04/12/2006
No Child Left Behind
“No Child Left Behind.” Wow. In some ways I’ve been an informed Bush critic. In others I’ve just assumed everything he does is dim-witted because he stresses all the wrong syllables in his speeches. As far as NCLB I always just took people word that it was wrong (all the time making occasional snide remark about it in conversation while knowing nothing about it). As mentioned in a previous blog, one the speeches I went to at the Bright Ideas Conference was about standing up to harmful interference, specifically NCLB, but did not go into detail about why it’s harmful. At the conference I gained some specifics, like how it unfairly measure attendance and base funding on it, but I didn’t feel like I got the big picture. I really feel like Nancy Patterson cleared that up.
I know this is an over simplification, but here it goes. Standardized testing is not an accurate test of anything, it’s most often bias, can be racist, and seems to be a better measurement of parent’s wealth than student achievement. NCLB forces schools to give lots of standardized tests. It costs lots of money to schools who don’t have cash to burn, it penalizes schools that need the most help, rewards those that don’t need it and pretty much keeps the status quo.
I also found it helpful to learn the history of standardized testing. I had no idea it started as early as the first World War. I can definitely see how test like these first appeared logical and extremely helpful. I am an extremely open person, in that I’ll hear almost anybody out on any subject. I think to not be this way you’re endanger of becoming complacent in what you already know. Unfortunately what comes along with this characteristic is being easily persuades, especially by those smarter than myself. My point is I have sympathy for all of those who have taken part in standardized testing, but isn’t it close to common sense that it’s not working? I don’t want to get the paranoid conspiracy theorist going in me, but at least some have to know of NCLB’s negative impact, but are going forward with it because serves their interests.
Speaking of conspiracy theories it really got me going when Nancy spoke about that textbook company (I can’t believe I forgot the name), the owners influential position to the government, how much they stand to gain from NCLB (because they produce standardized tests as well as textbooks), and the fact that the Bush’s and his (the owner of the textbook company) family own a island off the coast of Florida together. How can this pass as acceptable in a government that is supposed to be conscious of and discourage conflicts of interest. It’s like every friend of the Executive branch of the government has their hands in the cookie jar (cough..Haliburton). Well I suppose I’ve ranted for long enough.
I really enjoyed Nancy’s presentation, and I feel very lucky to have had the opportunity to be educated on the subject by her. If you’re interested in the topic of the last previous paragraph click on the link below.
Conflict of Interests
17:15 Permalink | Comments (4) | Email this
Comments
DJ--
The name of the textbook/standardized tests company is McGraw-Hill. Anyhow, I also could not believe some of the things I heard from Nancy Patterson. As a future teacher, I have had some knowledge of other teachers' opinions on NCLB but never stated so clearly and without the educational jargon. Nancy really opened my eyes to how incestuous the whole situation is and how harmful it is to our schools. I have made the decision (along with my husband) to tell my daughter's school district that my child will not be taking the MEAP in the future. I always have found it somewhat degrading to know that my child rates herself on her MEAP scores. This past fall she had to take the MEAP and didn't do so hot on the math and reading comprehension sections. I can understand the math problem since she has never been to grand with math, but my daughter is a voracious reader and can summarize a book and talk about its major themes and how those themes apply to her life. Yet, she scored low on the MEAP reading comprehension. My first question was why? and my second, was what sorts of readings and questions were on the damn test?
What was the worst though, is that my daughter took a look at those scores and said to me, "Well, I guess I'm not as smart as I thought I was". What can a parent say to that? Yes, honey, you are smart it is just that the tests are biased and that you don't really have to worry about them in the long run anyway. What I say doesn't really matter because the numbers and the fancy graphs that the MEAP sends parents and students are very seductive.
So, you are not alone in your anger towards standardized testing. I'm pissed off both as a parent and as a future teacher. I'm pissed that for several weeks every year my students will be coerced into taking a high stakes test just so the government can rant against the poor state of education today. I'm pissed that, as a teacher, I have to teach my students to take these tests. I'm pissed that instead of teaching students how to learn and providing them with a broad base of history and English skills, that instead I have to teach them Jeopardy-esque quick answers in order to pass tests.
So don't apologize for ranting. I'm right there with you.
Posted by: Anita | 04/15/2006
DJ, I agree with you about NCLB! Just like you, I had no real understanding of NCLB before the presentation that Nancy Patterson gave. I really like your writing style by the way. You write just like you talk, which can be hard to do. I agree with you that NCLB takes money from the schools that really need it. I liked it when you said, “Seems to be a better measurement of parent’s wealth than student achievement. NCLB forces schools to give lots of standardized tests. It costs lots of money to schools who don’t have cash to burn, it penalizes schools that need the most help, rewards those that don’t need it and pretty much keeps the status quo.” It really is a measure of the school district’s wealth. I read an article in one of my education classes about the MEAP results in the school district in Michigan. The rich, private or rural schools always score higher than the city schools. The teachers simply have more recourse to teach with. I am an avid Bush hater as well, and I was amazed at the connection between the McGraw Hill and Bush families. It is very convenient that Bush never mentioned how their families share an island by Florida together in his speeches about the benefits of NCLB. But he would leave out his personal benefits from NCLB. I found the official site of the United States Education Department and their page on NCLB. If you want more information about NCLB you should check it out. I thought the site was very informative.
Posted by: Kristy Burcroff | 04/25/2006
sorry i forgot to attach the site i mentioned in my comment above. It is http://www.ed.gov/nclb/landing.jhtml
Posted by: Kristy Burcroff | 04/25/2006
Hello DJ! Here's my cheese sandwich blog, if you're interested. http://insomniac-sblog.blogspirit.com
I'll warn you that my cheesy blog is full of vulgarity, sexual innuendoes, and nasty comments on professors and other people who piss me off all mixed in with a few reflection pieces. So if you check it out, you may want some beer to choke it all down with!
--Anita
Posted by: Anita | 04/27/2006
The comments are closed.