Comments on: The Edupundit: Will NCLB Be Reauthorized? http://www.coreknowledge.org/blog/2008/01/13/the-edupundit-will-no-child-left-behind-be-reauthorized/ Closing the Achievement Gap: Teaching Content Sat, 22 Nov 2008 00:01:38 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.6 By: just a teacher http://www.coreknowledge.org/blog/2008/01/13/the-edupundit-will-no-child-left-behind-be-reauthorized/#comment-100 just a teacher Fri, 25 Jan 2008 00:58:28 +0000 http://www.coreknowledge.org/blog/?p=89#comment-100 I chose the user name Just A Teacher. Many days I feel "Just Like That". I am no big name politician. I am a teacher. So it goes, without saying, that I don't have any financial clout. BUT I DO HAVE A VOICE. I really don't know whether NCLB will be reauthorized --- remain the same --- or implode. This is what I do know. When I was small my father used to ponder why a "driveway", where we parked, was called a driveway --- while the "parkway",where we drove, was a (usually congested) highway. My point is --- The No Child Left Behind Act, for all of its' lofty goals, leaves children behind everyday. At least change the name! It is a great goal. So far it is, also, a lie. While I agree that the act, the controversies,the studies, and the many discussions it has generated, have brought issues such as the achievement gap to the forefront of the American people; the gap is still there in many of our schools. In reference to accountability; this should be a shared bag. The government (the money), educational administrators (the other powers that be), teachers (we are there in the trenches), parents (they are their children too), and the students (their success is at stake), themselves, are (or should be)stakeholders in the success of our youth. What I currently see is a shifting of the blame. What good does this do? What do we need? What we don't need is more rhetoric, campaigning, and useless debate. What we do need is more money given to educational programs and support systems with proven records of success. We need teacher support through comprehensive in-service programs and other forms of continued education long after teachers leave college campuses with a teaching certificate in hand. We need to stop running out of supplies in the middle of the school year. Well, for some schools, we need supplies! We need parental support programs in place to address the ever increasing diversity of our student populations. And we need a checks and balances platform between the government, school administrators, teachers, parents and students, where we all have a voice. One in which those with authority (but no real knowledge of what goes on in the classrooms of America) finally "Gets It" that one or even a several standardized tests can never measure the true success of a child. At best they can and should be used as one evaluative tool in tandem with others. Do I know how all of this can be achieved? No, I don't. After all, I am not a politician. I am just a teacher who is in the classroom, day after day, affecting the lives of our future. Since the students are just that and they, to a large extent, are still being short changed, somebody needs to address these issues. Better late than never simply isn't good enough. I chose the user name Just A Teacher. Many days I feel “Just Like That”. I am no big name politician. I am a teacher. So it goes, without saying, that I don’t have any financial clout. BUT I DO HAVE A VOICE. I really don’t know whether NCLB will be reauthorized — remain the same — or implode. This is what I do know. When I was small my father used to ponder why a “driveway”, where we parked, was called a driveway — while the “parkway”,where we drove, was a (usually congested) highway. My point is — The No Child Left Behind Act, for all of its’ lofty goals, leaves children behind everyday. At least change the name! It is a great goal. So far it is, also, a lie.

While I agree that the act, the controversies,the studies, and the many discussions it has generated, have brought issues such as the achievement gap to the forefront of the American people; the gap is still there in many of our schools. In reference to accountability; this should be a shared bag. The government (the money), educational administrators (the other powers that be), teachers (we are there in the trenches), parents (they are their children too), and the students (their success is at stake), themselves, are (or should be)stakeholders in the success of our youth. What I currently see is a shifting of the blame. What good does this do?

What do we need? What we don’t need is more rhetoric, campaigning, and useless debate. What we do need is more money given to educational programs and support systems with proven records of success. We need teacher support through comprehensive in-service programs and other forms of continued education long after teachers leave college campuses with a teaching certificate in hand. We need to stop running out of supplies in the middle of the school year. Well, for some schools, we need supplies! We need parental support programs in place to address the ever increasing diversity of our student populations. And we need a checks and balances platform between the government, school administrators, teachers, parents and students, where we all have a voice. One in which those with authority (but no real knowledge of what goes on in the classrooms of America) finally “Gets It” that one or even a several standardized tests can never measure the true success of a child. At best they can and should be used as one evaluative tool in tandem with others.

Do I know how all of this can be achieved? No, I don’t. After all, I am not a politician. I am just a teacher who is in the classroom, day after day, affecting the lives of our future. Since the students are just that and they, to a large extent, are still being short changed, somebody needs to address these issues. Better late than never simply isn’t good enough.

]]> By: Will NCLB be reauthorized? at Joanne Jacobs http://www.coreknowledge.org/blog/2008/01/13/the-edupundit-will-no-child-left-behind-be-reauthorized/#comment-72 Will NCLB be reauthorized? at Joanne Jacobs Mon, 14 Jan 2008 11:00:27 +0000 http://www.coreknowledge.org/blog/?p=89#comment-72 [...] Will NCLB be reauthorized? Core Knowledge Blog asked me and other edupundits to predict the future of the six-year-old law. Most think it will have to wait till 2009. Nelson Smith, president of the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools, predicts NCLB II may not be approved till 2010. ( (This) . . . plays right into the hands of those who never joined the “grade level by 2014? bandwagon in the first place, and who are hoping the whole structure implodes. What’s really a shame is that there’s wide agreement on some of the things that need to be fixed (like adding “growth” to AYP). Even the diehard opponents have to admit that the Act has done an amazing service by saying that all kids can achieve, and by disclosing the achievement gaps between groups. Progress has ground to a halt because of what our sixth-anniversary NCLB statement called “the well-financed antagonists of accountability.” [...] [...] Will NCLB be reauthorized? Core Knowledge Blog asked me and other edupundits to predict the future of the six-year-old law. Most think it will have to wait till 2009. Nelson Smith, president of the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools, predicts NCLB II may not be approved till 2010. ( (This) . . . plays right into the hands of those who never joined the “grade level by 2014? bandwagon in the first place, and who are hoping the whole structure implodes. What’s really a shame is that there’s wide agreement on some of the things that need to be fixed (like adding “growth” to AYP). Even the diehard opponents have to admit that the Act has done an amazing service by saying that all kids can achieve, and by disclosing the achievement gaps between groups. Progress has ground to a halt because of what our sixth-anniversary NCLB statement called “the well-financed antagonists of accountability.” [...]

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