No Child Left Behind - Jim Lehrer's News Hour, Part I

If you still don't believe me that NCLB stinks, read this.

The first part of this very interesting three-part series on NCLB talks about how schools (and districts and states) are trying to get around the law, by using track and field analogies.

One interesting point is that schools have to raise the percentage of kids passing the tests each year. My school got to the point three years into NCLB where it was statistically impossible to meet the NCLB benchmarks the following years. You can see how this increased the "why bother?" mentality. Some schools and districts are setting the early benchmarks very low to get around this.

There are other ways that districts are fudging the numbers. Some states are just setting the pass rates lower. Illinois lowered the score on an 8th grade math test and the pass rates rose from 54 to 78 percent. Mississippi has the highest passing rate for the fourth grade test in the country... on the state test. On the federal test, they have the second lowest passing rate in the country. Hmmm... statistically valid?

So much time, energy, and money is going into trying to figure out how to get around the crippling law that we're possibly leaving more children behind.

Interestingly, Chester Finn, assistant secretary of education in the REAGAN administration (not known for liberal politics) and advocate for HIGHER standards in education says this about NCLB: "There's not an educator in the country that thinks that it's [100% proficiency by 2014] real or can happen, not one. Unfortunately, it breeds cynicism among educators. They say, "Well, why shouldn't we take advantage of every angle we can take advantage of so we don't look bad in the process of not achieving that goal?"

This is not a crazy liberal teacher trying to get out of being held accountable. This is someone who WANTS higher educational standards and worked in the Reagan administration. And he says the law is broken. More about Parts II and III soon. I can't listen to/read too much about NCLB in one day because it makes me hate the president and his cabinet and I don't think Jesus wants me to hate people. (I'm working on changing that.)

[Side note: the Secretary of Education for the United States should be able to avoid saying "you bet" about fifty times in a short interview. Also, "heck yeah" could be done away with.]

Comments

Volunteers

I had some of the most overqualified volunteers ever in my third grade class. This may have had something to do with the fact that I shamelessly begged my friends to help in any way possible. I think there were a few friends who I asked to come as soon as I met them, before I was entirely sure of their names. Some of my volunteers included: -Someone with an MFA helping kids read -a PhD candidate in chemical engineering from Stanford helping with math -a PhD candidate in civil engineering from Cal helping with math -several PhD candidates in engineering from Cal teaching about construction (several years in a row) and helping with a field trip -my extremely talented brother bringing his drums several times -a friend from Pixar who got us tours three different years, once when they were no longer giving tours - and came to the class to sign the kids' toys from Cars . -a physical therapist (who I think has a masters') who helped the kids with reading -many athlet...

The Difference a School Makes

Update: 9/28/26: If you are reading this, the spoiler alert is that things got much harder for Jorge after this, and we kept in touch over the decades, even as he’s been incarcerated. He’s getting out of prison in early 2027 and I’m raising money to help him start his life fresh because everyone deserves second chances. Please take a look! Wow. I've talked before about the two kids that a friend and I mentor in a way. I'll call them Jorge (the older one) and Luis (the younger). I had Jorge in my class in third grade and he has had it rough. He's the oldest of six children and was born when his mother was 14. His mom is frequently in rehab or jail, although she seems to have been out for the last couple of years. If she's clean or not is anyone's guess. Jorge helped his grandmother raise Luis. He's always been super over-responsible, stressed out, and had way too many adult responsibilities. About a year ago, Jorge started to crack. He was 13, which isn't f...

Cinderella, retold (and much better)

A seventh-grade student rewrote Cinderella and I think it’s much better! The Dressmakers Once there was a girl named Cinderella whose mother died. Then her father married again, a woman who did not care for Cinderella. She only cared for her own daughters and her husband's fortune. Cinderella’s father made sure they were always fair to Cinderella but two years later, her father died. Cinderella was left alone with her stepmother and stepsisters. Cinderella was treated like a house maid but got no money for her work. She had to make the meals, iron the clothes and more. But on some things, like cleaning the windows and floor, Cinderella had to clean them five times per day or according to her stepmother, they will not shine as much as they should. Cinderella would often cry by a tree by her parents' graves. In that tree lived a little bird who Cinderella would talk with. She would talk to the bird about her stepmother’s many chores and little love for her, a...

Bronwyn Harris, Author

Search This Blog