Learning environment
Submitted by Alpha Quincy (not verified) on April 23, 2008 - 15:48.
Sudents don't learn through threats and punishment,the NCLB way ....but through inspiration and motivation. Their environment should be rich with real world events that they are eager to find out about through exploration. A small class and small school with a bright teacher is the structure that allows for learning and must be provided by interested parents, the public, and necessary resources.
NCLB ruins it for all of us - it must be completely ELIMINATED
Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on April 23, 2008 - 13:43.
The ONLY way to leave no child behind is to do exactly what NCLB has done = dumb down everything and make the bar so low that anybody with a 70 IQ can fall over it.
There will always be plenty of children left behind.
What NCLB does is ignore everybody capable of average achievement or excellence.
It is all disgusting and depressing.
My advice: group by ability and let natural selection take back over! It will eventually anyway.
If I had it to do over I would definitely go private or home school 100% for my children's schooling.
I am a 30 year veteran.
blah.
NCLB
Submitted by C Torrey (not verified) on January 10, 2008 - 01:38.
Since the enactment of NCLB we have gained no ground in international scene in Math, Science and reading. All the areas taught in testing area. The gifted population is taken down to the lowest with the “Mathew effect“. Extra programs for enrichment are gone. Wake up America! Speak up this is not working. We need to realize that not everyone will be a rocket scientist. If they were we would starve and have no where to live. But, in reality my son is not a football player, he was not given the build for it. It is not in the gene pack. I do not tell the NFL the he must play. I realize the limitations and his gifts are in other areas, but why should my gifted child have a limited future???????????????????
Fri, Dec 07, 2007
'... Something needs to be done now'
Poor showing on international exam prompts calls for better science instruction
From eSchool News staff and wire service reports
Primary Topic Channel: Global competitiveness
National standards, a high regard for teachers and the teaching profession, more equitable distribution of resources, autonomy at the school level to implement reforms, and opportunities to personalize instruction: These are some of the key reasons Finland saw its students earn the highest marks in both science and math on a recent international exam.
U.S. students, in contrast, were outperformed on average by 16 other industrialized countries in science—and by 23 in math.
The poor showing of U.S. students on the latest Program for International Student Assessment (PISA) has renewed calls to improve math and science instruction to keep the nation competitive in the new global economy.
And in light of the results, many observers say the U.S. has much to learn from other countries.
The test was given to 15-year-olds in 30 industrialized countries last year. It focused on science but also included a math portion. The 30 countries, including the United States, make up the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), which runs the international test.
The issue is not that U.S. students did so poorly on the exam; it’s that other countries have made significant strides in the last few years.
There was no change in U.S. math scores since 2003, the last time the test was given. Yet students in other nations—such as Poland and Estonia—improved enough to leapfrog U.S. students in the results. (The science scores aren’t comparable between 2003 and 2006, because the tests weren’t the same.)
Finland’s 15-year-olds did the best on the science test, followed by students in Hong Kong and Canada. Students in Finland, Taiwan, South Korea, and Hong Kong were the top performers in math.
The results serve as a harsh wake-up call to U.S. educators and policy makers, many observers said—especially as the economy becomes more global, and the need to compete with businesses and employees from other nations intensifies.
At a Dec. 4 briefing to discuss the PISA results, representatives from six national organizations—the Alliance for Excellent Education, Asia Society, Business Roundtable, Council of Chief State School Officers, ED in ’08, and National Governors Association—called for more emphasis on the teaching of 21st-century skills in U.S. schools.
“Our students’ performance today is the best indicator of America’s global competitiveness tomorrow,” said Raymond Scheppach, executive director of the National Governors Association. “The United States faces emerging challenges across the international marketplace. The countries that thrive in this new global, entrepreneurial, and knowledge-based economy will be those that have the most highly skilled and educated workforce.”
Business Roundtable President John J. Castellani questioned the lack of outrage that accompanied the test results.
“It is difficult to understand why mediocre achievement by U.S. teenagers on international math and science assessments produces less concern and outcry than mediocre performance by a football or basketball team,” Castellani said.
He added: “There is worldwide competition for people with strong backgrounds in math and science who have the analytic and problem-solving skills needed to create tomorrow’s innovations. We need to take a serious look at what the U.S. can learn from the education systems that routinely pass us by.”
Andreas Schleicher, head of the indicators and analysis division of OECD’s Directorate for Education, discussed some of the characteristics shared by the highest performing nations on the exam, such as Finland.
