No Child Left Behind: A conspiracy against public education that too few called out
Jim Arnold (Pelham City Schools)
A while back, I ran a piece from Jim Arnold, superintendent of Pelham City Schools in Mitchell County. Several of you commented that you wished you worked for such a straight-talking school chief.
I think that sentiment is going to be even stronger after this piece, which I plan to run on the Monday education page that I assemble for the AJC. But I can’t fit all of it in the newspaper, so here is the full version.
By Jim Arnold
We’ve done it now. Eleven years we had to educate the public, to register our protests and do everything in our power to warn people what was coming, and we blew it. We knew the moment would eventually come and we hem-hawed, looked at the ground, kicked at the dirt with our shoes and failed to look the opposition in the eye and face them down. All of us saw this coming, but very few took a stand and now we – and our students – are paying the price. We could have been prophets but failed the test.
We allowed the proponents of NCLB to control the discussion from the beginning. They wrote the language, sent out the media notices and explanations, wrote the definitions of AYP, Highly Qualified and leaned heavily on the fact that none of us would dare protest anything to do with a name that implies we would be providing a high quality education for every single child in America. They were right. We chose not to speak out, not to fight against a system we knew from the beginning would set us all up for failure, and instead, in our best Dudley DoRight impersonations we set about to change the way we taught and measured and tested and graded and thought.
We knew from the outset that NCLB and its goal of 100 percent – every child proficient in every area as determined by a single test on a single day each year – was patently, blatantly and insidiously absurd, but we took no concerted action. We knew Adequate Yearly Progress was a sham, and we literally and figuratively rolled over and tried our best to meet whatever impossible goals they set for us and our students. We knew that Federal law in NCLB was a violation of Federal law in IDEA but we went along with the insanity of testing Students with Disabilities based on chronological age rather than by IEP.
We learned very quickly and much to our chagrin that some student scores – usually the lowest ones – were counted not once, not twice, but often as many as three times, but we went along to get along. All of us were aware that Highly Qualified, for all the high rhetoric that went along with it, only served to make certification as much of a barrier as humanly possible for Special Education teachers regardless of degree or experience. It seems the teachers we needed most were subjected to the greatest roadblocks to reaching the nirvana of HiQ certification.
We tried our best to play the game but the game was rigged from the start. When the AMO’s were low it was pretty easy for most schools. When the AMO’s went up and more and more schools were labeled “failing” we looked around in a panic for help. Surely nobody believed a school deserved the failing label because two or three kids in a subgroup didn’t pass a test? Yes they did. Yes they still do. We let them make the definitions and apply the labels, even when we realized the absurdity of it all.
We actually pretended to believe that it was important for us to make sure that every child was tested on those all important test days so none could escape the trauma we inflicted upon them. We even learned in some places to game the system and hold back those kids we feared might not pass the test or might raise those student numbers to create a subgroup in areas we really didn’t want to see a subgroup or, God help us, to cheat or to make sure that we could hold out two or three or four of “those kids” on test days so their poor scores wouldn’t have a negative effect.
Oh sure, some of you stuck your necks out and said something to the effect of “NCLB forced us to take a closer look at ourselves, and we are better off for that” in spite of the fact that it was our students that were suffering the consequences. What balderdash. What hubris. Our kids were the ones whose education was stilted by our submission to the belief that one test could effectively distill and determine the depth and extent of an entire year of a child’s education. They are the ones whose time was wasted by “academic pep rallies” and “test prep” and by the subtle and insidious ways we told them the test was “important” and put pressure on them to “do their best because our school is counting on you.”
They were the ones that did without art and music and chorus and drama because we increased the amount of time they spent in ELA and Math. They were the ones that had time in their Social Studies and Science classes cut back more and more so schools could focus on the “really important areas” of ELA and Math. They were the ELL’s that couldn’t speak English but still had to take the test. Their teachers were the ones that were told “your grading of the children in your classes doesn’t count any more because standardization is more important to us that the individual grades you provide.” This told them in effect that their efforts at teaching were important but only if they taught using “this” methodology or “this” curriculum, then, when things started to go badly, they were the first to be blamed for the failure of public education. They were told to teach every child the same way with the same material but make sure to individualize while you’re at it. Hogwash.
After a couple of years of this insanity, the “NI” status began to take its toll. Someone somewhere invented the term “failing schools” and, unsurprisingly, the label stuck. Students were given the opportunity to transfer to more test-successful schools, but at a price. Schools that did not meet AYP standards, oddly enough, were often those with high minority populations and high poverty. Nobody seemed to notice the zip code effect that left predominantly white schools meeting AYP standards and minority schools caught by the “failing” label. Oh surely, we reasoned, our government would not want to put public education in a situation it could not win………..or would they?
