Tuesday, September 06, 2005
REVOLT
At this moment, 47 states are launching some kind of revolt against the No Child Left Behind Act. For those who are not familiar, the Act demands a large amount of standardized testing which takes a substantial amount of time away from instruction. Teachers have spent more time preparing their students for the testing because their salaries and evaluations are partially based on how student perform on the test. A lot of instructional time is being used for this purpose, and as a result, our students are less and less prepared for life outside of the school system. Besides all of that, though the Act is a federally mandated program, states must pay for the tests themselves, causing significant strain on already tapped-out education budgets. As a teacher, I have always been a proponent of public education. Unfortunately, teaching in public school has become a canned, scripted experience. I need more creativity and autonomy in my classroom. Homeschooling and teaching in private schools is quickly becoming a more viable option. What will happen to the children left behind by the No Child Left Behind Act?
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8 comments:
But what about the reports that kids (especially minorities) are improving in their scores?
I know you're very creative, and have said before that I wouldn't mind you teaching MY kids, but not all teachers are. At least this equalizes everything?
What will happen to the children left behind by the No Child Left Behind Act?
Hopefully teachers that want to "teach" rather than "coach" will take up the reigns and say fuck the federal schools and find a new way. Hopefully parents will also want to follow and get their kids a little better than a bullshit test that really proves nothing. I have thought from day one that this was just another way to pump up our ego with flammable gas that we shouldn't be using if you get my drift. Using the statistic of a high test score is, to me, dangerous and stupid. "Look how much smarter our kids are now that they can pass this test." It's fucked and at the end of the day, they are still fucking idiots. It's almost as if they are putting worlds of knowledge and experience and stuff onto a few sheets of paper and making that our entire existence. No wonder comics like to laugh about how many people couldn't tell you the name of the fucking capitol of their own damn state. I also hate it that we are forgetting to teach kids manners and courtesy and respect for each other. An example just the other day was when the girlfriend and I went out to eat with a friend and her 15 year old daughter. And then the daughter's phone rang at the table and THEN SHE ANSWERED IT!!!! I wanted to kill but I politely said, "please turn the phone off and hang it up." To that I got, "but this is important." I nearly blew a gasket and not only let that smartassed little brat know where she stood next to me, but I dared her mom to try and disagree with me by saying in a very deep, quiet and mean tone, "This IS NOT a request. Get off the fucking phone now and turn it the fuck off. If you absolutely need to talk, then your ass can politely say, 'excuse me,' and then get your self up and go outside in the front and talk and then come back when you are done because I will not tolerate it from you or anyone else to have shit manners at the table I am eating at. If I can take off my hat to eat, you can get off the phone so FUCKING DO IT! NOW!." She then started to cry and even though I felt bad, I stuck it out. I could give a fuck, someone has to teach people that shit. It's not only really rude to those of us eating, but what if she were at a lunch while trying to get a job? She just lost that one. I went on to explain that I wasn't trying to be so mean but that there are certain manners that need to be followed and that is one of them. I never told her not to talk on the phone, just not to talk on the phone at the table. Sorry, I have drifted from subject.
I hate it even more that teachers are told there are many topics they aren't allowed to talk about. How fucked up is it that a kid asks a teacher a question and the teacher isn't allowed to give the answer? It's sad that a teacher has to say bullshit like, "I'm sorry Jimmy, but I can't talk to you about evolution...Sorry, I can't talk about reproduction either. Nope, I'm not allowed to tell you that Christopher Columbus caused much much more damage than he helped...Sorry! Can't tell you that there is a million times more to the story of Helen Keller either. I'm not allowed to discuss that she was quite the militant feminist and a very proud communist because that stuff is not always peachy to everyone...Can't tell you the historical origins of the word nigger because simply mentioning the word nigger may offend someone." It goes on and on but these are just examples from the school board here in my town alone. And we wonder why kids are so fucked up. We wonder why we have such a shortage of teachers.
I better quit. I think I am actually more passionate about this than My Dearest Polanco is about President Bush. Until later...
As a quick afterthought, I would suggest reading Lies My Teacher Told Me. It's really quite good and one of those few non-fiction tomes that you actaully can't put down because it is so well wrtiien that you WANT to read more.
This must definitely create a very frustrating situation for teachers, parents, and students.
I feel left behind and I am not even in school!
Polanco,
You know me. Sometimes I don't know what to think. On one hand I want to know how my child, the schools in the county, and the schools in the state are doing compared to the rest of the country. On the other hand, it seems like there has got to be an easier way than what is in place now. I am all for doing the best you can with what you are handed, but we sure are handed a lot sometimes.
You also know I am trying to stay up on events/politics. This is hard! I always thought that education is the States job. And in turn they make it the county or districts job. So if this is the case why is Federal Govt demanding all this without paying for it.
