No Child Left Behind

its dumb, there taking more money out of education so the can educate people in other countries. no child left behind insures, that even if a student fails, hes not left behind"pass em anyway" the answers are quites simple throw 3 billion in education like there doing all these failed buisnesses.

I agree Lee. I think the whole NCLB policy is ineffective and needs reworked.

It does not make sense to cut a school's funding because they do poorly on the standardized tests. They are using the school's funding as an incentive for the school to do whatever is necessary for the students to do well on the tests. Then if they fail, they lose money. So, now the school has to do more with less? At the point when we see that the school is failing and has little hope of recovering, we pull funds. Many qualified teachers will likely seek employment elsewhere. Parents who take an active role in their child's education will likely have their children transfered to a school with a better track record. Now this school that was already struggling has less money and less qualified teachers. Where does leave the children who's parents, for whatever reason, have left them in this failing school? I am guessing that it leaves them behind.

My children are all in elementary school as well. From what I have read, the NCLB act has a lot to do with accountability. The schools have to show continuous improvement on the standardized testing and they are trying to ensure that the teachers are more qualified. From what you know of it, does that sound like the gist of it?

thats something school 'should' be aiming for in the first place. we need to make sure the childrens education is better then average. i know reports from my kids school say they tested highest in the district. right now, for kindergarten they need to be able to do simple mathematics and be able to read simple books and know 100 words by sight, by 1st 300. my son got to 300 words by the end of first grade and since my 2nd son does the same thing, i was able to get him a little head start. the schools and the parents need to work together.

The schools and parents need to work together. I don't believe anyone would argue against that point. The comments of millionmalls did get me to thinking about children who don't have parents on their side. Foster children or children who for whatever reason do not have parents who are willing or capable to be advocates for their education. NCLB gives parents more choices regarding their children's educations. Where does this leave a child without anyone to speak for them?

I agree with you that it should be utilized very differently. For example in MA, where I live, funding is tied into the standardized test scores. As is often the case wealthier communities tend to have "better educated" students. Why? Not because of anything INHERENTLY superior (much as the "haves" might like to believe) no it is because their lives are not bogged down by the every day STRESS that students in more economically challenged districts live with all the time. If a teenager knows they must work to help pay bills, buy their own clothes, and so forth, their FULL FOCUS isn't going to be on getting their homework done. Nor, should it be, there are all sorts of educations to be had, much is learned out of school, but THAT never gets measured, or credited. For instance, I doubt that a sheltered privileged teen could survive a week in some of the neighborhoods my foster sons grew up in, that requires a certain sort of knowledge too. And unfortunately if your energy must go to your basic survival, school tends to get short changed. It has long been that way, I don't see how "short-changing" the districts in the more challenged neighborhoods is going to help change that. To me it is just another blame game. First we say that if students aren't passing the MCAS test, their school districts aren't doing their job-- THEN we punish the child by denying THEM their diploma. Really what is going on is that we have completely isolated and disenfranchised areas and this is just a way of cutting their education budgets. Wow, that is such a sensible policy, NOT. Properly used MCAS testing would be nothing more than a tool, it should not be the FOCUS of anyone's education to pass a test, that pretty much takes the joy of learning away. My teenagers get stressed out by these tests and so does the school district.

Thank you for your comments. You bring up some really good points. Especially regarding children with learning disabilities or "special needs". I believe there are many benefits for most children with the NCLB act, such as the test scores rising, I don't see how it can benefit all children. I think for the system to truly leave no child behind, they should be using the standardized testing more as a means of finding the children's strengths and fostering them.