I struggled with the rest of you as to why NCLB would go to such great lengths to make public education appear to be such a failure, to set up a system that would guarantee failure for practically every public school as we advanced toward that magical 100 percent level and provide no tangible rewards for success and such punitive actions for not meeting arbitrary goals. On top of all of that, I failed to recognize why our nation’s legislators so nimbly avoided even the discussion of reauthorization to change what everyone knew was a failed policy. One day it finally hit me.
They didn’t want to change the policy, because the policy was designed in theory and in fact not to aid education but to create an image of a failed public school system in order to further the implementation of vouchers and the diversion of public education funds to private schools.
I am not usually a conspiracy theory guy, but this was no theory. These were cold hard facts slapping me in the face. We failed in our obligations to protect our students from one of the most destructive educational policies since “separate but equal.” We did not educate the public on the myth and misdirection of Adequate Yearly Progress, and we allowed closet segregationists to direct the implementation of policies that we knew would result in our being the guys in the black hats responsible for “the failure of public education.”
Now we are paying the price. AYP is here to stay in one form or another, and the vast majority of our parents and public really believe the propaganda that it actually measures a school’s educational progress. If we try to convince them otherwise we are “making excuses.”
Vouchers – especially for private and charter schools exempt from the same restrictive, destructive policies we are forced to endure – are a part of every legislative session in almost every state. High stakes testing for all public education students is considered a necessary reality and teachers are leaving the profession in droves. Student test scores will soon determine teacher pay in some places even with no data to support the correlation. Students that do not graduate high school in four years are labeled as dropouts, even if they graduate in nine or 10 semesters.
Only first-time test takers are considered in the grading system for schools regardless of how many students ultimately pass the test. It will take years to undo the damage done to science, social studies, fine arts, foreign languages and other academic electives. Generations will not be enough to rid ourselves and our students of the testing mania neuroses created by our attempts to quantify the unquantifiable.
I hope the generation of teachers and administrators that follows has learned something from the failure of our generation to ward off those determined to destroy public education. We didn’t stand up to be counted, we didn’t stand in the schoolhouse door and tell them they couldn’t do that to our kids, and we didn’t educate the public about what a gigantic failure another one size fits all education policy would be. In the words of that great educator and philosopher Jimmy Buffet: “Mea culpa, mea culpa, mea maxima culpa.”
We have all been left behind.
– From Maureen Downey, for the AJC Get Schooled blog
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339 comments Add your comment
Gary Stager, Ph.D.
September 1st, 2011
3:31 am
I called it out in countless publications over the past decade or so as evidenced by just three of my articles:
“School Wars” (2008) cover of Good Magazine – http://bit.ly/bVsP19
“Who Elected Bill Gates?” (2011) The Huffington Post – http://huff.to/gvjHlL (lots of links in the article)
“Direct Instruction” (2004) District Administration – http://bit.ly/pbZ58Q
Given the war on children in this country, I take no pleasure in being right for so long.
Glad to have your voice in the conversation!
Gary
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Dunwoody Mom
September 1st, 2011
7:07 am
You sound like Dunwoody Mom who was so proud of the diversity in her school. And for a “northern arc” school, it was very diverse. They had nary a subgroup
Huh? You might want to take a look at the demographics for Dunwoody HS. You will see probably one of the most, if no the most, diverse high school in DeKalb County. There are students in every subgroup in DHS. Is it important to you to spread mis-information?
long time educator
September 1st, 2011
7:20 am
@Theresa,
Very clever comment and so true!
HS Public Teacher
September 1st, 2011
7:38 am
Another result of NCLB is the ‘witch hunt’ of teachers. Good people and good teachers are either chosing to leave the profession or are being driven out because of the absurd notion that student test scores are alone determined by teacher quality.
These standardized tests are not only terrorizing the students, but also the teachers.
As a result, teachers switch to a survival mode that uses horrible education practices (route memorization) and teaching methods just to conform – and 99% of it is not good for the students. However, if “everyone else is doing it then it cannot be MY fault.”
Stupid says as Stupid does
September 1st, 2011
7:58 am
Just cheat, steal & lie like they have done in APS for so long and you will be recognized as one of “America’s most improved school districts.”
I say dumb down the poor kids and teach to the test!
How gullibe can we be?
