So, if they're passed when they've failed, how exactly are they NOT being left behind??

 

Happens all the time all over the country. Except where I live, administrators will just override your grade without telling you. True story: a student who had 18 P.E. credits and NOTHING else (NO other credits -- he failed everything else and kept switching into P.E. classes) was allowed to graduate this year because his mother threatened a lawsuit.

 

I know it happens, it's just absolutely disgusting. My mom teaches h.s. and most of the near failing students have to at least make somewhat of an attempt to appear to try to make up stuff. My mom's class is a religious studies class (it's a catholic hs) and you basically have to show up and journal a few times a week- kids fail this, so she ahs to give them one on one tutoring to have them 'catch up'.

This is one thing I'm NOT looking forward to, as I'm currently an elementary education student and will be a teacher in the next year or so.

NCLB sure looks good on paper, but in reality, it sucks. (Was going to put what the paper IS good for, but probably not appropriate!! :LOL)

 

I work at a middle school, and not one child was held back this year. Some have all f's in all classes. Retaining students at this level is an administrative/parent decision. But, as teachers, we know that holding them back usually doesn't help them anyway, in fact can make them more prone to drop out later. I guess we need to not let them be left behind by offering them more in-school support, except all our "sheltered/assissted" classes got cut this year (budget cuts). Whats the solution?

 

Why isn't anyone more concerned about the number of children failing than the school having to be accountable for the number of children failing? The schools should be held accountable and there should be consequences for doing a bad job.

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reconsider the grades of 98 students, saying "please review your records for these students and determine if they would merit a grade of 'D' instead of a failure."

This is from the article of the op.

 

Why do people think the government wants to adequately educate our children? Right after Lamar Alexander, as governor, ruined the schools in TN, and then became US Senator, he was appointed Secretary of the Dept of Education! Teachers being evaluated based on how many students are passing their classes are only going to pass more students. It doesn't take a brain surgeon to figure that out! When schools are held accountable for students failing, they simply make school easier or the grade scale lower instead of actually teaching them better. Big money does not want the populace to be well-educated, and they are the ones really running the show. Government-run schools' function is not to educate, but to turn out a compliant workforce that does not question authority.

 

SAdly, this had been going on since the 1960s.
Nothing new.
I've got Educators in my family that have been teaching since the mid 1960s & have been complaining about this for 35 yrs in various states.
In PA, the Teachers teach to the "test" admittedly. The want the results to be good for the state aptitude (PSSA) test.
That changed in the late 1970s in PA.

I remember it started in the late 1970s when I was in school in AZ.

Some school districts embraced this policy more that others

 

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Originally Posted by Flor I work at a middle school, and not one child was held back this year. Some have all f's in all classes. Retaining students at this level is an administrative/parent decision. But, as teachers, we know that holding them back usually doesn't help them anyway, in fact can make them more prone to drop out later. I guess we need to not let them be left behind by offering them more in-school support, except all our "sheltered/assissted" classes got cut this year (budget cuts). Whats the solution?

Obviously to pay the administrators more.

Oh.... wait.....

 

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Originally Posted by beccaboomom Why isn't anyone more concerned about the number of children failing than the school having to be accountable for the number of children failing? The schools should be held accountable and there should be consequences for doing a bad job. .

Of course, we should be more concerned about the # of children failing. But what does "Holding the schools accountable for a bad job" mean to you? How do you determine what a bad job is? Right now, the name of the game in schools is standardization. The power of individual teachers or schools to design curricula that are appropriate for their students has been severely curtailed, despite research that shows that students learn best in a flexible curriculum that is responsive to their interests.

SO, the failing schools are often the ones that serve populations of students who are not motivated/not prepared. Can these obstacles be overcome? Sure, but they require leadership, innovation, community involvement, and, dare I say it, money. Punishing schools for the population they serve often results in less flexibility. My friend works in a district that has been taken over by the state of Maryland. She teaches third grade. They are now required to teach the same thing on the same day across the district, down to spelling words and homework assignments. 75% of my friend's class is ESL, but she is not supposed to modify her curriculum in any way to address this, even to make cross-cultural connections!

Finally, if you're going to impose a system of "accountability", the only way it can work is if that accountability is across the board--students have to be accountable as well.

--Deirdre

 

I despise despise DESPISE the public school system.

 

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Finally, if you're going to impose a system of "accountability", the only way it can work is if that accountability is across the board--students have to be accountable as well.

This whole "accountability" thing makes me crazy.

Yup. My dh teaches high school science. He always has kids (sometimes a significant number) who by state law cannot take the final and cannot pass the course because they will not do and/or turn in the required number of labs. He speaks to the students about it. He sends home letters at various times during the year to the parents explaining the need to complete the labs. He assigns the students detention time to make up the labs (they just don't show). He calls the parents to discuss the issue. Some care. More do not. Yet it is always the teacher's fault if the child fails the course.

:

 

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Originally Posted by polka123 SAdly, this had been going on since the 1960s. Nothing new.

Oh, no, it's been going on for centuries! Plato described the role of government-run education (in Republic) back around 400BCE. It still works, so they still do it.

 

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Big money does not want the populace to be well-educated, and they are the ones really running the show. Government-run schools' function is not to educate, but to turn out a compliant workforce that does not question authority.

Yep. When you actually look at the history of our public school system, it's pretty horrifying.

NCLB is just hurting children and schools. Two of my cousins have learning disablities, and they used to actually get help. They used to get challenged appropriately. But since they live in a poor area that's already got laughable funds, NCLB has just screwed them over. Now they're given assignments that are so far beneath them it's insulting, just to pass them so the school can continue to operate.

It's ridiculous. We base funding of public schools on how wealthy the neighborhood is. Many of those schools in poor areas are overcrowded. Many of the parents just can't be there to help much, even if they want to. The teachers do their best with substandard tools and I have nothing but respect for them.

And these same children who have everything working against them are expected to pull themselves up by their bootstraps and achieve the American dream! I mean, if the rich white kids with the trust funds and schools with billion dollar budgets can do it, why can't they?

 

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Originally Posted by mollykatsmom Punishing schools for the population they serve often results in less flexibility. My friend works in a district that has been taken over by the state of Maryland. She teaches third grade. They are now required to teach the same thing on the same day across the district, down to spelling words and homework assignments. 75% of my friend's class is ESL, but she is not supposed to modify her curriculum in any way to address this, even to make cross-cultural connections! Finally, if you're going to impose a system of "accountability", the only way it can work is if that accountability is across the board--students have to be accountable as well. --Deirdre

and parents, too!!!
well-said deidre. i used to teach k, and it always frustrated me at the end of the year when i had to turn in my "data". I had kids who started the year knowing nothing (some of them didn't know english), and no matter how much they learned, if they hadn't met the standards, they were "below" or "unsatisfactory". i was damned proud of them (and myself!), but their progress didn't matter only that they were still behind