The No Child Left Behind Act – Is it helping or hurting our schools?

On paper this is a beautiful piece of legislation. That’s about the only good I can comment on.

No Child Left Behind limits teachers creativity and it also limits curriculum and learning. Children are being served a heaping dose of “cookie cutter politically correct” education.

Schools will stop all classes and for one month before the test have nothing but PASSA classes. Yes, that what it sounds like, one month of “Yes, Johnny when you have no idea what the answer will be mark “c”. Stastically it is the correct answer 65% of the time”. Personally, I think this is insane. Other subjects besides the tested curriculum, reading , writting, and math, are skirted and are never taught. History, Geography, Music, Art, (you get the idea) are completely avoided for a month. Wonder if this is why our children had no idea where the Middle East was till they had to. (APATHY).

I honestly, don’t think it has helped educational systems , it has hindered them. Schools that were poor and needed help have no just been handed another burden to deal with. They have no funding for books…so you take away what funding they have.

This is a horrible soap box issue.

So has it helped or hindered. It’s hindered.

Just my thoughts

I am a 3rd grade teacher in a high-standards school district with nearly 100% SoL accreditation. We commonly refer to the NCLB as the “No Teacher Left Standing” act because it places immense stress on teachers. Most of us agree with the goal of NCLB, but not the methods. If the children fail, it’s our jobs at stake. We don’t mind being constnatly evaluated and re-evaluated, but when the children do and will fail, it won’t be because WE were at fault. NCLB can only place standards on teachers and schools; not on the parents or children themselves, who have just as much a role in the child’s education. We can do all we can as educators, literally, but in the end it’s up to the child’s will and ability and the involvement of the parents if that child will ultimately succeed. It’s too bad we can’t place such an Act on the parents… I’m sure if we did we would see a much greater change in education overall. The responsibility to educate students cannot fall solely on teachers. Parents ARE the main caregiver, and sometimes it seems “society” dismisses that as a cause or influence in student education.

Furthermore, I have taught in two very different schools within the same district. One was considered a “Title 1” school, meaning it reaches out to students at risk or in great need, usually in a low socio-economic area. That school had excellent teachers and administration, yet they still fall short of the SOL standards and are not fully accredited… yet. As a result, they do NOT receive help from the government. In fact, the administrator told me in a round about way that the government seems to hold it over their heads as a type of incentive to get 100% accreditation. But how can they do that without the help they need? On the other hand, I am now teaching at a very affluent school in an area with high parent involvement with a higher socio-economic positive influence. The change is drastic. This school gets more funding from the g’vt BECAUSE it is 100% SOL accredited and has been for the past few years. THAT is what makes no sense to me. All of our schools need help, and all of them need adequate funding. It should not be a reward for the “good” schools, but should be given more to those who truly need it to help them succeed. There are pros and cons to NCLB, but I’m not sure how much longer teachers can stand when so much is placed on their shoulders and not much is put beneath their feet.

HURTING! I was an ELA (English/Language Arts) teacher at a “Title 1” school in Florida. It was the WORST experience I ever had. First of all, the Reading First program and requirements only address the struggling students. Their use of “centers” and “independent study” causes a severe learning gap. The high acheivers start falling becasue they don’t get challenged (especially when left to their own devices), the middle students stay in the middle or fall, and the low students MIGHT move up. It was totally unorganized and WRONG for those students. There is a complete lack of structure in the program and at-risk students need structure!! And I cannot tell you how many veteran teachers would teach only FCAT material. It’s a shame, and my children will not be going to public school in that county.

I think it is hurting our education system because it is causing teachers to narrow their curiculum by only teaching what is on the tests because the kids need well-rounded education & study habits. What’s gonna happen when they get to college & have to write essays?

It’s hurting.

The result of it is that schools spend more time preparing for the test. (mine did) It ends up taking away from the curriculum because if you are in 10th grade, taking the 10th grade math test, but are in 11th grade math, you end up studying 11th grade material. English was, by far, the worst test in our state. (missouri) Grammer wasn’t counted, but what did count was using the exact words that are in these passages. We couldn’t even sound intelligent when writing because if the passage said “he was sad”, we couldn’t say “he was gloomy”, or we’d get counted wrong.

It’s probable to pay plenty of time and money trying to find methods to show your children how to read and boost their studying skills. Is hard to show a tiny kid how to read, and actually attractive them to read is challenging in itself. Nonetheless it does not have to be like that when you got the aid of this program https://tr.im/AJXls , Children Learning Reading program.

With Children Learning Reading you will teach your child how to split up sounds and break phrases in to phonemes, a vital point whenever your kid is just understanding how to spell.

The reading system from Children Learning Reading program allows you for children to learn easily and effectively, from easy phrases to phrases until they understand to learn stories.

my 8th grade teacher liked to call it the No Idiot Left Behind Act. i agree. with the latter.

I think it is hurting our kids by ‘teaching to the test’ and not teaching them all the things they should know to be well-rounded citizens.