Re: Two questions from a student

Posted by pardon me on 11/08/04

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On 11/06/04, Nick wrote:
> Hello all: two questions.
>
> a) A friend of mine teaches middle school and says that a
> lot oh you don't like No Child Left Behind. Why is this?
> Isn't it good to have a gauge by which to measure your
> effectiveness as a teacher?

it is good to have a gauge to measure effectiveness as a
teacher; however, nclb doesn't provide that gauge.
Rewarding and punishing by test results was discredited in
the late 1800s. Current uses of high- stakes, state mandated
tests in all but Iowa violate professional standards for
test development and use.

For example, high stakes testing programs (those with
serious consequences for students, teachers, schools,
districts) use a fallible single standard and measure of
student achievement, a practice specifically condemned by
the professional code of test developers, test publishers,
and educational researchers. Also, states have been and now
will be more compelled to prepare and use tests without
adequate time and attention to proper and justifiable test
development. More bad practices will be heaped on already
widespread bad practices in evaluating student achievement
and schools.

The research over the past two decades indicates test based
educational reforms do not lead to better educational
policies and practices. Indeed, such testing often leads to
educationally unjust consequences and unsound practices.
These include increased drop out rates, teacher and
administrator de-professionalization, loss of curricular
integrity, increased cultural insensitivity, and
disproportionate allocation of educational resources into
testing programs, not into hiring qualified teachers and
providing enriching educational programs. so while in
theory nclb sounds good in practice and application it is
more than flawed and should be done away with.

The winners, with the passage of this bill, are advocates of
standardized teaching and learning, and the few large
corporations that sell tests and test based curricula, not
children. The most serious problem with testing based
educational reform is its singularity of voice, its
insistence that education be evaluated and improved in a
single way.
>
> b) He also told me that, at least at the school where he
> works, you have to join the teacher's union or you can't
> work there. Isn't this a little weird, considering that
he
> is essentially being forced to join what is at best a
> political lobby group?

my school district doesn't have such a policy, so i can't
speak to this issue. there are definite flaws in the
teacher's orgs as well and should be used to call for more
excellence among the profession in addition to advocating
for the rights and opportunities of the members it holds.

>
> Thanks. I wanted to hear from some other teachers about
> this stuff.

hope this lends some insight.

Posts on this thread, including this one

• Two questions from a student, 11/06/04, by Nick.
• Re: Two questions from a student, 11/06/04, by Teachr.
• Re: Two questions from a student, 11/08/04, by pardon me.
• Re: Two questions from a student, 10/06/05, by Ken Wheeler.
• Re: To Pardon Me/Two questions from a student, 10/07/05, by Peggy.
• Re: Two questions from a student, 10/17/05, by Tx. Teacher.