A Soldier's Song

Well, what CAN one say...it is awesome.
C~B~N

If I Die Before You Wake

Top of Page

No Child Left Behind

One of the greatest problems of our time is that
many are schooled but few are educated.

~Thomas Moore~


ONE YEAR LATER UPDATE:

Well I received a while back this letter from a fellow educator. I unfortunately did not get it blogged before the "campaign" came to a close...for that I am truly sorry.
C~B~N
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Here is your chance to be HEARD by Congress on the TAKS testing!!! Don't let this one get away! It is your chance to be heard!!!!

No Child Left Behind Campaign

The following is my "experience" that I shared:



Several things I will share with you.

When I worked as a full time educator again after a few years away I discovered what ALL teachers were doing. Primarily, the month preceding the TAKS tests of Math and Language arts was used to "Teach the Test". In other words, there was no science or social studies or any subject taught that was NOT covered by the test for that month. We also had to quickly teach the following month's curriculum because it was going to be ON the test, even though it was not due to be taught UNTIL May!

Having worked at a recognized "at risk" school because of the poverty, this test didn't improve the school, the students or the community. All it did was add stress to their already stressful lives; and stress to a challenging profession.

Plus we lost an entire month of learning in many subjects. I taught fourth grade that year. By the end of the year, every student in my classroom (even my special education students) knew how to outline a chapter. If you think learning to outline a chapter is easy....try teaching it! But for their further education, it is a skill that must be mastered.

Secondly, I tutored a third grader who flunked the reading test and had to re-take it. She is very smart but the Language Arts area is never going to be her "forte' ". Her self esteem was SHATTERED. She was the only one in her classroom to NOT pass. She knew it. If she knew, you know the other students did too. Tutoring her, I was able to teach her some reading skills that helped her pass the second test. I had to constantly re-assure her she was smart . She did pass. But what if she had failed it again? I'm not so sure, she wouldn't eventually have dropped out.

Why? A test that PROOVED she was stupid in her own eyes.

What non-educators seem to think is that TESTS are fool-proof means of measuring success. GOOD Educators know and understand the fallacy of this thinking. Not every person can take a test successfully. Many people suffer from test anxiety so severely that it makes them dysfunctional at the thought of taking one! It should not be the only means of proving educational success or failure.

What you need to do is let teachers teach and provide adequate funding.

Funding to either have smaller classroom sizes or an aide in all elementary classrooms. While 1 teacher to 22 students is better than what it was, it is still NOT ideal for this age group.

Not everyone learns the same way. But to expect all students to do so is unfair and they won't be successful as a result. Every student is going to have a subject they do not do well in. Just like they'll have their favorite subjects. It's called having strengths and weaknesses and we ALL have those. For them to be successful in those subjects they do not do well in and do not like, they need as close to 1 on 1 teaching as is possible.

Finally, I am the parent of a student who is learning disabled and in special education classes for his core subjects. The fact that they were requiring him to take these tests disturbed me greatly.

Learning disabled children are not stupid, but their minds most definitely work differently. To require them to pass this test to graduate is putting an unfair burden on their educators, the families of these students and the students themselves. Once again, you are causing so much stress to achieve a goal that you must ask yourself is it worth it?

Or are there better means to improving our schools and to helping our children?

I for one, had no problem with the testing of teachers. This gets the 'incompetents' out of the classroom.

Improved wages for this educated profession would do a great deal in attracting those from other professions that would like a change, and keep those already in the profession from leaving for "greener pastures". Educators, compared to other degreed professionals, work for a pittance. Yet, their degrees cost them just as much to obtain.

Implementing a program where big business works with the school districts providing a program for their employees to be a guest educator for a year or to become financial partners with a school district could be a very successful program.

What Washington needs to do is to get away from their locked in mentality that this "test" is the ONLY way to ensure equality among all Americans. Because, it isn't and it never will be. The school districts and the families who have money will always test higher and better because they have 1. the funding and 2. a family structure that supports education in place already.

You want to know how to improve education? Well, go to the professionals and ask. Educators are known for their creativity. I'm sure there are many wonderful, workable ideas out there.

Ideas better than a standardized test!

