Stunned! Is this going on where you live?

[OnTheFence]

My child goes to public school where they are heavily into the No Child Left Behind.
The more I learn and see this program in action the more I despise it.
First, my child has no recess -- there is no free time at all. All students are taught middle of the road. The ones that are slower lose, the ones who learn at a faster pace (like my daughter) are bored, and the ones in between, do okay. Art is only one semester and music another. They say that is all they need. I found out tonight that they are no longer going to run a regular library! I am furious!!! Evidently teachers will have to sign up for time slots and be responsible for everything because there will be no librarian.

Then I find out, that many good teachers are going to get fired because they do not think their certification is good enough. They want them to go back to school to take additional classes at the teachers expense. If they do not, then they get canned or forced into retirement.

Also they are doing away with special ed and mainstreaming all special ed students into the classroom with NO AIDS unless the child has a feeding tube or oxygen. It doesnt matter if this kid is MR, EC, violent -- it doesnt matter. So a regular teacher is going to have special aid students, and the special aid teachers are going to be used as "resource" teachers that travel around to classroom to classroom. As a volunteer and as someone who volunteered with special olympics, I am very aware of how sad this will be for ALL students!

I am just so frustrated. I just hope I can handle homeschooling ----

[Raven]

Is this LEGAL? I feel so bad for you and all the others who will suffer b/c of this!! Is terrible!!!!

[Overproducktion]

I am just so frustrated. I just hope I can handle homeschooling ----

Onthefence...I will be "new" to homeschooling next year. We can support each other!!!

Sorry to hear about the situation where you are, I'll have to look into it in my area!

[indiegirl]

Sped students mainstreamed without aids? I'd sure as hell like to see them deal with some of my previous autistic students--like the one who threw chairs, punches and his private parts around and often had to be redirected by his aids: 250 lbs, 6' tall, and completely out-of-control. These wonderful (yes, I said wonderful) children are supposed to receive the most appropriate education in the least restrictive environment--that is to say, it is going against sp. ed. laws to put them mainstream because that environment is not suited to their needs. Not only that, they are a hazard to the other students.

Jesse

[EFmom]

The NCLB thing is insane.

We are lucky in that our school is in fairly good shape financially. Our kids still get recess and have a library.

The cuts in the library and art/music you are seeing are likely because the school now has to spend ridiculous amounts of money on testing and other NCLB requirements. I am sure it is nothing the school wants to do.

My dh is a public school teacher. His favorite euphamism is "higher standards." What that really means is lower standards for the top and middle of the curve. It's only "higher standards" for the lowest achieving students. In our state, the regents exam has been dumbed down considerably from what it was pre-NCLB. Passing has gone from a 65 to a 55. Higher standards, my left buttock.

The tests are everything. They are how the teacher is evaluated and how the school is evaluated. DH has pretty much had to cut everything interesting out of his curriculum to focus on the test. It is sick.

For the kids who are not at all academically oriented, or who have disabilities, it is incredibly frustrating. He sees it all the time. There are kids who would have done OK in the non-regents level courses that used to be taught, who are now checking out of school emotionally in September, because there is no way they will be able to pass the exam.

The schools don't have a choice about having these so-called "highly qualified teachers." They have to do it.

[kimberlylibby]

My dh is also a ps teacher. He HATES NCLB.

HATES. Actually I don't know if that's a strong enough word.

He says it is "No child left behind, but all children left unsafe, uneducated, and unhealthy"

Makes me want to vomit when I hear the kindy teachers at his school who don't have recess because they're "too busy learning". WHAT? A 5yo is learning SO much they can't play?? ALL DAY LONG???

[kimberlylibby]

standards for the top and middle of the curve. It's only "higher standards" for the lowest achieving students. In our state, the regents exam has been dumbed down considerably from what it was pre-NCLB. Passing has gone from a 65 to a 55. Higher standards, my left buttock.

The tests are everything. They are how the teacher is evaluated and how the school is evaluated. DH has pretty much had to cut everything interesting out of his curriculum to focus on the test. It is sick.

OH YES!!!

They lowered the pass rate from 70% to 52%..... what is THAT? So now a 52% is good enough? Let's just LOWER all of our standards so we can all succeed??? Gag.

[Spicey Momma]

I have heard about this becuase my step-mom is in Alabama. Are any other states doing it? There will be an education crisis there for sure, you just wait!

[OnTheFence]

Originally Posted by Raven

Is this LEGAL? I feel so bad for you and all the others who will suffer b/c of this!! Is terrible!!!!

Yes this is legal, thank your President Mr. Bush and his supporting wife, a librarian, for No Child Left Behind. I think I am going to be sick.

[OnTheFence]

Originally Posted by happymomwith4

Onthefence...I will be "new" to homeschooling next year. We can support each other!!!

Sorry to hear about the situation where you are, I'll have to look into it in my area!

