Several listeners left online comments after our series last week on the new federal education law, No Child Left Behind. The messages were generally critical of the new law. We hope that those of you who see some promise in No Child Left Behind will let us know your views as well.
NHPR's Jon Greenberg and Raquel Maria Dillon read a few of the messages on our discussion board.
The use of test scores as the tirgger for interventions in schools that don't do well drew the sharpest criticisms of No Child Left Behind. In about two yaers, the law requires that the state test all thrid through eighth graders every year. If schools don'tmake steady progress on test scores, they first get more help from the state. But if they continue to slide, their federal money can be at risk.
Eric Garland worries that this won't work well for schools that have cared out a particular niche for themselves. He writes ...
Bad test results can even be an indication of good schools. A school that is well known for it's excellent special education program will attract students who test below average. Word spreads, parents move, schools bus their kids in. Should a school that excels in special education be labeled as "failing" and have funds pulled simply because it has a larger number of students that test below average?
He goes on to say ...
There are good schools and bad schools. There are good administrators and bad administrators. There are good teachers and bad teachers. I see nothing in NCLB that will help identify any of these. It will eliminate honest administrators, impoverish under funded schools, and force teachers to divert some of those precious windows of time when children's minds are actually open to learning towards teaching them how to take tests. This is bad for education, bad for NH and we should fight it!
Kristen Wadell takes on No Child Left Behind's use of testing. She writes ...
Schools should use tests to diagnose problem areas for remediation.
Although remediation appears to be included in NCLB, ultimately jobs and funding are at stake. Under these conditions, the educational focus becomes good test scores at all costs. Already students say, "I only need to know that until the test on Friday." Is this really how we want our children to think about learning?
Finally, one listener was unimpressed with the 1,000-plus pages of the law writing ...
The No Child Left Behind legislation seems more than a tad simplistic to me. It seems a very good behicle for placing blame without acutally dealing with any of the problems involved.
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