Signed an overworked, stressed out TEXAS educator

END OF ONE YEAR UPDATE.

~~~~~~~~~~~~
This came via email. As a retired educator I believe in the education of our children. But this "campaign" has always bothered me. While it is a lofty goal, I'm not sure it is in reality obtainable.

Some children are never going to be 'school' oriented. But they can still be creative contributors to society. Some children are learning to overcome and compensate for legitimate learning disabilities.

Then to put so much pressure on students to pass a 'standardized' test and to fit into "politicians" round hole slot is often times just not realistic or fair. While life is often not fair, we can at least attempt to allow for the uniqueness of every individual.

We square pegs deserve to have our square slots! This is why I have been in favor of doing away with the traditional K-12 setting and allowing children to work at their own speed~~whether accelerated or slower for each subject so actual MASTERY is achieved.

Anyway, enough.....read the following, knowing it is tongue-in-cheek; but it isn't that far off!

C~B~N

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

This is so GREAT, and it puts the RIDICULOUSNESS of the "No Child Left Behind" nonsense into perspective. Whether you're a teacher or the friend of one, I hope you'll appreciate the analogy. Be sure to read to the end...

No Dentist Left Behind

My dentist is great! He sends me reminders so I don't forget checkups. He uses the latest techniques based on research. He never hurts me, and I've got all my teeth.

When I ran into him the other day, I was eager to see if he'd heard about the new state program. I knew he'd think it was great.

"Did you hear about the new state program to measure effectiveness of dentists with their young patients?" I said.

" No," he said. He didn't seem too thrilled. "How will they do that?"

"It's quite simple," I said. "They will just count the number of cavities each patient has at age 10, 14, and 18 and average that to determine a dentist's rating. Dentists will be rated as excellent, good, average, below average, and unsatisfactory. That way parents will know which are the best dentists. The plan will also encourage the less effective dentists to get better," I said. "Poor dentists who don't improve could lose their licenses to practice."

"That's terrible," he said.

"What? That's not a good attitude," I said. "Don't you think we should try to improve children's dental health in this state?"

"Sure I do," he said, "but that's not a fair way to determine who is practicing good dentistry."

"Why not?" I said. "It makes perfect sense to me."

"Well, it's so obvious," he said. "Don't you see that dentists don't all work with the same clientele, and that much depends on things we can't control? For example, I work in a rural area with a high percentage of patients from deprived homes, while some of my colleagues work in upper middle-class neighborhoods. Many of the parents I work with don't bring their children to see me until there is some kind of problem, and I don't get to do much preventive work.

Also many of the parents I serve let their kids eat way too much candy from an early age, unlike more educated parents who understand the relationship between sugar and decay.

To top it all off, so many of my clients have well water, which is untreated and has no fluoride in it. Do you have any idea how much difference early use of fluoride can make?"

"It sounds like you're making excuses," I said. "I can't believe that you, my dentist, would be so defensive. After all, you do a great job, and you needn't fear a little accountability."

"I am not being defensive!" he said. "My best patients are as good as anyone's, my work is as good as anyone's, but my average cavity count is going to be higher than a lot of other dentists because I chose to work where I am needed most."

"Don't' get touchy," I said.

"Touchy?" he said. His face had turned red, and from the way he was clenching and unclenching his jaws, I was afraid he was going to damage his teeth. "Try furious! In a system like this, I will end up being rated average, below average, or worse. The few educated patients I have who see these ratings may believe this so-called rating is an actual measure of my ability and proficiency as a dentist. They may leave me, and I'll be left with only the most needy patients. And my cavity average score will get even worse. On top of that, how will I attract good dental hygienists and other excellent dentists to my practice if it is labeled below average?"

"I think you are overreacting," I said. "'Complaining, excuse-making and stonewalling won't improve dental health'...I am quoting from a leading member of the DOC," I noted.

"What's the DOC?" he asked.

"It's the Dental Oversight Committee," I said, "a group made up of mostly lay persons to make sure dentistry in this state gets improved."

"Spare me," he said, "I can't believe this. Reasonable people won't buy it," he said hopefully.

The program sounded reasonable to me, so I asked, "How else would you measure good dentistry?"

Come watch me work," he said. "Observe my processes."

"That's too complicated, expensive and time-consuming," I said."Cavities are the bottom line, and you can't argue with the bottom line. It's an absolute measure."

"That's what I'm afraid my parents and prospective patients will think. This can't be happening," he said despairingly.

"Now, now," I said, "don't despair. The state will help you some."

"How?" he asked.

"If you receive a poor rating, they'll send a dentist who is rated excellent to help straighten you out," I said brightly.

You mean," he said, "they'll send a dentist with a wealthy clientele to show me how to work on severe juvenile dental problems with which I have probably had much more experience?
BIG HELP!"

"There you go again," I said. "You aren't acting professionally at all."

"You don't get it," he said. "Doing this would be like grading schools and teachers on an average score made on a test of children's progress with no regard to influences outside the school, the home, the community served and stuff like that. Why would they do something so unfair to dentists? No one would ever think of doing that to schools."

I just shook my head sadly, but he had brightened. "I'm going to write my representatives and senators," he said. "I'll use the school analogy. Surely they will see the point."

He walked off with that look of hope mixed with fear and suppressed anger that I, a teacher, see in the mirror so often lately.

****If you don't understand why educators resent the recent federal NO CHILD LEFT BEHIND ACT, this may help. If you do understand, you'll enjoy this analogy.****


~~~~~~More from C~B~N~~~~~~

The month of April is not a teaching month....it is the "teach the test" month. So we lose a WHOLE MONTH of REAL teaching thus our children fall further behind.

Some of the testing items will not even be taught until MAY. So, a crash course on those subjects must be done in March; therefore, March's curriculum is not thoroughly learned either.

Personally, I think we should implement a "No Politician Left" program myself. Let's make sure they meet or exceed OUR expectations or they "GET LEFT BEHIND"....at the voting booths!!!!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Interesting......perhaps they are starting to LISTEN!

from Agape Press

by Jim Brown

...Two prominent Republican senators are pushing legislation intended to rip the bureaucratic red tape out of American education.

Senators John Cornyn of Texas and Jim DeMint of South Carolina marked the fifth anniversary of the signing of the No Child Left Behind Act by offering an alternative to the law Congress is getting ready to reauthorize.

In a speech at the Heritage Foundation, the two discussed a bill they are sponsoring called "The A+ Act of 2007."

Cornyn says the education reform measure will move decision-making power out of Washington and situate it closer to parents and teachers. "It will allow the states to choose the programs that best serve their students' needs," he says, "and it will empower parents and teachers with greater influence in what happens in classrooms across America every day."

The Texas senator says it is time to restore to the states and to local communities "the freedom and responsibility to achieve desired results without the Washington-mandated baggage of the status quo."

That, he says, "is where the responsibility belongs." According to Cornyn, since the federal government has been involved in K-12 education, it has consistently mandated larger and more intricate bureaucracy in the education system.

{Bigger DOES NOT mean Better! C~B~N}

Top of Page