NCLB act needs to be reworked, reformed
As kids brace themselves for another school year, more than 25 states are in the middle of lawsuits protesting the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) a federal mandate initiated in 2001 by the present administration.
Initially the NCLB act was presented to make teachers and schools more accountable on holding all students to the same academic standards by 2014.
The changes do nothing to address the real challenges rural schools face, such as lack of professional development programs for rural teachers and the difficulty in recruiting teachers to the nation's poorest schools. Under this federal act Montana teachers are being scrutinized and even this year's Teacher of the Year Award winner, science teacher Alyson Mike in Helena, was not considered "highly qualified" under the NCLB act.
Montana schools are forced to spend time testing children to meet the Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) objectives for improving achievement of all students and for specific subgroups (economically disadvantaged, major racial and ethnic groups, students with disabilities, and students with limited English proficiency.)
The only saving grace in this matter is that Montana, along with other rural states, can calculate their AYP on a three-year basis, rather than yearly. Otherwise they would never make the grade.
The NCLB act brings more government to our state, which is surprising considering the present administration's stance on less government. The intention was perhaps good, at first, but the overall reality of this act is that there will still be children left behind in poor rural communities because of lack of funding and in urban communities because of gang warfare and violence among our nation's youth.
A standard of testing has been in place since the composition of the Montana Constitution, so to take time to enforce more tests on children to comply with federal rules is only taking away from what teachers have been doing all along - inspiring children.
Not all children learn the same way and taking a test on one particular day cannot possibly determine the level of what a child has learned. There could be many distractions on that one test day, from construction work outside the classroom window or test center, to domestic problems at home, and even lack of parenting in some cases.
If the administration had looked at all the issues that leave children behind or keep them from completing school, perhaps they should have looked at what is seriously affecting many children today. The list is endless, alcohol, drugs, teenage pregnancy, dysfunctional families and poverty.
Federal money earmarked for schools meeting the "Adequate Yearly Progress" should perhaps have been redirected to more drug awareness in the schools, more law enforcement in schools, mental health counselors and creative after school programs from K-12. Parenting classes for parents who are children themselves, and other important programs that are so often ignored, are critical in leaving "no child behind" in the long run.
Teachers who are in the classroom everyday probably have solutions that are 10 times better than any administration could possibly put together.
The administration brings us a fast-food recipe for education where quality learning is replaced with stringent guidelines, teacher restraints, stop watches and following a script that cannot possibly help in keeping children from being left behind.
Our political animals, the donkeys and elephants, need to get together and work on rethinking or reforming the NCLB act, that is if they are truly concerned about a highly qualified work force that can outperform any country in the world.