Good Grief
September 1st, 2011
8:13 am
slp98 says … “Just another tea-bagger trying to find someone to blame (i.e., foreign citizens) for our country’s problems…”
Typical, uneducated response.
Back up your comments with documentation. There are plenty of stats and a wealth of information to confirm the facts that I stated, if so states wouldn’t be trying to rid ourselves of illegals in record numbers. When you TAKE more than you contribute to a society, you are a large part of the problem. But what do you come back with – tea party hate that is loosing ground and you are making you look silly with every delusional comment. So the overwhelming majority of America is racist? YOU are part of what is wrong with education. Bless your heart!
HS Public Teacher
September 1st, 2011
8:58 am
@Good Grief –
First, it is not “educators” that make the types of decisions that you discussed. It is the politicans. There are laws on the GA books and there are Federal mandates that require “educators” to provide very specific things to sub-groups. We do not have a choice. Please stop jumping on the bandwagon for placing all blame on teachers. Remember that teachers are nothing more than worker bees trying to help your children. We are not the decision makers.
Second, you and I are not that far off. I feel that there should be “graduation” tests for elementary school and also middle school. If a student cannot score a minimum to show that they are ready to “graduate” to the next level of school, then they can have options: retake the test, attend an alternate school (to learn a trade, for example), or stop going to school and get a job. We waste too much money trying to educate kids that either don’t care or don’t want to be in school – yet we force them to be in a classroom where they inevitably ruin it for the real students.
Lastly, in most every one of your posts, you grand-stand seemingly on some soap box with complaint after complaint. Where is your suggestion or solution?
BTW – People in this Country illegally account for a very very small percentage of people in the US. Even here in GA, it was estimated that they kids account for about 3% of the student population in public schools today. Although it should be 0%, I think that you exagerate this way too much.
Pardon My Blog
September 1st, 2011
9:00 am
Interesting comments. There is not one solution that will work for all states much less all school systems because they all have unique student bodies with different needs. It was my understanding that when first instituted, Sen. Kennedy and President Bush wanted to ensure that the students were getting the very best education possible and that poor performance by some teachers were denying some students the ability to succeed in an ever changing world. @Anonmom has it right about DCSS, there are many teachers that I question how they got their High School degree much less their teaching degree from college. The student population is another problem from the non-English speaking (in DCSS there are many different languages not just spanish) to the Special Education. A teacher friend of mine go so frustrated because a majority of the students in her class (elementary school) could not speak nor understand a single word of English. They spoke Russian or Chinese mostly with a sprinkling of Spanish with the rest speaking English. She was required to spend her class time trying to “teach” to those students. Who lost? The English speakers. She knew at test time her students would not perform well and unfortunately the parents could not understand as they spoke no English as well. Don’t use taxpayer money to fund these Charter Schools, use it instead as a special learning center for English Language then once learned they can be mainstreamed into the schools.
Then there is the other issue of students, especially at the High School level, who simply do not want to be there. Many teachers complain that the parents of some athletes could care less about the education aspect of school. The important issue seems to be why Johnny did not start on Friday, etc. The emphasis on a good education begins at home. Some parents feel that by transferring their child to a school on the Northside that somehow by osmosis their child will suddenly become brilliant. It does not happen.
There are many problems with public education which mostly stem from a one size fits all approach. It doesn’t work just like not all teachers are good teachers and not all administrators are good administrators. The NCLB has grown into a monster and is not achieving, I believe, its original goal. Have national curriculum requirements but let the States handle the particular needs of the schools.
William Casey
September 1st, 2011
9:38 am
@THERESA: As a former coach who also took his teaching seriously, I absolutely loved your “football” post. I would laugh if what is happening to our schools weren’t so sad.
Suckered Citizen!
September 1st, 2011
9:49 am
SOLUTION:
Take all the illegals and others who don’t contribute to our tax base and send the to APS so they will become competent graduates able to secure meaningful employment.
I understand APS transforms the illiterate into the literate in no time flat. All it takes is millons of dollars and fat salaries for crooked administrators.
ReginaPhalange
September 1st, 2011
9:50 am
And aside from everything else Good Mother got wrong (I’ll let the teachers school her on everything else, though I’ve been saying from the start that NCLB was a farce–but I’m not a teacher or an administrator so nobody hears me), she misspelled “lousy”. And she’s raising kids. I’m truly afraid. Or as Good Mother would probably say, “I’m truely a-sceered.”
AtlSouthside
September 1st, 2011
10:18 am
Its funny how people want to discredit the assessment & observations of a superintendent… anytime someone points out disparities (such as the zip code effect) it discredited and called an “excuse.” – As though this schools were segerated as recent as the 1950s.. in most places school remain segregated in 2011… but everything is just an excuse right? GTFOH!
