The initials NCLB stand for the No Child Left Behind legislation written into law during George the Second's presidential administration. Its purpose was noble. Through the study of data gathered back in those days, it was learned that some groups of children in school were performing worse on State End of Grade testing than other children. The Federal Government determined that our country had a responsibility to close this gap in learning. In other words, those who wrote the legislation wanted No Child Left Behind.
Some things about this legislation were good. It helped educators identify those groups of children who were not doing well. Some examples of those groups of children are African American children, Hispanic children, exceptional children (special needs children), Asian American children, and so on. It helped State's design testing that would, in a decisive fashion, identify what children know and what they don't know. Test results can help teachers focus on goals and objectives that need instructional strengthening. Testing also insured that teachers teach the Standard Course of Study (SCoS). The SCoS is 'bible' of education - what educators are supposed to teach children at every grade level and in every class as identified by each State's Board of Education.
Some things about NCLB were not so good. Every few years the Federal government has chosen to raise the percentage of children expected to pass each of the tests. They raise the bar. That sounds good, doesn't it? Well, in just a couple of years, NCLB legislation expects every child in school to be doing math and reading on grade level. That sounds like a wonderful goal. Only a couple of problems there! That goal include children who have been speaking English for only few years. That goal also includes children with cognitive disabilities. If every child had been intellectually gifted equally, then that would be a much more reasonable goal. However, even the most cynical of us realize that we are, all of us, individuals with differences in how we learn, how fast we learn, and even our capacity to learn.
If all we did was test the children and learn about them, and used that which we learn to improve instruction, that would be great. BUT ... there is more tied to test results than that. When NCLB came along the concept of high stakes testing came along, too. Money became tied to it. Test results became the measure of a school's success and a school system's success. It even became the way to measure the success of individual teachers. The stress level for children is incredible. The stress level for their teachers is equally high. I could go on and explain what it means to make Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) or to not make AYP. I could tell you what it means to be a 'taken over, school' or to be in School Choice. But that would be TMI (too much information.)
I love teaching, teachers, and children (not necessarily in that order.) The teachers I know work hard to achieve Federal and State goals, but more importantly, they remember that school is about people and relationships. Federal law may conspire, albeit with the best of intentions, to put the importance of the relationships that grow between teachers and their students on the back burner, but they will never succeed. You see, teaching isn't only a science, it is also an art.
Educators know that there are more important things than testing. When a child comes in the room hungry, or crying because mommy and daddy were arguing, or because someone has been mean on the bus, the best teachers know that teaching lessons about life come before reading, writing and 'rithmetic! Public education is magical and miraculous.
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