No child left behind....so how do they get ahead?

I think "no child left behind" is a total joke.Saying and doing is two different things.They think everybody is the same,but everyboddy is not.Individual learning is much better than teaching at the same rate and advancing everybody at the same time.

I am not a parent or a teacher, however I do have one suggestion. As a gifted child who recently graduated high school I have experienced no child left behind first hand for many years and the thing you need to know as a parent is to never EVER take no for an answer from any school. If your son is as bright as you say he is you will be dealing with lack of concern or cooperation from the school for the rest of his life. While remedial programs will be free of charge, T.A.G. (talented and gifted) or other such things will be extremely expensive. While teachers are required to put in as much time and effort as possible into assisting any failing students, at least until high school if not college your son could (if you permit it) be pushed aside for someone who "really needs help" My recommendation is to keep teaching him at home as much as possible, as well as to speak face to face with your son's teacher as well as a representative from his school district about keeping him challenged. It can be very easy for gifted kids to give up on school; not because they're stupid, but because they're bored. And speaking from personal experience if your son isn't challenged by school this could very easily happen.

Yea I can't stand public schools, everything seemed repetitive and most of the other kids were spoiled jerks who didn't know anything. This year I convinced my parents to let me be home schooled so now I'm basically teaching myself what I need as well as taking a few online courses just so I can get an actual diploma.

Isn't this true though! My local council has knocked down my senior school and the school I moved to (junior) the one which I was originally at which bullied me is still standing. which I don't get because they cared more about the pay checks and getting home instead of planning lessons etc. (A friend recently removed her child from it because it's still the same) It's strange, the school which are close now hardly have space so they do exams which only allow those who pass which sounds stupid. I'm actually not looking forward to enrolling my son, also the ideal school is a long walking distance. Public school have gone totally crazy. ~Joey P.s Thanks for posting this =)

One of the best things you can do for your son is continue to stimulate his mind outside the classroom. Make sure that you are always challenging him, especially if you suspect he is not being challenged by his schoolwork. I think that that is one of the reasons so many mothers are homeschooling today. Not only does it cut down on the bullying that teachers don't seem to take note of, but they can monitor what their children are learning, and progress more quickly if the children are learning more quickly.

Don't mind me saying this but I think that you are much more concerned about your child than what you should be. It is definitely ok to be thinking about the education of your child but at the stage at which your child is your should think about proper upbringing of the child. I kow education is an important aspect of that too but still at this stage kids love to have fun and that's very much what they should have so I will sugest you to go for such primary shcool that provides learning in a fun filled manner and sit back and give a lot of love to your kid.

perhaps you can look for another school, maybe a private school, that has a reputation of "only intelligent ones can graduate there"....you know what i mean..tuition may be much more expensive, but, if you really want your child to be developed according to his pace and intelligence, then you may be ready to work harder for the tuition and miscellaneous fees. or, you may want to hire a private tutor and you can talk about the needs of your child. in school, your child will learn to mingle properly with others, and on private tutoring, he will learn more academically. it's important that your child will grow in terms of personality development, not only in academics. in most cases, leadership develops well in a child if he mingles with other people of his age, you know, play with them, talk to them, eat with them.

I have a child that is in the No child left behind. So I'm very passionate about this subject and it is something that most people will NEVER understand until they are there. And yes I have a gifted child and I can tell you right off hand which one the school systems prefer to help and it is the gifted children. It does not mean their material is easier. It means there are special programs within the school that they are eligible for. My son was in a special preschool through the school district when he was 4. It wasn't head start but the teachers were educated in special education. If they are severly behind they may be placed in a special class room within the school or they may be simply pulled out for speech services for a half hour or a half hour a day to be in a special program where they get help. In my school district, they can apply for a grant for a tutor to help them every week at their home residence. My son does the same things as the other students. He is reading. He was writing before he attended kindergarten, he is doing addition and subtraction Kindergarten is what our first grade was like so don't think it is easy. My son came home the other day with papers to learn how to do a bibliography (the author, who did the illustrations, the title, the copyright, the publisher of a book) and yes this is kindergarten. With kindergarten being all day they moved a lot of things from first grade to kindy so you may be surprised at what they are learning now. Of course, I do know some still do half days and their curriculum will be much different than my son's. You will find that the teachers will know what each child is capable of. My son even though he is in the No child left behind program is ahead of the other students. He was reading before them, knew his word list for the whole year, was ahead off the bat because he knew how to write his whole name, address and phone number. Since he was ahead of the "typical" children he is used as a peer tutor which he thinks is cool. When the kids are writing things that he already knew, he may have been given something a little more challenging to work on. I know when I attended school these kids who could have used the no child left behind act were left to struggle. They had NO help. But in the mean time the gifted program was praised beyond belief and the gifted children had all kinds of field trips, they attended the high school for harder classes a few times a week. They got lots of extra funding so I DO think it is fair that some of these funds have to be shared now. But I do know that my school does focus on what each child needs. I hope yours does too. All you can do is go to the school and ask what they will do for their gifted children. Truthfully, I would think no child left behind could be used for both gifted and struggling students.