I went to Fulton County Schools, and guess what? There’s a HUGE difference in quality if you’re in North Fulton County Schools vs. South Fulton County Schools…
AtlSouthside
September 1st, 2011
10:21 am
***As though this schools weren’t segregated as recent as the 1950s.. in most places schools remain segregated in 2011… but everything is just an excuse right? GTFOH!
GA State didnt allow black students to enrolled until the 1970s
AtlSouthside
September 1st, 2011
10:31 am
I remember discussions in my Sociology courses at GSU, it was there that I learned how naive some people can be, specifically some white (and even black) people who are privileged and dont realize it.. to call any proven/documented/obvious disparity an “excuse” – that baffles me, as someone who has been through the educational system in Fulton County and then graduated from GSU… I know the disparitied exists and they are much bigger than the teachers or administrators… its about the MONEY.
Mac
September 1st, 2011
10:33 am
Jim Arnold has done the best job in summarizing the impact of NCLB. While I do believe it was well-intended, it has failed and the saddest thing, to me, is that it did not have to fail. It could have been reauthorized and improved so that the impact was what was intended. Federal government does not have a role in schools. Schools are the responsibility of the state. As for the cheating…there is no excuse for that. None. Zip. Zero.
To Irish Eyes from Good Mother
September 1st, 2011
10:49 am
Your comments regarding “just one” student failing the test are hypothetical. ONE student is one school is not making the school fail — it’s a hundred or more failing the test, a test that is dumbed-down. The students are only required to score 60% on a dumbed-down test to be “proficient.” Yet, they still fail.
There is plenty of money for art, music and sports but it is taken by crooked administrators. If we required illegals to go back home, we’d have more than enough money.
We need a real standardized test that has a high standard and we need to provide real consequences for those that can’t pass it — retain the student.
A high school diploma should mean something. It shouldn’t only mean that someone shoved the kid out of bed most days and they sat in a chair for twelve years.
And we need accountability for teachers. There are many bad ones at APS. Those 178 who were caught cheating are now on administrative leave costing APS ONE MILLION dollars a month. That’s a lot of art and music.
AtlSouthside
September 1st, 2011
10:50 am
Do you really think this APS mess is the 1st of its kind?
Dr. Monica Henson
September 1st, 2011
10:55 am
Respectfully, Mr. Arnold, “we” administrators are the ones who for decades allowed the public education system to deteriorate and fester, particuarly in places where there were few, if any, parent and community advocates to hold us accountable for what we did for the least of our children. For decades, “we” were granted the unrestricted authority to run the public schools as we saw fit, and “we” have failed miserably in many places. “We” were charged with the supervision and evaluation of our teachers, and we have had a substantial research base to tell us how to do it effectively, and “we” didn’t do it. “We” spent more time in our central offices politicking than we did working directly with our principals, teaching and training them in how to lead their schools to be places where dreams truly do come true. “We” who worked in affluent districts with lots of employee applicants to choose from were fortunate not to have to spend very much time doing the most important part of our jobs, which is leading instruction. In places without such good fortune, “we” allowed the system to struggle and weaken. “We” allowed the high school dropout rate to reach almost 33% in this, the richest and most technologically advanced country on the planet.
“We” relinquished our responsibility. It was seized by external forces, notably the state legislatures and Congress, because we didn’t do our jobs. You are correct, it is the children who have paid the price. And I’m not arguing that NCLB is by any means a success. However, had we not had accountability forced on us, would “we” have turned the spotlight on our subgroups of the neediest children? “We” both know the answer to that question.
Dunwoody Mom
September 1st, 2011
10:58 am
However, had we not had accountability forced on us, would “we” have turned the spotlight on our subgroups of the neediest children?
And what has this “spotlight” accomplished? Little from I have seen and what the statistics bear out. I also believe tagging schools, and thus children with a “failing” tag is harmful. If you tell a child, or anyone for that matter, that they are “failing” enough times, they will believe it and so, why even try?
Janine
September 1st, 2011
11:07 am
Did no one who had a hand the development/presentation/implementation of NCLB see the blatant and numerous items of ignorance permeating this “plan” for improvement??? SCARY !!!???
