Re: NCLD Left Behind

Posted by ND Liberal on 1/30/05

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On 12/03/04, tyhci wrote:...........
........
Concerning NCLB: The only way you're going to not leave a
child behind is to lower the standards to the Lowest Common
Denominator. OR eliminate all events which might leave a
child behind, such as any competitive contest like the
Spelling Bee, as explained in >>>
http://www.zwire.com/site/news.cfm?
newsid=13834334&BRD=1712&PAG=461&dept_id=478996&rfi=6
<<< . " ... The administrators’ decision to eliminate the
bee wasn’t a difficult one, Newman said.

"There was no debate at all. It was one of the easiest
decisions," the assistant superintendent [... of a
Woonsocket, R.I., school district] said because "there was
no question among the administrators" that a spelling bee
was "contrary to the expectations" of No Child Left
Behind. "No Child Left Behind says all kids must reach high
standards," Newman said. "It’s our responsibility to find as
many ways as possible to accomplish this." [... reach the
SAME standards?].

The administrators agreed, Newman said, that a spelling bee
doesn’t meet the criteria of all children reaching high
standards -- because there can only be one winner, leaving
all other students behind.

"It’s about one kid winning, several making it to the top
and leaving all others behind. That’s contrary to No Child
Left Behind," Newman said. A spelling bee, she continued,
is about "some kids being winners, some kids being
losers." As a result, the spelling bee "sends a message
that this isn’t an all-kids movement," Newman said. [...
then what's the purpose of the Grading System?].

Furthermore, professional organizations now frown on
competition at the elementary school level and are urging
participation in activities that avoid winners, Newman said.
That’s why there are no sports teams at the elementary
level, she said as an example. [... don't ALL kids compete,
naturally?].

The emphasis today, she said, is on building self-esteem
in all students.

"You have to build positive self-esteem for all kids, so
they believe they’re all winners," she said. "You want to
build positive self-esteem so that all kids can get to where
they want to go."
[ ... but what if a kid wants to be a "winner", to go to the
top of the class?].
If you want more stories about NCLB failures, go to >>>
http://www.susanohanian.org/show_nclb_stories.html <<< .
Then click on an appropriate Link, such as : Atrocities
, which partially says " ...The National Center for
Education Statistics [ ... @ http://nces.ed.gov/ ], the
collection arm of the Education Department, found that high-
poverty schools, especially in the inner cities, lose more
than one-fifth of their faculties each year [... 100% in 5
yrs!]. Teachers say that they leave because they want to be
teachers -- not parents, police or psychologists." .
... or an "Outrage" link which says; " ...The only way to
ensure we remain a world economic power is by elevating our
public schools -- particularly the teachers who lead them --
to the top tier of American society. We have treated
teaching as a second-rate profession for decades -- with sub-
par compensation, antiquated training, and arcane systems of
accountability."
.. or another Link about "Ailing [... failing?] CA
Schools" ; " ...268 California schools -- including 41 in
the Bay Area -- that have failed to meet the standards of
the No Child Left Behind education act for four years.
Under the law, those schools have exhausted their chances to
raise student scores through teacher training and programs
designed to help students improve academically, such as
tutoring.

Having failed to raise scores high enough, these CA schools
now have four final options: replacing all staff, reopening
as an autonomous charter school or being taken over by an
outside management company or by the state. The entire
Oakland district is already under state stewardship. The
superintendent was ousted last year, and the elected school
board became advisory, after the schools went bankrupt on
their watch.
The teachers union opposes the closures and regards
the school takeover plan with suspicion. "If they turn
these 13 schools over to a (charter) company like Edison or
Aspire, there would be a big outcry in Oakland," Visnick
[Union president] said, because the companies are not
unionized. "This could affect their [the teachers']
retirement and health benefits." ... the teachers' union
has scheduled a rally ."
.......



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Posts on this thread, including this one

• call for abstracts, 12/03/04, by tyhci.
• Re: NCLD Left Behind, 1/30/05, by ND Liberal.
• Re: call for abstracts, 7/01/05, by NeilM.