Posts Tagged ‘No Child Left Behind’
Thanks to Politico!
How about a little geography? First, some history.
It seems as though ever since the passage of the unpopular No Child Left Behind Act in 2002, American children have been begging their politicians to leave the law behind.
In September, the Obama administration announced that states would be allowed to waive the applicability of certain aspects of NCLB if satisfactory conditions could be met.
So, a quiz: Which of the following 15 states have NOT taken advantage of the change and filed for a “No More” Waiver.
Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Arkansas,Indiana, Kentucky, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New Jersey, New Mexico, Arizona, Rhode Island , Oklahoma, Tennessee
Hint: 11 States have filed for waivers.
The answer: Arkansas, Arizona, Maryland, Rhode Island
The real long term answer: change the law!
Image thanks to Wired!
Possibility of a government shutdown? Haven’t we seen this show before? #dejavu
President Obama is ready to leave behind No Child Left Behind.
Perhaps you already heard that scientists and the speed of light – but did you hear about the physicists and the invisibility cloak?
Ending modern-day slavery…one app at a time.
Oh, and watch out! A satellite’s falling to the earth.
No Child Left Behind, the contraversial education reform law enacted by George W. Bush, may be heading for detention.
School districts around the country are peeved. They have long sought a change from the law’s emphasis on national testing and now are demanding action.
At least 80% of U.S. schools are not meeting the law’s high expectations and many educators are worried that the required tests are not accurate measures of progress.
Education Secretary Arne Duncan hopes to waive many of the penalties and deadlines that are holding these schools back. He states that
Where folks are really doing the right thing for children, we want to give them a lot more flexibility — frankly, get out of their way and let them hit that higher bar
Some are complaining that Duncan should have waited before making any announcements, but Congress has now been pushed into action.
The law will be rewritten some time next month.
At one point or another we have all have taken standardized tests. You know, the ones with endless rows of perfectly formed multiple choice bubbles or ovals and well sharpened #2 pencils. Not to mention attempting to stay inside the lines, without crayons! Yeah, those.
Well, President Obama may have just exponential boosted his popularity with this comment,
“All you’re learning about is how to fill out a little bubble on an exam and little tricks that you need to do in order to take a test and that’s not going to make education interesting.”
It looks like 10 years after the Bush’s “No Child Left Behind” policy, the era of filling in bubbles instead of the brain may just come to end. The Obama administration is advocating “learning about the world, learning about different cultures, learning about science, learning about math.”
Revolutionary huh! What? ACTUALLY learning instead of memorizing to regurgitate on standardized tests? What is that all about? After all, we have singlehandedly managed to become one of the wealthiest nations that ranks 25th in math scores compared to 70 other countries. Quite an accomplishment.
But before you take a stand on the American education system and standardized testing, here are the pros and cons as presented by advocates and critics.
Pro
- Both Teachers & Students can be held accountable
- Easier to grade & not time consuming
- Measure student progress by identifying their weaknesses
Con
- Results in no meaningful learning in classrooms
- Assess a narrow set of skills
- Some high stakes testing have negative emotional and material impacts on students, schools, and teachers.
We want to know what you think. Take our poll below ( ironically, it is multiple choice)
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Courtesy of McCormick
America’s most wanted: Wendy’s Chili:
Police say a lumber truck crashed into a Massachusetts home after the driver was knocked unconscious when he choked on chili from Wendy’s.
Re-educating NCLB… Administration reworks No Child Left Behind.
Show me the money… President Obama sends Congress his $3.8 trillion budget.
