The Scripps Survey Research Center at Ohio University ran an online survey May 19, 2007 asking what respondents thought should be done with the No Child Left Behind Act. The results are telling.
Renew law 23%
Change law 48%
Cancel law 14%
Don’t know 14%
Other 1%
–newsPolls.com
I would like to know exactly what changes the respondents think would improve No Child Left Behind. For Hillary Clinton, it is about $12 billion. For the NEA, it is about modifying the testing requirements, reducing class sizes and certifying teachers. In other words, it needs more money and greater protection for the union.
The phrase “highly qualified teachers” sounds good, but it only means certified. And evidence suggests that there is little difference in student performance between those who have begun teaching through the traditional route or alternative certification programs. In fact, principals who work with recruits from Teach For America frequently report that these uncertified teachers outperform new teachers who have gone through the traditional certification process. Student performance backs that up. And these recruits have all of 6 weeks training to add to their college degree.
I wish I had greater faith that the average American sought more fundamental change to this law, but the mantra of “it is a good law, but an unfunded mandate” has gone on too long. When states stopped asserting their rights and submitted to the lure of more federal monies, the future of the law was secured. A national test and a national curriculum are close behind.
And of course, since early childhood has been proven critical to educational success, so is universal preschool. And a $10 billion increase in funding, if Senator Clinton has anything to say. So the states again will be lured into selling their rights.
And polls will suggest that “we the people” have consented with minor criticism.
Just yesterday I saw a news item about a charter school in New York City that has instituted changes that have produced startling results in its students. They come in in the lowest 30% of the nation and leave in the top 5%. Their changes? They hold high standards and require strict discipline. Who would have thought?
As much as I like Hilary and most of her politics, and as much as I understand the It Takes A Village idea, which does not remove or deminish the parental role/authority…universal preschool is not something I want to see be mandated! Available? Yes, something should be available for those who want or need it; but mandated–no, never!
As far as NCLB, it just appalls me that parents and educators cannot see the harm they are doing; do they seriously not care? are parents seriously that easily fooled? do they truly feel that inhibited? I suppose if I just look at the Patriot Act and so much more in recent years, I could answer my own questions: apparently yes, people are that gullible and leaders in a position of power are that money and power hungry!
“and leaders in a position of power are that money and power hungry!”
Does that apply to Hilary too? The one who wants the village to raise up children with the chiefs of that village being the government, you have just so vehemently deplored?
Think about it?
Regardless of party affiliation the only thing a village can raise is the Village Idiot.
Federal government control of education will/can only raise the Idiot Nation.
Look around you.
So hostile because someone likes someone you do not? I take politics very seriously–and I have read Hilary’s book; have you? It doesn’t appear so or you would understand that the Village is a contributor and only a contributor…it’s actually a very old concept that this country embraced as well before modern times isolated so many of the citizens: churches, grandparents, aunts/uncles all contributing to the children of the entire community, not just the ones they procreated…and the children contributing right back to the care of the same people.
And for the record, I haven’t vehemently deplored anybody LOL I have never been a party person, I am an issues person LOL And my issue is with NCLB and mandated preschool **shakes head**
Sorry I got you so riled up **shrug**
And don’t be shy Anonymous, feel comfortable enough to show who you are.
It would seem that spending more on public education, while noble, doesn’t seem to so much to change the climate that the kids in school learn in. Of course, there will be one or two exceptions to the rule, as there always are, but there is something broken with our education system, especially in the big cities. However, I do not know what the solution to the problem is; and this is probably something that shouldn’t be decided by politicians in Washington. This is something that should be worked on school by school, district by district, etc.
Also, I’d like to invite you to submit your blog to the US Blogs community on Bumpzee. It’s a great place to connect with other bloggers and find other great blogs that are here in the States.
Sephyroth
http://sephyroth.blogspot.com/
Stan, I think I read about that. Or something similar. Success isn’t such an odd thing in some of these schools, but it isn’t done by the formula of simply requiring certification and spending more money.
Shawna, I sort of agree. But really, the option for preschool does exist for all. The federal government and every state government already contributes money for low-income families, and most private centers offer need-based scholarships. And the rest of us can pay for it ourselves. Having it paid for and run by the state isn’t going to make the system better, I don’t think.
It isn’t about a “level playing field” but “free” daycare. All the research I have seen indicates that what little advantage there is exists only for low-income families and generally disappears by third grade. Some parents have to work, and on a state level, I don’t mind providing some sort of services to the poor, but to make it universal? It doesn’t really help anyone.
Sephyroth, I agree. And that is the problem. It is easy to think money is the problem, and therefore the solution. But what sane person throws more money at something that is failing? The model itself is flawed, but communities need to be empowered to find the solutions that will work for them.
Oh, and Shawns, I get occasional anonymous commenters…I don’t understand the anonymity, either. I take them a lot more seriously when they at least go under a pseudonym.
Hiya girlie girl,
Where’s your Gack Bling? Are you still on the network? I sure hope so!
I don’t know if I told you this yet but I moved all my free speech stuff to my new digs “Domestic Divapalooza” – Hope to see you there!
Hey, Angela…yes on both. But as you may have noticed, I lost most of my links and have been too busy to sit down and get them all back up. Plus I haven’t decided to keep this template yet.
Hopefully by Sunday we’ll be set again.
Well, I have already ranted about NCLB. The only thing I will say is that I am quite sure that the 23% of the people that thought the law should be renewed do not have kids and do not understand it ~
Oh, but Julie, there is so much to rant about!
I worry that only 14% of the population seem to understand it.
I’m so tired of all the rhetoric surrounding it. And I’m REALLY tired of comparisons between how much we spend on education and other areas, like defense.
Education is not the responsibility of our national government and spending signifies not a setting of priorities, but an overstepping of just boundaries for federal control.
But people don’t seem to understand that.
“Education is not the responsibility of our national government” BINGO!
I am a certified teacher and have taught in both private and public schools. It was so blatantly obvious that the children who did well were the same ones whose parents were earnestly involved in their education – every single time. My question is, why am I the only teacher who has figured that out? Don’t even get me started on certification. Yes, I have a piece of paper that says I am certified but I don’t think it made me any better of a teacher than what I was before college. I could go on and on but I won’t. At least not here on your blog!
I’m certified, too. Well, I was. I let it expire, but I learned more about how to teach and manage a classroom in my six week training program with Teach For America than I did through any of my education courses in college.
The barriers the schools set up to parental involvement are horrid…every study suggests that it is the parents, not any other factor, that has the most bearing on student success.
So why are they marginalized?
What astonishes me is how common the assumption is that hours sitting in a classroom = actual time spent learning, that homeschoolers cannot possibly be learning as much as children in school because they aren’t spending 6-8 hours daily “receiving instruction”. It’s a case of apples and oranges, because homeschooling is a totally different venue, in which instruction is personalized, accomplishing a great deal more in much less time. (And probably leaves fewer “gaps” — the other big straw man — since if one of my children is having difficulty with something and needs more help or practice, I know pretty much immediately and can address it right away, spend as much time on it as needed, etc.)
And I agree with Karen, that the reason homeschoolers do well is the same reason children who excel in school do well…parents who care and are involved. I think it goes back to the daycare scare — after all the conflicting studies about whether or not daycare harms children, the final analysis seems to be it is the quality of family interactions rather than daycare which determines whether or not a child will have problems.
…parents who care and are involved.
Couldn’t agree more! That is the central issue. No reform whatsoever would be needed if the majority of parents in every district had the kind of commitment to their children’s educational success that most homeschoolers have. Not because they need to all homeschool, but because kids pick up on what their parents think is important. And they do listen.