Dr. Monica Henson
September 1st, 2011
11:15 am
The good thing that has been accomplished is that districts have been dragged kicking and screaming into focusing on teaching and learning. Granted, many of them have become consumed with kill and drill (which is, again, an administrator problem, far more than a teacher problem), and that has got to change. But at least there is now a national awareness that ZIP code has a profound impact on the quality of a child’s public education, and parents are becoming equipped with the knowledge of what really goes on in classrooms. Administrators are being forced to take a long, hard look at teaching. I have faith that eventually we’ll get it right. I remember when I started teaching in the 1980s and there was no such thing as widespread “new teacher induction” practice. It was literally sink or swim. In the last three decades, we have come incredibly far in terms of how we handle that issue.
irisheyes
September 1st, 2011
11:43 am
@Good Mother, the middle school near where I teach was labeled as NI because not enough of their 6th grade special education students did not pass the CRCT. Administrators figured it was probably one or two students (since they were very close to the needed percentage). The whole sub-group isn’t hundreds of kids, it was about 40 or 50. Because of one or two students, the entire school was labeled as NI (or failing as the media loves to call it). Schools aren’t “failing” because of hundreds of students, they’re labeled as failing because of just a few students. Plus, the hypothetical I’m giving WILL happen in 2014. One hundred percent of all sub-groups must pass the CRCT in 2014 or else the entire school is labeled as failing. I’m sorry if you don’t want to believe it, but those ARE the facts.
irisheyes
September 1st, 2011
11:44 am
FYI, before someone makes a remark about teachers blogging during school time, I’m home on maternity leave.
Mac
September 1st, 2011
11:47 am
Seems like the author is spot on:
Michigan Republicans: Let’s Privatize Public School Teaching
http://motherjones.com/politics/2011/09/michigan-republican-privatize-teacher-public-education
Digger
September 1st, 2011
11:55 am
We demand that by 2016 all white kids be able to run as fast and jump as high as black kids. Close the athletic gap, by whatever means necessary.
Dr NO aka Mr Sunshine
September 1st, 2011
12:07 pm
AtlSouthside
September 1st, 2011
10:31 am
Quite the bitter person I see. Why dont you go get a job or visit a casino or get married or divorced or fly a kite. White priviledge is a myth and was contrived to inspire white guilt. Well I certianly dont feel guilty. My parents sacrificed so I could have a few little extras. And if certain communities cultures refuse to sacrifice for their children or continually function with a lack of morals, well, that isnt my problem.
That being said Im sure they are plenty of parents of all races that sacrifice for their children. For those that dont, well it isnt a govt responsibility. And oh btw…life isnt fair.
Dr. John Trotter
September 1st, 2011
12:16 pm
Dr. Gary Stager:
I noted your articles in the past about Gates, Direct Instruction, NCLB. You were and are right on target. I too am a little amused and bemused when all of a sudden the general populace seems to believe that this discovery of the ill effects of NCLB and the mandated standardized testing, cookie-cooker teaching methods (ala “Direct Instruction), and prescripted curricula are just now happening. Some of us have been railing against this stuff for years now.
Several years ago (about 2005 or 2006), I wrote a very detailed article on the MACE website about the deleterious effects of Direct Instruction. Even in the main article of MACE’s first publication (”For Kids’ Sake, Let Teachers Teach!”, The Teacher’s Advocate, Fall of 1995), I spoke out strongly against the mandated standardized testing and the mandated cookie-cutter teaching methods. For years in our publications (which can be viewed in the Archive section of http://www.theteachersadvocate.com) and website, we have constantly beaten the drums against the asinine thinking behind such folly in the public schooling process. It is all based upon the false assumption that students aren’t learning because teachers aren’t teaching. Hence, using the Max Weber production model as the model to “improve” public education (= teachers being forced to teach harder, i.e., on an assembly line dealing with inanimate objects), teachers ceased being treated as professionals where their knowledge, judgment, and wisdom are respected; rather, teachers are treated as hired hands who need to be snoopervised and told what to do, when to do it, and how to do it. No discretion allowed.
These educational numbskulls in the business community (viz., Bill Gates and Eli Broad) apparently think that children are like chunks of cookie dough coming down the conveyor belt in equitably divided portions, and teachers are therefore expected to be able to mold each chunk equitably and at the same pace. Of course, Gates and Broad can’t imagine that the chunks of cookie dough are not made of the same consistency. Some have had extra salt poured into the batch. Some have mistakenly had pepper and vinegar poured all into the batch. Some refuse to be molded; rather, some chunks of cookie dough actually spontaneously jump off the conveyor belt! This analogy is, of course, stupid, but this is how these so-called businessmen think that you “reform” public education. You just count how many cookies each teacher makes (= test scores), and you reward those teachers who have made the most cookies, because, after all, in their way of thinking, children are just like cookie dough.
