A first in Kansas

Teaching to the test is not necessarily a bad thing, if the test is actually testing things that are useful. I guess it tends to promote a "one size fits all" style of teaching though, and children are individuals. I hope this is a good move...

That's wonderful news Gerty, now maybe teachers will be allowed to teach what is important...

I always thought that was a dumb move if a ki hasnt doen lessins or past all the test they shouldnt be passed to the net grade as they can never get prepared for life outside the class room. And to I do beleive the teachers need to teach! not leaveit up to the parents to figure out what teh teacher wants the students to do. Grand daughter gets a weekly homework and writting on the bottom is to be the directions well if ya cant read them you cant help!. We had to send back last weeks home work with half completed for we couldnt read what was wanted and we wrote on there couldnt read it was blurred in the coping and some words just werent there. I do beleive the teacher should check this all out before she gives it to the kids to do. and then when they hand in I do beleive teacher should grade them! Grand daughter gets that homework back and has never been graded on it!

I think that's GREAT! I swear, you can learn all kinds of stuff, but then you can't add up a long list of numbers, you can divide a circle or triangle, but can't keep a check book... it seems to me that there's a lot of stuff on those "tests" that don't apply to actually LIVING!

I was never a fan of No Child Left Behind. Like you say, it caused the teacher to teach to the test and students wound up not being able to function in the real world. It sounds like you have a good thing going if it shows that the student is ready to be a productive citizen. I hope that other districts will look at what you are doing in your area and see if they can do the same thing. How long has this been going on in the district? How successful has it been? Thanks for sharing this!

Sounds like a good change with the district, but wondering though if the students do not educationally measure up, will they provide the additional assistance though? However, it will open doors for further discussion and hopeful changes.

Personally especially since their is so many cut backs these days with all the schools and school teachers, etc. due to lack of funding, I feel it is Best to try and teach the kids things that will be more practical for them all around instead of having a manditory Test they must be able to pass. For many their is not the skills needed to be able to pass some of these, and for the smarter children they are often too bored. Why cannot we just get back to the Basics that we used to have back when I was in school?

That's great! Kids need to learn in a way that stays with them, not just learn how to pass a test. They simply don't remember the information they learned for the test. Anyone can pass a test if they put their mind to it. It takes more effort to learn life skills and applicable academics.

I think anything that moves away from testing only on things that were textbook related and more on practical matters that will effect their lives more in the future is a good thing. Too many school standarized tests are just about the textbooks and nothing more. Teachers have to be awfully creative to teach kids more valuable things that will help them more then just what the textbook says about history, mathematics, english, life skills, etc. I think the Health and Home Ec teachers have it the easiest / hardest when it comes to their exams.

Woo!! I wish they'd bring that here! That no child left behind act really gets under my skin! My oldest son is one that benefits from that law.. he gets very poor grades, primarily because he does not apply himself. He came to me when he got home from school last night, knowing that I had to work and he'd be gone at a babysitter's house all night until bedtime, and he says to me "I need to type up a report". I asked him why did he need to do that now, he says because it's due tomorrow.. and I say "So why are you just getting to it now?" he says "Because I've been busy".. uh, no, he was not busy!! Tuesday night I was at work and he was home with my FIL here.. he had all night to hop on my computer or laptop and print out his report. Monday night I did not work, we did not go anywhere.. he had all that night to type his report. He has like 2 study halls everyday, plus he stays after school everyday for an extra period which is much like a study hall, because my hope is that he'd use this time to visit his teachers for extra help on homework because it was stressing me out when I had to help him with it... so he cannot tell me he didn't have time.. he just put it off for too long and he had no chance to do it last night as he wasn't at home! This is why he gets failing grades, not because he's stupid, but because he doesn't apply himself and doesn't take the time to do the work. There have been years he should have failed.. but they moved him up anyway. My feeling is if he doesn't get it now.. how is he going to get it next year when the work is harder? I almost wish they would fail him to show him that he does need to bust his butt and get the grades he's supposed to.. because skating by isn't going to get him anywhere in life! Might sound tough.. but that's how I operate, I'm a tough love kind of mom. I swear if his grades are bad at the end of this year I will make the school put him in summer school.. or I'll ask them to hold him back.. because I think he needs a wake up call before he hits high school this coming fall!

Sounds like a winner to me. They need to get back to basics i think anyway.

We need a happy medium. Something for the schools and the parents. 'Practical importance' doesn't seem to be of much interest to the No Child Left Behind people. It never seices to amaze me as to how these political types can talk out of their hats and other side of their mouths as to how much they are going to do for us when it actually turns to be how much good it is actually going to do.

Hiya margi, All in all I hope that the Children learn a joy for learning something new every Day if it´s possible. We had very strict Schooling but they did instill in us a love of learning. Also for them to learn everyday things I think is a great thing like just doing Shopping, learning how much things cost where they came from and how they grew there and why. Things like that. I learned a love for Wildlife which I could not have had otherwise. I loved learning about Animals and such and other Countries. Another one would be for them to learn how to communicate and participate doing Plays making them up if needs be involving all the Class getting them to bring out their inner expression. Okay I really don´t know what else to put here but this is the way I feel. This is what we learned at our broken down School but I will always love it because they taught us so much. They taught very practical things and the basic things too. I posted to Carmel also and I went a bit off track as I have a Guy here right up above me with a sledgehammer knocking down a Wall and then he is using one of those big Drills so he has made my Head bang so much that I could not think for the noise he is still making. So sorry about that one I was trying to tell her what I taught my Kids.

Digging the the valuable talent from the student is only possible in the school age only. You are doing well. I heard that in USA, there is freedom to open schools and colleges for any one. But there is ranking system in USA which will test the performance of the institution in the Quality and Quantity. Care to enlighten about this. Because in india the situation is different. There are so many rules which can be done with money(corruption).

I hope that they prove that this works better. I have a child with special needs, and I have to say, that I don't think what they are doing is working.

I think that's good. Now the teachers will be better able to teach the kids what they really need to know. I've never been too impressed with the No Child Left Behind program. Seemed good in theory, but not practical. I hope more school districts follow suit and opt out too.

I very much agree with this approach.

That's how schools were when I was growing up and it worked quite well. It wasn't until people came up with all kinds of crazy educational "progress" and teaching methods that things began going south. Add to that the number of kids with two working parents or just one parent supporting them and you have a recipe for the destruction of a generation. I'm glad your school district is making a sensible choice in the interest of the children, not politics or other reasons.

I think that is great! Our news broadcast mentioned something recently about teachers helping the kids taking the EOG's to cheat and giving them the answers. It is so stressed here in our state that teachers, principles and everyone in the school system are so scared of losing their jobs if they students do not perform well. I think this will be more well rounded! I would wish that my state did the same thing.

I'm not sure because I haven't read about it, but from your description, it seems like the policy is not giving more importance on the quality of education of kids because they study what they're having in the exams, not what they really need to know and learn about. Am I correct? Is it like a salesman wanting to do his quota? It's good your school district is out of it.