“Very flexible about means but be firm about ends”
Andrew Rotherham is co-founder and co-director of Education Sector, an independent national education policy think tank.
[Audio clip: view full post to listen]
“Stand firmly behind the principals of No Child Left Behind”
Eric Scroggins began as executive director of Teach For America-Bay Area in August 2006, where he has overseen the strategy, development and execution of one of the most ambitious regional growth efforts.
[Audio clip: view full post to listen]
“Don’t weaken No Child Left Behind”
Sandy Kress served as senior advisor to President Bush on Education, focusing specifically on NCLB. He previously served as president of the board of trustees of the Dallas Public Schools.
[Audio clip: view full post to listen]
“No Child Left Behind is leaving our nation behind”
Jack Dale is the Superintendent of Fairfax County Public Schools—the nation’s 13th largest school system.
[Audio clip: view full post to listen]
“Expand beyond NCLB”
Dr. Steven Paine is the state schools superintendent in West Virginia. We caught up with him at the Republican National Convention.
[Audio clip: view full post to listen]
Paying teachers more
I feel every child in America should be able to get an excellent education from a talented high-performing teacher. Those kind of teachers come at a high price to his or her employer. Only in free exchange does desired talent get appropriately compensated.
American education reform that will bring this to pass will be school vouchers. I don’t care what the rich think, schools that parents choose and designate as “good” for their children should be accesible despite their income. As Americans, if we can truly create equal opportunity in education, this in the direction we really need to move before the rest of the world leaves [Read more...]
Nationalize Standards
As a teacher, I have embraced our fairly well designed state standards. They provide a framework for each subject area that lays out in a logical way what students should have mastered by the end of each grade level. I realize that these standards are the floor, not the ceiling, and I know that I can teach the concepts in the way that I feel is most appropriate and best for my kids. Thank you to NCLB for standards, now, lets further benefit kids by making them standard from state to state - one set of standards, and one really USEFUL assessment tool. We have a [Read more...]
NCLB Undermines Special Needs Child’s Rights & Undermines IEP
No Child Left Behind has been a nightmare for my child’s Special Education and a huge waste of money and resources. Parents need to be included in determining how and if the alternative testing procedures are appropriate for children with disabilities. Please understand that the testing for children with special needs in Maryland starts in October and goes through March! The tested material takes priority over the Individual Education Plan because teachers are forced to make the alternative tests, pre-test, train and post test the goals so the child passes. In reality, the IEP gets whatever time is leftover. Principals could excuse children but don’t because it is [Read more...]
NCLB
No child left behind, in theory, is a good pan. However, it does not work. Schools are losing their funding because they cannot fill get all subgroups to the proficient level. States refuse to raise their standards out of fear to lose funding. And most importantly, this act was not created by educators. There are many unreal expectations. Though the general public feels that education needs to reform into a new direction, which I agree to an extent, this is without doubt the wrong direction. Most creativity in the classroom has been watered down in the primary subjects due to the great stresses placed [Read more...]
Keep the Heavy Hand of the Federal government out of our k-12 educaitonal system
The best advice I could give Mr. Obama is for him to listen to Diane Ravitch, a scholar far more qualified than I to comment on national educational policy. From where I stand NCLB is just another unjustice unsound govermental mandate that we have to suffer until the Monster collapses from its own weigth and stupidity.
Diane RAVITCH says:
Never before has the heavy hand of the federal government reached so intrusively into every classroom in the nation. And there is little to show for this intrusion.
The Obama administration can get off to a good start by revising NCLB.
First, it should eliminate the goal of universal proficiency by 2014, because it is [Read more...]