The Business Roundtable, as I have also pointed out in the past, was one of, if not the, major impetus behind this entire effort to “underhaul” education in America. This effort has devastated the public schooling process in the United States, making it a parody of true education which instills within the human spirit a quest for knowledge which will last for a lifetime, not just for some shallow, one-time recitation of arbitrary “core” facts decided by clueless educrats.
http://www.theteachersadvocate.com
http://www.georgiateachersspeakout.com
Dr. John Trotter
September 1st, 2011
12:29 pm
In reference to Gates and Broad, I intended to say “so-called reformers,” not “so-called businessmen.” No one doubts their business acumen. We just doubt their education acumen. Sorry for the mistake. Writing too hastily, as I usually do.
Janine
September 1st, 2011
1:02 pm
@Dr. Monica: You are certainly correct about “administrators…and Central office people” had to be dragged “kicking and into focusing on teaching and learning. “. After going through public school myself, having two children who went through Dekalb Co. schools and become highly successful in their college careers and professions,and teaching in that system for 32 years I know that until the last few years before my retirement in 2005 the focus among most teachers was on teaching and learning.
Oh…and anyone who didn’t already know that “ZIP code has a profound impact on the quality of a child’s public education,” and , IMO the education level of the mother, whether single or not…well, must have been under a rock for 1000 years.
Janine
September 1st, 2011
1:03 pm
I realize there are some omissions and errors in my post….I was ANGRY.
Dunwoody Mom
September 1st, 2011
1:13 pm
The good thing that has been accomplished is that districts have been dragged kicking and screaming into focusing on teaching and learning
I’m not sure what world you live in, but it has been my experience that there has been a heck a lot of teaching and learning going on for decades now.
It disturbs me that a so-called “Dr.” finds any value to NCLB in its current form.
Dunwoody Mom
September 1st, 2011
1:25 pm
Dr. Henson, I believer you are a supporter of Michelle Rhee???? That might explain your attacks on “teaching and learning”.
me
September 1st, 2011
1:50 pm
Dr. (online degree) Henson runs an online charter high school for the Edison group if memory serves and so has a vested interest in downing ‘normal’ schools.
amazed
September 1st, 2011
1:56 pm
Interesting what different interpretations of the same letter there are. Rather than someone brave, I see a whiny administrator who doesn’t want to take responsibility. We already have those type of people in APS and DCSS. We just got rid of one in Beverly Hall. We don’t need one from a tiny district in South Georgia.
Let’s see what he says is being done and he believes:
He wants no accountability.
He wants to ignore failing sub-groups (they did that for a long time in Mitchell County)
He doesn’t want to test ELL students.
He doesn’t think English and Math are important
He games the system.
He doesn’t communicate why the school is failing when one small sub-group fails.
He teaches to the test.
Clearly he doesn’t take responsibility for things that were his choices but wants to blame conspiratorial outside forces. Maybe you can’t get the Special Ed to pass. Maybe you can’t get 100% of the rest. But the point is to try rather than giving up. And all the rest of the things he complains about are choices made by the school districts.
High minded ideals by W. and Ted are being turned into a conspiracy theory by those administrators unable or unwilling to succeed.
To Irish Eyes from Good Mother
September 1st, 2011
2:20 pm
The facts are that the test is ridiculously easy and it only requires 60% to pass.
If a school can’t get a student to pass a ridiculously easy test by a low percentage, the school deserves its failing grade.
Teachers, administrators and schools mustbe held accountable.
A teacher’s evaluation must include the product he or she is producing — learning.
If the children aren’t learning, something at the school is wrong.
The school gets our children for six to eight hours a day 190 days a year. If a school can’t teach a child to read in that length of time, it needs to be renamed, cleaned, and have an entirely new staff.
Reading is fundamental. There is absolutley no excuse for any system to have a child for twelve to thirteen years and hand them a diploma the child cannot read or comprehend.
I’ve had it rough: broken home, poverty, abuse, poor school. You name it. All the cards were against me. I thrived in my public school despite some completely lousy teachers. I had some good teachers and a few caring individuals that helped me. I’m intelligent, college-educated and I earn a good living and, Lord, I pay the taxes and give back to society.
For all teachers: we remember you. We remember what you’ve said to us, we remember how good or bad you were. You are memorable. I did a sanity check with all my colleagues. We all remember every one of our teacher’s names. We remember what was good and bad about you. We remember what you taught us or didn’t teach us.