One thing that stands out about the achievement of Finland’s students is the minimal disparity in scores from school to school, Schleicher said—even those reflecting different socio-economic environments.
“Everyone needs to be competent; it’s not just for the rich or elite anymore,” he said. “In Finland, parents don’t have to worry about which school their children attend, because no matter which school a child attends, the level of educational performance is [about] the same.”
That stands in sharp contrast to the United States, Schleicher said, which has one of the largest gaps between its top-performing students and its lowest-performing students of any industrialized nation.
The No Child Left Behind Act was supposed to solve this problem. But, though it has brought greater accountability to the nation’s schools, critics of the law say the federal government hasn’t provided enough funding for educators to fully realize its goals.
Does anyone else have a
Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on January 9, 2008 - 15:33.
Does anyone else have a problem with the "poll" questions? This is simply another example of gathering skewed data and then reporting that "everyone believes the law must be changed or thrown out". I would like to see a choice that states "I believe the law is fundamentally sound, and some minor revisions will make it even better."
Some of the current proposed revisions will help refine the law to make it better, but other proposed changes are simply foolish and will lessen the accountability provisions to something anyone with a pulse can meet (public education "accountability" over the last few decades). In my 20+ years in public education, the biggest improvement I have seen as a result of this law is that administrators and teachers alike are now discussing what it is that students should learn and how we will know whether they learned it. While it may seem obvious, this discussion was sadly lacking for years before NCLB.
Of course the law can be improved - but some of the proposed changes from the "professional organizations" simply eliminate any real accountability - allowing business as usual with lower income and minority students left to suffer while the system goes on unchanged.
NCLB
Submitted by Chuck (not verified) on September 24, 2007 - 14:40.
A Standard should not be a prescription of when, how and what. That is where NCLB concludes at the local level - the how, what and when for content delivery and memorization.
Standards should be like the Green and White Interstate signs, they provide essential information to guide the student on their learning journey. The journey belongs to the child, yet we insist on taking it away with the good intentions of bad legislation.
And before you applaud those who incorrectly use a standards, top down approach to education - work with some of the graduates of such systems. They accomplish nothing in the real world of constant change.
Standards - Top Down
Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on September 26, 2007 - 06:13.
I don't think of Standards as Top Down. I think of them as Bottom Up and as a minimum requirement. That's why I have no objection to Testing and Accountability. We should be able to easily meet the requirements of the Standards and easily prepare students to pass a test that only require that a student meet those minimal requirements.
NCLB Reauthorization
Submitted by Richard Spurgeon (not verified) on September 23, 2007 - 03:30.
I have heard a great deal of lamentation regarding 'teaching to the test'. If a teacher equates 'teaching to the standards' with 'teaching to the test', they have missed the point and misunderstood the rationale behind the standards.
teaching to the test
Submitted by TomH (not verified) on April 23, 2008 - 22:33.
You apparently don't understand the reality. It is not the teachers who miss the point. It is the states, and the school boards. It is the fed. Teachers want to teach. They want to teach creatively and with the zest and zeal that comes with being a true teacher. At least in Texas, this has been all but driven out of us. Elementary schools no longer have recess in many areas because they need that time to teach state testing strategies...to 6 year olds! It only gets worse from there.
No, the standards are good. But rigid standards that do not take into account the scenario a school finds itself in are broken before day 1. Should a school that has a 60% non-English speaking population be held accountable in the same manner that a school in white bread upper middle class suburbs are? How about a school that has an unusually high population of special needs students?
The standards aren't bad. The implementation is bad, and has been since day one. And parents who don't understand, along with politicians, and failed educators like Margarette Spellings have botched this. Your children, and the teachers who teach them, pay for it every day.
UNIONS DRIVE THE HATE DEBATE
Submitted by Rita Margue (not verified) on October 5, 2007 - 22:29.
Mr. Spurgeon understands the difference between teaching to the test and teaching to the standards. Bravo, there is at least one other teacher who actually GETS the whole rationale behind setting standards - and the need for this law.
I've seen children left behind - minorities, boys, etc. - for years!!!
Most teachers are getting their negative attitudes and misinformation about NCLB from the NEA and their local unions, which hate the law because it takes away their choke-hold-control of teachers.
The NEA is the biggest obstacle to educational reform and the biggest enemy of NCLB.
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