Sunday, November 26th, 2006...5:26 pm
Protesting No Child Left Behind
If you think you can improve education with a test, you must also think you can fatten a calf by weighing it.
This analogy was left by a signer of the petition against the reauthorization of No Child Left Behind. I think it efficiently points out the irrational thinking behind the testing frenzy that NCLB has mandated. A mother who posted about this petition in one of my email groups wrote:
It was partially because of NCLB that I pulled my child out of public school. All the schools care about is testing. My son’s school actually spent 2 months prior to the standardized tests just studying for the test. They did nothing else for those 2 months. Once the testing was over, they pretty much stopped teaching for the rest of the year since their job of preparing the students for the test was over.
Now, I don’t know that this petition will do a bit of good. But I signed it anyways. While I feel our particular form of institutionalized schooling is irreparably flawed, I am realistic enough to acknowledge that our country’s approach to education isn’t going to change any time soon. For now the only hope is to seek improvements within the existing framework of our school system.
NCLB is one of the worst things to be forced upon teachers and students in recent history. It has reduced the ability of teachers who care deeply about children to use their gifts in the classroom. It has squelched curiosity and creativity. It’s brought love of learning and pursuit of the arts to a grinding halt. Everyone in our country is affected by the quality and effectiveness of public schools, homeschoolers and private schoolers included. Children and committed educators are being deeply affected by this law and not at all in a positive way.
You can read full text at Petition Online. The aim is to gather at least a million signatures. Here is a bit more food for thought, as written by signers of the petition…
NCLB is destroying education, teachers and students while making money on the tools - one of the reasons it was designed. Another reason was to produce people who are unable to think or problem solve. Makes it easier to control them. NCLB is criminal. - Dr. Michelle Kassorla
This law appears to ignore what we know about how children learn best in our classrooms. - Patricia Richard-Amato
This act killed thinking in the classroom - it is why I left the classroom after 23 years of teaching elementary school. - Karen Kolar
The No Child Left Behind Act will leave American education in shambles…blaming teachers, threatening students, and undermining the very idea that it’s FUN to learn! - Mary Jo Firth Gillett
NCLB is a tragic thing that has been done to children; and to education in general, and has set back American education at least 50 years. - William M. Stone
11 Comments
November 26th, 2006 at 9:19 pm
Little known fact about NCLB - it requires all middle school names and social security numbers to be reported to the Selective Service Administration, or whatever they call it these days, to make it easier when the next draft comes up. It is possible for a parent to forbid the school from making this report, but how many parents know that?
November 26th, 2006 at 10:17 pm
I would venture to guess that most parents don’t even know this is happening, much less aware that they could put a stop to it. The schools don’t distribute memos about this little piece of legislature to school families, nor do they voluntarily provide information on opting out.
It has been questioned whether they collect homeschoolers’ information and give it to Selective Service, but from the reports of many families around the country at least some school districts apparently do.
NCLB is an intrusive, harmful law in many ways.
November 27th, 2006 at 5:24 am
Amen!
November 27th, 2006 at 7:25 am
I’ve implemented provider profiling plans to hold physicians accountable and got the same arguments. NCLB is no different than any of the many other kinds of accountability efforts consumers demand of professionals now a days.
The metrics may be flawed, but the bottom line is Teachers, Docs, and even Ministers should be held accountable and their consumers entitled to see outcomes. No more of this priestly caste shrouded in secrecy under the pretence consumers too naive to judge their work.
November 27th, 2006 at 11:56 am
How does an anxiety-ridden learning atmosphere, teaching to the test, schools with classrooms full of kids who can’t think creatively, and dismissal of art, music, and physical education programs create accountability?
I agree that society has an interest in the public school system. But we are not talking about the private practice of physicans here… we’re talking about our children, the future of this nation. NCLB is sucking the life right out of their educational environment.
November 27th, 2006 at 12:22 pm
Same way New York’s publication of hospital mortality and morbidities on cardiac by pass operations holds the Doc’s too account.
If the metrics are bad, revise and improve them, but don’t deny the public the right to see outcomes.
Professionals have operated along those lines for way too long. Public won’t stand for it anymore. As payors, they shouldn’t have too.
November 27th, 2006 at 4:55 pm
I understand your point. But your comparisons are not relevant. Yes, any system that is created by society for use by the majority of society should allow input and review by said society. I’m not arguing that point.
But NCLB was never designed to hold anyone accountable. Oh, sure, there was a lot of puffy political talk about that being it’s intent, which is why most of the general public swallowed it whole at first. But it’s true purpose is not nearly so grand and lofty, and barely a word of it was crafted for the good of society as a whole. It does not serve the public’s interest, nor does it respect the private and individual citizens.
November 28th, 2006 at 1:49 pm
You go, girl!
NCLB is a disaster. It is one of the main reasons I left teaching. And I was a good teacher, too. Oh, well, now I’m homeschooling and wouldn’t go back for ANYTHING. Public school’s loss is my kids’ gain.
December 1st, 2006 at 8:32 am
~If you think you can improve education with a test, you must also think you can fatten a calf by weighing it.~
Love it! I know you didn’t write it, but I want that on a shirt.
Well said, through and through.
December 26th, 2006 at 8:08 pm
Thanks for sharing. While I left the classroom to raise my children, I can honestly say that I don’t miss it. Even though I loved teaching and was dedicated to my students, NCLB left me with absolutely no freedom to individualize based on my students’ needs. In my opinion, NCLB has had nothing but a negative impact on American schools.
I will homeschool my own children, by the way, so they can learn naturally–without the fear of the test looming over their heads.
January 4th, 2007 at 4:46 pm
I’m a mom and a health care professional who works with kids. I think NCLB was a bureaucrat’s attempt to change something he knew nothing about. All this testing is terrible for kids and not so good for schools and teachers either.
I fail to understand what NCLB has to do with holding doctors or ministers accountable and I see no way that NCLB works to hold teachers and schools more accountable. It has turned into kids being drilled all year for one test, and threatened they will not advance to the next year if they don’t do well on the test. Can someone explain to me how scaring the pants off a bunch of third grade kids helps them learn. How this makes schools and teachers better is beyond me. Another form of accountability is for the folks in Washington to have to prove that their legislation accomplishes something useful. Throwing a law at a problem often does nothing to solve it.
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