Your job is an important one. Please take it seriously. Please find a way to teach instead of finding excuses for failures.
ohio
September 1st, 2011
3:33 pm
FYI, charter schools are public schools and are held at higher standards than traditional public schools.
irisheyes
September 1st, 2011
3:40 pm
Oh, Good Mother, your lack of knowledge is starting to show. First of all, the school year at most public schools is 180 days, and for some systems, it’s even less than that. Secondly, the students are here for 6 1/2 hours from the beginning bell to the ending bell. Take out time for lunch, recess, and specials (all important parts of the school day), and total instructional time for my elementary students is a little more than 4 1/2 hours. Finally, the subgroups that usually cause a school to be labeled NI are the special ed subgroups. Those are the kids who have IQ’s below average, yet they are expected to perform at the same level on the same assessment as a student who has an IQ of 100+. I’m not saying that those kids can’t succeed, but those assessments need to be written at the student’s achievement level. Yes, every regular education child should pass the CRCT. But, we’ve ignored the complexities of special ed students. We need to do better by them.
Take some time to look at a school’s AYP numbers. See why they didn’t make AYP. If it’s the special ed students, ask yourself how it affects your child’s education. Don’t paint an entire school or system with a broad brush.
Thanks for remembering that my job is important. One thing to remember as well is that I’m an educated professional, and when teachers say that there are things that aren’t working, they really do know what they’re talking about. It’s not excuses, it’s the truth from those with “boots on the ground”.
Schoollibrarian
September 1st, 2011
3:48 pm
Having been an educator for over 20 years, I chose to get out of the classroom 3 years ago–because I was not allowed to teach STUDENTS, but instead was only told to teach the TEST. I am now in the library where I feel I can impact students again–to help them truly acquire the skills they need to succeed in our rapidly changing technology based world.
We hear it over & over again from employers in the last few years–new grads (HS or college) are NOT prepared for the work force–they have no initiative, do not know how to troubleshoot, problem solve or be creative. YET these are the EXACT skills needed in our evolving job market.
Truly sad that the powers that be cannot see that this law encourages school districts to turn out students with the exact opposite skills desperately needed in the 21st Century.
I thank goodness for the “renegades” out there who refuse to teach to the test, to teach the scripted curriculum–but instead create creative, interesting, real-world projects that will best prepare their students for a future.
To Irish Eyes from Good Mother
September 1st, 2011
3:54 pm
Irish Eyes, the fact that you quibble about 180 days versus 190 days says a lot about you.
You’re making excuses. Ten days doesn’t matter. Kids are in school for twelve years. In twelve years they can learn to read if they are taught regardless of their home life. I’ve seen it over and again.
Special education students are not the only ones failing the dumbed-down test. I’ve looked at the AYP numbers for all schools in APS.
So stop whining. Stop making excuses.
HadIt
September 1st, 2011
3:59 pm
Expecting a special ed student to pass the same standard tests given to regular ed students is like expecting a child in a pair of leg braces to compete in a fifty-yard dash. It’s madness. My wife is a special ed teacher. I’ve seen her work all night, going into work the next day with no sleep whatsoever because of the paperwork imposed by No Child Left Behind.
At Good Mother?
September 1st, 2011
4:14 pm
Enter your comments here
To Hadlt from Good Mother
September 1st, 2011
4:18 pm
There are plenty of non-special ed students who are failing the dumbed-down tests. It’s not just special education students.
At Good Mother
September 1st, 2011
4:20 pm
Your comments regarding “just one” student failing the test are hypothetical. ONE student is one school is not making the school fail — it’s a hundred or more failing the test, a test that is dumbed-down.
No Good Mother, you are wrong. One or 2 kids can cause a school to fail. Because you don’t understand how AYP works, literally, one child in one category can cause a school to fail. If you understood how AYP works, you would understand that AYP really is set up to make schools fail.
As far as your comment that standardized testing is so very very important. It is important, but to put high stakes on these tests on children, is not right. A child comes to school and takes this test and is having a horrible day. They fail the test because they are having a bad day…and somehow the teacher is held accountable for that.
I don’t think of you as anything better on this board than a troll because you like to cause trouble and you really have no idea what you are talking about.
Pardon My Blog
September 1st, 2011
4:27 pm
Being from South Georgia myself and knowing Mitchell County, Mr. Arnold is speaking from frustration of mandates that simply don’t work for his district’s make-up and needs. What would work for DCSS (just a stretch) will not work for the Pelham City schools. For example, look at all the resources that are available to parents, teachers, and students in the metro area versus what is available (or better yet) not readily available for those students. Is NCLB working? No. Is it a conspiracy? No and a very poor choice of words.