I was looking at my high schools SAT and ACT scores, South Carolina. My school did better than state and national scores on both. Why isn't Florida looking at a few districts that are consistantly doing better than the rest. Take what will/can work here, leave what won't/can't work here.
I know I am watching my 5 year old and his teachers closely. I am letting my stepsons mom and my husband take care of my stepson. As you know, that was becoming a chore 24/7.
From what I've heard, that act has made public schools even worse by focusing only on test scores and anything that is interesting like art and music gets canned. Screw that crap. I hate the Act and would love to see States fight it. Yet another reason I'm for State's Rights.
Saur, I don't think it does. They high level kids are being held back. A LOT of time is being spent on testing, and not as mush on instrucion. Do you remember last year when my Principal told me not to teach novels because they interfered with FCAT practice?
And Zombie's right. A lot of programs are getting canned. Most Principals in FL are for school choice because they have a CHANCE of getting some high level kids into lower performing schools to raise the test scores. It's all abou the scores now, and mo one is paying attention to what's best for the KIDS.
Schools take in displaced students
Hurricane evacuees begin to enroll in other states
By Marnie Hunter
CNN
Wednesday, September 7, 2005; Posted: 5:11 p.m. EDT (21:11 GMT)
(CNN) -- As Louisiana education officials assess damage and begin rebuilding plans, schools across the country have opened their doors to students displaced by Hurricane Katrina.
High school junior Lauren Sherman evacuated from New Orleans and started classes this week at Saint Benedict High School in Memphis, Tennessee.
"I'm fine with it. It's just hard not being with everyone. It's junior year, it's like your prom year," Lauren said.
Louisiana officials estimate 135,000 public school students and 52,000 private school students have been displaced by Hurricane Katrina.
School districts in states from Georgia to California are welcoming displaced students.
In Alabama, education officials have not been able to compile numbers yet on the number of displaced students from the coastal regions of the state, Mississippi and Louisiana expected to enroll in new schools.
"Our first concern is to be able to get the students in, get them enrolled," said Mitch Edwards, communication director for the Alabama Department of Education.
"We've waived a great many different restrictions to make sure that they're here. And then after that we're starting to do more of an accurate count, so it's kind of like triage."
Louisiana has sent student data, including transcripts and class schedule information, from schools in the New Orleans area to other states, Superintendent of Education Cecil Picard said.
Education officials in Texas, where more than 200,000 hurricane victims have taken refuge, are not sure how many new students to expect.
As of Friday, 6,100 evacuees had enrolled in schools across the state and that number was rising rapidly.
Officials don't know yet how the cost of providing additional resources to accommodate the influx of students will be handled.
"Our focus right now is really just trying to make sure these kids are OK. They've suffered through an enormous ordeal," said Suzanne Marchman, a Texas Education Agency spokeswoman.
"We'll get to funding eventually, but we believe that FEMA and the U.S. Department of Education are expected to cover a great deal of the costs associated with educating the evacuees," she said.
President Bush announced Tuesday that Education Secretary Margaret Spellings is working on a plan to help states cover the expense of adding additional students.
In Houston, Texas, the Houston Independent School District already had enrolled 889 evacuees by Tuesday and expected to enroll thousands more in a massive enrollment effort that got under way Wednesday morning at Reliant Park complex and the George R. Brown Convention Center.
The district is opening two elementary schools that had previously been closed to accommodate elementary school-aged evacuees and is working to hire hundreds of teachers from a pool of professionals including retired teachers, teachers who were awaiting assignments in the district and teachers from Teach for America, a national group of recent graduates committed to teaching in urban and rural schools.
It also expects to hire dozens of teachers from Louisiana, and scheduled a job fair for displaced teachers on Thursday at the district's administrative headquarters.
State laws requiring a 22:1 student to teacher ratio in grades K-4 have been waived to make room for incoming students. School districts are expected to hire additional teachers where they feel class sizes are too large, Marchman said.
"[Resources] could potentially be stretched in the first few days of these increased enrollments until additional textbooks can arrive, until districts can shuffle around extra furniture, but we think that eventually it will level out."
Schools will play an important role in helping young Katrina victims cope with the disaster, according to the National Association of School Psychologists.
Those accepting displaced students should be prepared for students with specific mental health needs and other special needs that may be intensified by their recent experiences, the association's Web site said.
The association encourages schools to assign displaced students to schools together, to establish welcome committees and mentoring programs to help students acclimate and to check in with relocated students regularly.
Psychological support in Texas schools will be organized at the local level, Marchman said. School counselors are available to assist students and specialized support programs are in place in some areas.
"There are various entities and organizations that are reaching out to school districts to provide psychological support for these kids," she said.
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