Good, I need support! My daughter is 7.

[OnTheFence]

Originally Posted by indiegirl

Sped students mainstreamed without aids? I'd sure as hell like to see them deal with some of my previous autistic students--like the one who threw chairs, punches and his private parts around and often had to be redirected by his aids: 250 lbs, 6' tall, and completely out-of-control. These wonderful (yes, I said wonderful) children are supposed to receive the most appropriate education in the least restrictive environment--that is to say, it is going against sp. ed. laws to put them mainstream because that environment is not suited to their needs. Not only that, they are a hazard to the other students.

Jesse

The teachers are supposed to follow each childs IEP. Even kids like this will be mainstreamed into the classroom under these new rules. My son is bipolar, a wonderful kid! Right now he is a mainstream preschool and they work with me and his aggression. He is on medication -- in a few years he will be in PS (maybe?) andhe may be fine going into a mainstream classroom. He is brilliant. Course work is not a problem, it will be behavioral. However if he was violent I wouldnt want him in a mainstream classroom, a regular teacher wouldnt be able to handle it!

[OnTheFence]

Originally Posted by Spicey Momma

I have heard about this becuase my step-mom is in Alabama. Are any other states doing it? There will be an education crisis there for sure, you just wait!

I LIVE IN ALABAMA!!!!!!!

Its happening here, its happening in GA, its happening in MS. God help us.

[DarkHorseMama]

My aunt works for the Dept of Ed in Washington. She's been career-government for a LONG time and has seen it all. She's is a staunch Republican but even she talks about the utter bone-headedness of this program (and the Secretary who oversees it). They ALL hate it, but it looked so good on paper and it had such a catchy title...well, who wants to be the Representative that didn't vote for a program entitled "No Child Left Behind."

It is awesome in its idiocy. I won't even speak of the regime that started this. :

[Full Heart]

I'm not sure how new all this is. When I was in school we had 1 semester music and 1 art. Passing was 60. I was shocked because I had come from a private school where this was not the case. This was more than a decade ago. I honestly don't care for the public education system anyhow, but just wanted you to know this was going on long before NCLB. Michelle

[mojomom]

Because of what I see my dd's school doing as a result of No Child Left Behind I decided to finally homeschool her next year. Every time I am unhappy with how much they push the kids or take away from the kids I always got from someone that it is a result of the No Child Left Behind action. Our district had a big assembly program for parents about it last eyar, it was so ridiculous.

[Artisan]

As a public school teacher, I can't even begin to express my level of concern about this law. There is nothing -- not one thing -- that I have found to be redeeming about it. In fact, I can't even get started talking about my hatred for it because I get too upset.

[lilyka]

many of those things were in place when I was in elementry school. No library, signing up for time slots, no recess, half art half music (actually it was less than that because PE was in the mix. I htink we got one day of art and one day of music if we had both. etc. . . but the whole special ed thing is awful. those poor kids. all of them. those poor teachers.

[OnTheFence]

Originally Posted by lilyka

many of those things were in place when I was in elementry school. No library, signing up for time slots, no recess, half art half music (actually it was less than that because PE was in the mix. I htink we got one day of art and one day of music if we had both. etc. . . but the whole special ed thing is awful. those poor kids. all of them. those poor teachers.

I went to private school for the majority of my education, my husband went to public.

My husband who is 34, had art, music, home ec, shop -- they had business math and even a business writing course for an elective. I went to PS highschool one year and it was like this too. My brother went to PS elementary so I could go to private middle school. He had recess, art and music. I remember him learning the recorder. My daughter doesnt even know what that is. She thinks music class is watching a tv show about music.

I want to cry.

[MamaMonica]

That is terrible. I had no idea what this program was doing to schools- although I suspected it wasn't anything good (Bush hasn't come up with a lot of good ideas).

[MamaJosie]

We live in AZ and my dh is a teacher and

we HATE NCLB too. The State Ed dept is pushing it down our throats so badly there is virtually nothing but the 3 R's until you get to high school here. They are obsessed with state standards, teaching to the test (AIMS in AZ plus the Standford tests). They get virtually no art, music, drame, science, world studies or anything - just a bit of geography and AZ history. We are also VERY remote and a poor district in the rural ghetto and they probably never had things like an art teacher, they are loosing the one music teacher they have k-12 (pretty much stayed at the high school anyway) this year and not replacing her and they are just strapped for everything. It is really sad. We will be here 1 more year and then moving to KY or TN where our kids will go to private school (thank goodness my folks will and can pay for it). My mom sent me an interesting article from the Nashville Tennessean paper called "Rich School, Poor School" about the disparity of quality of education among public schools in TN and I know it is very similar in other states as well. Our district is simply DIRT poor and we don't have the same quality of education as bigger cities. So I think a lot of this depends on where you live.

http://tennessean.com/education/arch...nt_ID=51062761