I believe that students need to be challenged but some progress at different levels. Classroom socialization with the hope that the brighter students will bring up those who are not at that same level does not work for the students or the teacher. But the biggest issue I see are some teachers who seriously do not belong in a classroom, some administrators who are totally clueless, and some Superintendents more worried about pushing a certain agenda than what is good for their district.
In my opinion, I believe there needs to be some flexibility along with accountability in order for students to succeed. Let’s get back to the basics of education and let the teachers teach.
Mule
September 1st, 2011
4:37 pm
Seems an educational system based on vouchers would soon create schools that have and schools that don’t have. A government that openly discourages creative thinking and reasoning by forcing students to learn to the test and teachers to teach to the test is a government that is scared to be challenged. Public chools today are forced to be the healthcare provider, mental institution, juvenile hall, dinner table and parents to many students. Only after all those needs are met can they began to educate the students.
Guilty APS Teacher and PROUD OF IT!
September 1st, 2011
5:01 pm
Guilty APS Teacher and PROUD OF IT
I cheated last year by pointing to correct answers as I walked throughout the room. I will continue to help struggling students choose the right answers until I am no longer evaluated based on my children’s scores. Low scores mean I get placed on a professional development plan with targets. We have no other choice and I do not feel as though I have committed a crime.
It’s easy to say find another job. Oh yea, where? Especially one that pays a decent salary, offers health benefits and has hours that allow for a family life. Besides teaching is what I spent 7 years (Master’s plus 30) of my life preparing for, because it is what I truly wanted to do.
What I do not want to do is teach to the test every minute of the day. There are times I would like to talk to my class about current events or the value of being good citizens. But in essence, I am scripted and better not stray from my lesson plan that has been pre-approved to make sure it aligns with what will be tested.
Everything we say, everything we teach must be match with items tested (item analysis). We have long meetings every week explicitly for this purpose. If we are observed discussing or teaching anything not aligned with these objectives you get a letter of reprimand and lots of harassing observations. You may find this hard to believe, but we can’t put an item on display in the room or God forbid, on the bulletin board if we don’t attach a note identifying which objective or standard is being addressed.
I know to those of you on the outside looking in, my comment might sound bizarre, but it is the honest to God truth.
Superintendent Arnold is telling the truth. This madness needs to stop!
Dr. Monica Henson
September 1st, 2011
5:08 pm
@Dunwoody Mom, I have not attacked teaching and learning. What I criticized is the lack of attention paid by administrators to leading instruction and ensuring that teaching and learning is the central focus of their (the administrators’) time and energy. I admire and support the work of Michelle Rhee to reform the education system so that teachers become the highly-paid professionals that we need.
@me, my master’s degree (2002) is from Seton Hall University in South Orange, New Jersey, a respected brick-and-mortar institution. My doctorate is from Nova Southeastern University in North Miami Beach, Florida, also a respected brick-and-mortar institution. I do not hold any “online degrees.” I have spent nearly a quarter century in public education, the majority of which has been in school districts in several states on the East Coast, before becoming the executive director of Provost Academy Georgia, which will be the state’s first virtual high school serving grades 9-12 exclusively. I am a strong supporter of bringing additional educational options to students and their families and do not apologize for doing so.
I also post under my real name and not an alias. Would you mind sharing your real name and your education credentials for the reading audience?
Dr. Monica Henson
September 1st, 2011
5:20 pm
@Dunwoody Mom, I am not attacking you as a “so-called mother” simply because I disagree with some of the things you post, and I don’t appreciate your insulting my work and experience and knowledge base. I worked hard to earn my credentials from respected, accredited private universities, spending many, many hours in classes. I also spent many years in the classroom as a National Board Certified Teacher before working in administration. I wrote a book-length dissertation that summarized nearly years of my own action research, in addition to the literature review and analysis of the research base, on top of rigorous coursework. The topic of my dissertation was on administrators and why they generally don’t conduct teacher supervision and evaluation effectively. I happen to know quite a bit about the topic of teaching and learning and how administrators don’t focus on it in a way that helps teachers become better at what they do. It should not surprise anyone that reasonable people can disagree. Let’s not resort to insulting people and casting doubt on their education training simply because they don’t agree with what we say. It is the anonymous nature of the people who post here regularly, along with the insults and unsubstantiated remarks that many of them make, that lead many people in the Atlanta education community to forego joining the conversation and raising the level of discourse here. I’d like to see all posters use their real names and stop trying to identify imaginary hidden agendas of those with whom they disagree.