Stunned! Is this going on where you live? - Page 6

[marilynmama]

Originally Posted by squishy_28

I dont think priviate schools have anything for learning problems.

All the private schools here do except the really small ones. Certainly check them out.

Marilyn

[mom2mygirls]

Thanks I will when I get down to Texas.

Christina

[polka123]

Originally Posted by OnTheFence

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.

This started in PA. way LONG before BUSH took office.
The Dem's in this state started "teaching to the test" about 10+ yrs ago.
THe kids are only taught what will make the teachers look ggod on state results.
In AZ, where I lived most of my life, the Teachers were lower paid but much better Teachers.

AZ teachers must take refresher courses & It's a great idea unlike here in PA where most of the teachers got in under different times & have not had to undate there cert forever.
Most of the PA teachers I know hate this system & would like to have to re-Cert b/c they see many teachers making $65+K/ yr for doing squat.

Also, they have everyone take chorus as a real credit class & if the school has a pool - they make the kids take 9 wks of swimming every yr.
With the chorus, there is no other class you can sign up for - just study hall.
Instead of widening the curriculumm they put on these hokey 3 hr choral thing 2X / year.
It justifies the Artistic $$ they get from the state.

[loftmama]

Well, all i can is: I taught school in Texas before, during and after Bush was the governor. Public education was noticeably worse - maybe some nice stats, but definitely worse in the classroom. He pushed testing so much that that was all we did. I had kids who came to me who barely spoke English who had miraculously passed the state tests the year before! It was on education alone that I did not vote for him. My dh comes from a very long line of Republicans, many whom have met both W and his dad. He voted for him and totally regrets it. It's only going to get worse, I'm afraid.

Squishy 28 - This is what I know about Houston. Years ago when I was looking into teaching there, I discovered that you didn't need to have a teaching certificate at all to teach there. Since then, I have learned that now you don't even need a DEGREE to teach there, forget about the certificate. I don't know about you, but I'd STRONGLY think about homeschooling. If you've raised your child this far, you're teaching him/her already.

[mom2mygirls]

wow Iam so upset I cant beleive they are allowed to teah with no degree and certifate. is the private schools like that too? actually Iam going to live outside of Houston in cypress I hope there school systems are better.

Christina

[melaniewb]

Originally Posted by OnTheFence

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 ----

Is this happening in all states?

[melaniewb]

Originally Posted by sinsaratea

I, too, am a public school teacher. I teach high school English in Georgia. We have some of the highest-stakes testing here. Over the past year, here is what I witnessed:
Fall: Juniors take the Georgia High School Graduation Test (Writing). they give this one to them so early because it has such a high failure rate. My sophomores took the PSAT.
Spring:Juniors take the rest of the Graduation tests. They are tested in 4 subject areas. If they do not pass one of these standardized tests (which we the teachers cannot know what is on and cannot prepare the kids for) they do not graduate from high school no matter what their grades are.
Late Spring: Now, even though we all have finals for our classes, Georgia is introducing the End of Course Tests. Basically, its a final for the whole year long course. The kids get to tak 2 finals per class now!

I watched in horror as the Graduation test scores came in the WEEK BEFORE GRADUATION. I saw girls huddled in the bathroom crying who had glorious plans of walking down that aisle to get the diploma only to find out that they they didn't succeed well on a standardized test that the teachers don't even know the contents of.

If anyone knows of a good commune that I could come work on as an English/Humanities teacher.... I can't stand this anymore. Its only my first year of teaching too.......

I just wanted to say that I grew up in GA and my family is all there. My sister used to be a teacher but when they started mandating all this ridiculous testing crap, she became very fed up. Then, they went on to tell them that if a child fails a part of that test, the parents can go back and sue every teacher the child EVER had! ABSURD! She quit teaching that year and has moved on to be a SAHM and sell Mary Kay.

[Greaseball]

Originally Posted by melaniewb

I just wanted to say that I grew up in GA and my family is all there. My sister used to be a teacher but when they started mandating all this ridiculous testing crap, she became very fed up. Then, they went on to tell them that if a child fails a part of that test, the parents can go back and sue every teacher the child EVER had! ABSURD! She quit teaching that year and has moved on to be a SAHM and sell Mary Kay.

Wow! Is there any source for this information? (Something "official," I mean?) I'm putting together a huge list of reasons why not to do ps that will convince my dh. He might go for that one.

[melaniewb]

I don't know where to find the official information. I'll check with my sister.

[Artisan]

Originally Posted by melaniewb

Is this happening in all states?

No, every state has their own special ed laws on the books, own budget constrictions, etc. They deal with NCLB in different ways.