My friend was going to be a kindergarten teacher, but recently changed her major because she was being taught to teach to the lowest denominator. Figure out which kid is the slowest and teach the class at their speed. This is not only irresponsible to the other, quicker children, but it doing an incredible lot of damage to said slower child. This world does not cater to you - you have to sink or swim. The slower child may learn the lessons (at the disadvantage of his peers), but that does not ready him for the pace of the real world. Some will argue that this is irrelevant at such a young age - our minds are most easily influenced before we hit puberty. Attitudes, habits, etc. are often reminiscent of our early years. The best thing that you could possibly do for your child is to STAY INVOLVED. Pay attention to what he is learning at school, and take time out of your schedule to make sure that you do learning activities together. I would recommend learning a language together, if you are not already bilingual. Kids really get into ASL (American Sign Language), though there are many computer programs (Instant Immersion 2.0 Spanish, for example, is GREAT and also inexpensive at $20). If it's entertaining, children will develop it quickly. Keep challenging his mind - make learning a desire, not a chore. Again, I would strongly recommend teaching (or learning with) him a second language. It challenges the mind, creates instant quality time for you (or your entire family, if you so desire), and gives him early preparation for a world that is constantly shrinking. We already have such an integrated culture...how will it be in 20 years, when he is in college? Take this into your own hands. It will both help him academically and structurally. Also, kudos to you for being such a responsible parent!

As parents iw ould like to suggest to the teacher to let the slow learner for a tuturial lesson after class for those subjects they dont understand or like wise separate slow from fast learner, so that the fast learner will not be affected.

hi :) I salute you for being so suportive regarding your son's education, i admire you as a parent... for me since your son is an achiever better enroll him to a highly classified school in where achievers study and smark kid can be focus.. or if not you can still guide your kid at home during homework.. you can check their lessons and you will be the teacher for your kid at home in that case your kid will not get bored in his studies... tell your kid that not all kids are as smart as him so better help some of your classmates who are slow in class... in that case he only not improve but he can also gain friends and gain self confidence... :)

I have posted about this before. I agree with you and this is one of the reasons I am home schooling next year. I work in the system and they are going to put kids in the 4th grade which can not even read and barly write thier own name. I have seen it and believe me this is not a good thing. I refuse to have my child in a class with kids who can't read or write so I will take mine out.

yes.. this is what education should be.. i agree with you.. i always think that the current education system is wrong.. the smart ones should be able to proceed. while the one learning with slower pace should be allowed to learn longer.. i think there's no point making materials easy just to get the student to the next level.. it's just like.. you're breeding something that doesn't have the quality.. don't you think so? that's why the education system is not improving in my country... and every year.. it's getting worse and worse... the students are not understanding what they're learning.. all they're required to do is to memorise.. and i think it's really a waste of time.. as you don't memorise to work :)

To me it seems that there are a lot of problems with schools and how they determine what is done in the classroom. I have not seen any programs for gifted children in our school district, but in the town next to mine, I have a friend who has a son that is in a gifted class. I have to say, my son has problems with school, it has to do with his ADHD, but they have worked really well with him. He goes to tutoring before school, this year only 1 day a week, it used to be 3, and I have seen his grades improve and also his thoughts of himself. I think that the no child left behind, might have started as a good idea, but I think the whole situation needs a closer look and maybe more emphasis on how to help those who are in the class and may be left behind. I have a cousin who is 45 years old and he graduated high school the year before I did and he can just barely print his first name. Back then, the only thought was to pass all children through the school district and then let them learn on their own. It does not work.

When my sons were in school they were classified as gifted because their intelligence was higher than those of most of the kids. The teachers had to make sure they had work challenging enough for my boys so they didn't get into mischief. It was not easy but they managed to keep them busy. Maybe talk to your child's teacher about giving him more challenging work.

You have a few options. You can see about a scholarship to a private school. You can homeschool your son full time. Or you can deal. I understand that it is very frustrating and the No Child Left Behind Act is actually hurting the public schools, and not really helping them at all. Like you said, it's encouraged to not keep back children who need it. And it's slowed down so that the ones that catch on quickly get bored and are more prone to act out. You can also get a tutor. Your child probably isn't being allowed to skip Kindergarten because there are many socializing opportunities, skills, and such that a child who skips ahead will be left out on. It also stands to reason that staying with kids closer to the same age is better for the child from a social standpoint. Look in to supplementing what you son is learning either at home or with outside classes. A child in elementary isn't going to have as many opportunities to really shine and move along educationally like a child in high school. Keep him going, do what you can outside of school, and as he gets older, he'll be able to do more.

I don't think this is a good program. Why would you sacrifice smart kids for the sake of the not so smart ones? There are so many ways to avoid this. Tutoring is one. Or weekend group studies which could also include smart kids so they'll be more smarter. It's not the kids fault his classmates aren't as smart as him right? That's why we have acceleration back in the Philippines where the smart kids move up to a higher grade if their learning process is tremendously fast. Smart kids deserve to learn the way they should.

the left behind thing has started some problems i will agree. i mean it is good but kids are getting passed on that shouldnt now. my kids were in public school and then i relized alot of stuff. they werent being taught. when they asked what was this or how to do that the teacher gave them the answer instead of teaching it. so my kids still didnt know how to do it. i had a friend that home schooled there kids and we were talking about it and she gave us a book to have the kids do. it was a placemtn test so that you can see where your kids really are with what they have learned. now right before this the school was wanting us to let both kids move up a grade cause they had scored so high in classes and on the state and fedral test. but we were concerned cause we knew our kids didnt know things that we knew at there age. so we gave them the test. come to find out our kids had to go back a grade almost 2 grades. we started researching stuff and it is a well known fact that kids now that finish the 12th grade are really only learning and at the 9th -10th grade level. we pulled our kids out of school and started home schooling. it was the best thing we ever did for a number of reasons

the education has made mistake,"No child left hehind" hear as a examinee education,it make unuseful to students,it take them in get a high exam score.i think school should give child more time to do what student want do,don't prevent student from any dream of imagine.

This is very true in the public school systems. If you can afford private school tuition, unless scholarships are offered, then perhaps home-schooling is a more viable option. It requires being organized, structured and self disciplined on the part of the parent and child. It is most rewarding but unless you get involved with other homeschooling families then, your child misses out on socialization and the creative input of other children. But, the benefits are amazing and well worth the personal sacrifice that homeschooling demands. Good luck whatever you choose!