Do you support re-authorizing No Child Left Behind?

[More Than A Feeling]

Poll question: Do you support re-authorizing No Child Left Behind?

I don't. I think that we can find better uses for federal money than burying our children in more standardized tests.

[mitchum]

1. Hell no, I'm a teacher and have to deal with that nonsense

[More Than A Feeling]

2. My girlfriend is going to be a teacher.

Normally apolitical, but she LOATHES NCLB.

[etherealtruth]

3. I'm the mother of 2 school aged children ...

That suffer because you are forced into teaching toward arbitrary tests (that may or may not be an indication of anything) ... instead of using your education, talent and professional judgment to meet the needs of the children you are entrusted with.

[seabeyond]

11. i am not as bothered with this as i thought i would be. i sent kids to private school

specifically because of nclb and teaching to a test. since pulling kids out of the private into public and taking these tests, i am not willing to have that part of the argument so much. i am seeing a smartness in how they are using the test to teach the building blocks in subjects of math and especially language.

[etherealtruth]

15. In my family we have an unusual situation ...

In the fact that the academic performance (and capabilities) are dramatically different.

My 13 year old daughter is a very high achiever academically and socially, NCLB has not effected her whatsoever (except that it has bled funding from "gifted" programs that benefit her ).

On the other hand, my 10 year old struggles academically (C student, who mercifully possesses a great deal of personal charm)... I think the focus with him is to teach him how to respond to "the test" correctly rather than to truly learn the material ...which may take longer than the time allowed for the mandatory benchmarks.

The teachers that I speak to (and respect tremendously) are appalled by NCLB.

[seabeyond]

16. post #8. what you put out is exactly what i address in that post

now... why is it that the older is such and the younger as such. that is funny. my youngest in third grade doing his first nclb test and so so so so hard for him, all teachers rooting, and appeasing me because i dont like to see so much stress so young. and he is quite capable. he freezes on tests. he needs more time to learn about tests. they have time test on math and so hard for him. though he easily has knowledge and brain power for it

where as my oldest son, ... i tell him that school counts on him to do his best, as in NO WRONG, lol lol to help with the average in the school. i can and do put the pressure on him because stress mean as little to him as grade, .... A's, B's... he knows he is smart and all this isnt reflective of his smart and puts no pressure on self. he too is getting the straight A's and gifted program.

and then there is the issue of funding. you are right

also i love how they have set up the tutoring in our schools (middle and elementary) and my children have both taken advantage of it, even though they get good grades.

[etherealtruth]

18. My guess is that our children

... do not attend troubled schools in troubled districts.

I would bet that many inner city schools and schools in poor rural areas have been more deleteriously impacted than ours.

It's one thing to tell troubled schools: here are the expectations and here is what "we" will do to help you meet them. With special attention to the unique problems of impoverished children ... why would a kid care what the equation of a line is when they don't know if there will be any food when they get home?

Unfunded mandates

[Nikki Stone1]

7. I'll second your Hell No. (In fact, there should be a "hell no" option

:kick:

[earth mom]

4. Where's the HELL NO option?

:grr:

[philosophie_en_rose]

5. Tests are a tool, but should not be a punishment.

Kids deserve to be assessed as whole people. If a child writes well, but tested poorly on one day -- a teacher should be able to use his or her professional judgment to evaluate and help that child.

[HysteryDiagnosis]

6. I support children not being left behind by a system that cannot and will

not tell a parent that there are things that they can do personally to help their children not be left behind. I hold the drugcos squarely responsible for this social disaster. I also hold them responsible for the wholesale drugging of children with learning disabilities, behavioral disorders and or short attention spans, whether they are brilliant, middle of the road or emotionally troubled.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?db=pubmed&cmd=Retrieve&dopt=AbstractPlus&list_uids=16893529&query_hl=1&itool=pubmed_docsum
BACKGROUND: Fatty acids, in particular omega-3 fatty acids, have been found to affect behavior and cognition both directly and indirectly. Evidence to suggest a link with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) derives from three key areas: 1) animal dietary restriction studies observed increased locomotive hyperactivity and reduced cognitive ability in offspring; 2) animal dietary studies indicate alterations in the dopamine pathway; and 3) human studies report reduced plasma omega-3 fatty acids in ADHD subjects.

[seabeyond]

8. i hit other. i firmly sit on the fence of nclb. i have done research on it, i

talk to teachers, principles, people on educational board and even a woman running for state rep who was on education board to figure where i sit with nclb. i still have not gotten a clear position as i watch the children go thru it.the funds arent there. puts way way way too much pressure on some children, way too early. my youngest in 3rd grade is feeling the pressure and not only getting sick from it but twisting his hair out, lol drives me mad, with the pressure of it. and it effects the poorer schools in our community more. on the other hand, (being in texas we have been doing longer) i have watched how the schools in the community has taken something that is not funded, and too much pressure and has done as good as they can with it, offering things to students to pass that they didnt have in the past and a greater effort to regardless get the info into the kids head.

[xchrom]

9. i don't support NCLB.

never have.

[Change has come]

10. Absolutely Not. n/t

[Skidmore]

12. The money going to print those tests and score them would be better

put to use hiring enough teachers to reduce class sizes or providing CEUs for current teachers. I think the real reform that should occur is that education should be funded at state level instead of municipal level and that the tax monies gathered should be distributed more fairly to all schools.

[More Than A Feeling]

13. I can hear the denizens of the cookie cutter subdivisions swearing at you as we speak

If we could provide equal funding, that would be great.

[phoebe]

14. Hell no - Marvin/Neil Bush are both benefitting monetarily from this program

through sales of Ignite! software which they are pushing through using NCLB as well as this being a program designed to make children unable to think for themselves.

When are teachers going to question why the Bush family is profiting from failing to teach children anything??

[Horse with no Name]

17. I'd rather they send it out with the trash and get back to the business

of teaching our kids some substance..not just how to blacken ovals.