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[Synbios459]

Now I don't really keep up with Politics, but from what I've read here and even some teachers at my school have said, it pretty much sucks. So can someone breifly explain what it does, and why it sucks? And what do YOU think needs to be done to make schools better?

 

[Zaptruder]

You ass, do your own work.

That said, No Child Left Behind, means that no kid will be required to retake a year because they don't meet adequate educational standards.

It sucks because it means they're some people moving up without even meeting the bare basics academically of that year group; ultimately it's worse for them as the effect snowballs and they get left further and further behind.

To fix it, not only more money would have to be thrown at it, but a careful inspection of where things are going wrong and why they're going wrong. You'll find many many reasons why things are going wrong, even things such as nutrition affects educational performance.

 

[Nerevar]

the basic principle is that they don't want to "leave children behind" by failing them and not letting them graduate. Therefore they just put pressure on teachers to pass everyone, even if they're illiterate.

 

[DarienA]

http://nochildleft.com/2003/jan03.html#index

Various news articles

 

[Incognito]

Leaves Olimario behind.

 

[Diablos]

Leaves Olimario behind.

hehe

 

[CaptainABAB]

That said, No Child Left Behind, means that no kid will be required to retake a year because they don't meet adequate educational standards.

It sucks because it means they're some people moving up without even meeting the bare basics academically of that year group; ultimately it's worse for them as the effect snowballs and they get left further and further behind.

Where do you get this idea? My wife is a teacher and this is simply not the case.

Whether a school is performing is based on tests in reading & math, not whether students move into the next grade.

The reason why my wife hates it is that the school has to improve year after year until it reaches 100% proficiency. She just doesn't think it is possible.

 

[Pedigree Chum]

Leaves Olimario behind.

:lol

 

[whytemyke]

plus I believe a big portion of the problem is that teachers are going to be forced to simply coach their students for tests rather than 'teach' them. There's a big difference between "these are the kinds of synonyms you'll see on the test" versus "let me tell you how synonyms work."

i could be wrong on this beef though.

 

[WrathOfOtaibah]

Judging by the way most of the Bushies' legislation is named vs what it does, I'm going to guess that this involves forcibly leaving children behind. Not sure why or how, but that's my best guess.

But Ted Kennedy worked with Bush on this. I mean, teh Ted! Isn't that the unofficial Liberal overlord of America?

 

[teh_pwn]

Some people just don't have the desire/ability to do well. They should be left behind rather than consuming all the resources that could be used to really help the talented kids -- the ones that will make a difference.

 

[Zaptruder]

Where do you get this idea? My wife is a teacher and this is simply not the case.

Whether a school is performing is based on tests in reading & math, not whether students move into the next grade.

The reason why my wife hates it is that the school has to improve year after year until it reaches 100% proficiency. She just doesn't think it is possible.

Ultimately, I defend any gaffe with relation to american policies and laws with the fact that I live in australia and have learnt most of what I know about america(n policies and laws) from this forum.

That said, I've read up on it now.

I agree with your wife; but I think it'll take a good portion of schools a good way there. Most won't be able to meet that 100% target, so most educators can breathe a sigh of relief that they probably won't be ejected from their jobs for not meeting the 100% mark.

OTOH, there's still *alot* more that has to be done to the education system, and comparatively the NCLB act seems relatively uncool by placing the onus of success on the teachers rather than sharing that distribution with good academic planning and policy making.