While I've heard over the past several years about the importance of No Child Left Behind, and how it helps close the gaps in education between rich and poor, majority and minority, I didn't really know how effective No Child Left Behind was.
The administration tells us it's going swimmingly, and would only work better if we would expand the vouchers and the charter schools, so that the kids in the bad school districts can get a leg up on the folks at the good schools.
But maybe the administration isn't being completely honest? According to research at Harvard, achievement in reading has been flat over the past five years and the growth rate in math has been the same as it was prior to NCLB.
I leave it to you to read the article. My opinion is that NCLB was flawed from the start, and though it had good intentions, it wasn't fully thought out.
3 comments:
I don't like federal mandates controling local education. These types of programs force teachers to teach a test or some drivel like that. We should be encouraging critical thinking reading and math are great and everything but are they what really gets people jobs?
They're the things that get people in the public sector jobs, The things that hourly workers, blue-collar types need. But don't worry, there are plenty of private schools to educate the management and executives who will lead these people!
"The administration tells us it's going swimmingly, and would only work better if we would expand the vouchers and the charter schools, so that the kids in the bad school districts can get a leg up on the folks at the good schools." The flaw in this quote from your post (yes, I could see your tongue in your cheek as I read it), is that charter schools, which are private, have NO obligation to take students with special needs, students with learning disabilities, or students who throw furniture and bring weapons to school. ONLY public schools are obligated to provide a free education for EVERY child. Private schools and charter schools are able to do the wonderful job they do because they can focus on teaching instead of feeding, clothing, sheltering, parenting, and disarming students.
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