Tuesday Thrills, No Child Left Behind

I think the concept is not too bad, but the procedures are horrible. I don't like all the pressure put on both educators and students a like to score high enough. It's too much pressure, IMHO.My son just finished K in May so he hasn't been affected too much by this yet. They had a reading inventory and a math inventory test to "catch the at risk kids." At that age, the kids liked that it is one on one testing with them and their teacher, so no pressure at all.

I hate it. We teach kids to memorize, not apply knowledge. There is little to no room for students to learn at their own pace, especially in the lower grades. It's creating cookie cutter education.I'm all for benchmark tests to see where kids are, and to ensure that educators are doing their job, but there is WAY too much emphasis on the tests. It's not fair to the administration, the teachers, the parents, and most of all, to the kids.

I think that the emphasis is placed on the child who does not do well. I have a child that is at the other extreme and he gets no attention whatsoever. He did not learn anything in 4th grade, we have to have him go to tutoring after school so that he can be challenged. And for those of you who think it is not a problem that I should feel blessed. It is a problem, because children like him can become the troublemakers when they have too much time on their hands. Problem is our schools would rather build a 80 million dollar sports complex than pay teachers and increase educational materials. Very few kids become professional atheletes. Our society needs to look at the priorities, it should be on education and the child.

I agree with all of you. The children that really concern me are the ones in the middle! The brightest, while bored will get it... the ones who have the most problems get the attention and the ones in the middle struggle. I also agree that our whole society gets too focused on sports. Children do need physical activity, perhaps now more than ever because of the "computer" age, but school sports should not be about providing entertainment for the town. At the same time we cut art and music because they are "frills." As a music teacher I can tell you how music assists mental development, especially math. As a music teacher I was always frustrated because music was just supposed to be fun! (Of course I think math should be "fun" too.) I agree that we need to prepare our children to do well. I don't think that "no child left behind" does that. I'm not convinced that "teaching to the test" helps anyone!

I also agree with the theory, but not the way it has been implemented. There is so much focus on high test scores, and often school funding all that is taught is how to take the tests. I helped in my son's classroom two years, all i did was review the material with kids who had lower scores. The school gave very nice awards to kids with high scores, although my younger son continually scores the highest, or very close to the highest I did not agree with this, and was happy when his teacher refused to name one child for the award. She did not agree with it, and refused to participate in the program. We moved the next year so I don't know what happened. Then, this totally amazed me, my older son is in High School now. His school made a HUGE deal out of state testing. They literally had coolers of bottled water all over the school. They had special free breakfasts for all kids with almost a pep assembly before they started the testing. He loved testing week because of all the treats they had. They had no classes, only tests a couple hours a day. I just feel the emphasis of tests is way way overdone, and puts real education in the back seat.

HATE it...and I mean HATE IT! I got this from my aunt awhile back who left teaching because she was so fed up. Thought it was a very interesting analogy to share here. 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. 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 patients 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. John S. Taylor, Superintendent of Schools for the Lancaster County, PA, School District. (email from my aunt had permission to forward on from original author of email)