During last year’s elections, the standard line of Democratic politicians was that the No Child Left Behind law pushed by President Bush to overhaul public education in America was a good law, but that President Bush had not bothered to provide the money that he promised for it, even as it increased education costs for states and local school districts. This week, a new bipartisan report on the No Child Left Behind law from the National Conference of State Legislatures demolishes the credibility of this argument. (How bipartisan is the NCSL? Well, its members include 3,656 Democrats and 3,657 Republicans.)
A panel of Democrats and Republicans has concluded that No Child Left Behind is not only underfunded, but that it’s also a load of garbage too. Well, to be fair, the panel’s report did not use the word “garbage” to describe No Child Left Behind. Instead, they referred to No Child Left Behind as flawed, convoluted and unconstitutional.
Apparently, No Child Left Behind has actually caused a great deal of damage to the cause of educational reform by scuttling local reform initiatives that were already underway when George W. Bush decided that he knew what was best for everybody.
I’m particularly interested in one sentence from the report: “Under N.C.L.B. [No Child Left Behind], the federal government’s role has become excessively intrusive in the day-to-day operations of public education.” You see, there’s even something for Republicans to complain about with No Child Left Behind. Republicans claim that they just hate hate hate big government – and according to this report, the Republican Party’s own educational plan has made the federal government “excessively intrusive”. I’ll translate that phrase for Young Republicans: It means BIG.
Reacting to the report, a representative from the Bush Administration announced that “we will not reverse course”. That kind of response has become sadly typical of the Bush Administration. When the evidence comes in, and it’s found that a Bush policy doesn’t work, is dangerous, or is against the law, President Bush refuses to consider any alternative to his original plans. That stubborn refusal to pay attention to the facts in itself shows that President Bush has a very bad attitude when it comes to education.
Who didn’t know that? Bush has been screwing up his entire life! He’s a hack. Stumbling around like a drunken captain, shouting inane orders while the ship’s going aground. But apparantly this is what the majority of idiot Americans WANT!
So sit back and enjoy the ride to oblivion, cause i don’t see anyone doing anything to stop him besides squawking about it (which he plainly ignores). Sign all the petitions you want, the Republicans are not responding, and the Democrats are powerless to stop it.
The president was out to destroy education anyway. Part of the NCLB act calls for 100% of students to pass. The schools are set up for failure. This study only shows that those jerks are getting it right.
As a teacher, I have first-hand knowledge of the intricacies of these bill, NCLB (pronounced “Nickleby” by my school district). I can attest that the intention behind the bill is a noble one, but the road this bill was built on is full of potholes.
The worst part of the bill, aside from the lack of funding, is the “highly qualified teacher” requirement. Let me explain.
For instance, Life Skills teachers (teachers that instruct mentally retarded students) get the worst of it. As some of you may know, a Life Skills student is FAR below grade level; a high school student in Life Skills may only be at a 3rd grade level, for example. Now, under “Nickleby,” the Life Skills teacher must be “highly qualified” at teaching math, reading, english, spelling, social studies, and science at the 3rd grade level. How does one become “highly qualified?” Well, one takes a competency test- not just ONE test, but a test FOR EACH SUBJECT. Mind you, this is a teacher that already has a Bachelor’s degree and is already certified to teach Special Education. But, no matter your experience (doesn’t matter if you’ve been teaching for 20 years), you have to shell out $75 per test to stay “highly qualified.”
But that’s not even the worst of it.
I spent 4 years working with Life Skills kids in a classroom, and I can tell you that 99% of the kids in any given classroom are on a different grade level. The Life Skills room I was in last year (at a junior high) had a student at a 3rd grade level, at a 4th grade level, at a pre-K level, at a 1st grade level, and a 5th grade level. Two others were considered “profoundly retarded,” which meant they were unable to move/think/react on their own.
Do the math. That’s a lot of competency tests. That’s a lot of money.
As an AB teacher, if I have to “self-contain” a student- that is- confine the student to my room for instruction- I become that student’s “teacher of record,” meaning- you guessed it- I must become “highly qualified” in each subject that student is in. Lord help me if I have to self-contain two or more students on different grade levels…
Now, this all goes into effect at the end of the 2005-2006 school year, so there is still time to work out the kinks. And work out the kinks the powers-that-be better, or there may be a major teacher shortage at that time.
Anyone out there in the private sector (particularly in the Denver area) hiring???
Random42: It’s not 100% passing; that would be impossible. But the passing rate is in the high 90′s.
Also, the bill calls for only 1% of the population to receive over half of their instruction from Special Education.
My school is at the Texas state average of 32%.
Wow, Kevin! Does No Child Left Behind also call for pigs to learn how to fly? What a stinker!
Tom – what you deride as squawking is, in fact, very important. Word-of-mouth and alternative media are really fundamental dissident tools of resistance. They are the foundation to more official change – and in America, “squawking” is giving voters information for the really vital congressional elections in 2006.
Alright, I’m sorry, I should have double-checked that. It’s still ridiculously high. There are other ways that it’s working towards the destruction of education. The testing, for instance. Call me crazy, but rote memorization in preparation for a test is not education. It’s cramming. The schools already had an appallingly small amount of time to spend on the stuff that’s actually important before this nonsense happened. We need students to learn critical thinking, civics, rhetoric, and logic, not how to take a test.
“Wow, Kevin! Does No Child Left Behind also call for pigs to learn how to fly? What a stinker!”
No, but Section 42, part B of Arcticle 9c states that “… under no circumstance shall any member of the pig family graduate to the proceeding grade without demonstration of an understanding of current grade-level pig latin.”
And random42: I was actually incorrect with my figures as well. The current ratio of Special Ed. kids who receive OVER HALF their instruction from Spec. Ed. to mainstream kids is currently about 1:8 at my school- roughly 12%. The state average (in Texas) is roughly the same as well. The figure I posted is for all students who receive at least SOME Special Education services, both at my school and at the state level, give or take a point or two.
The lower figure (1%) still mandates that teachers somehow find a cure for the learning disabilities of the 11% we will need to get to mainstream classes!
Anyone have a chemistry set???
> “We will not reverse course.”
Does this surprise anyone?
1. We’re talking about a President who doesn’t listen to research, doesn’t listen to polls, doesn’t listen to *anything* other than his own ego. Which he interprets as the Will of God.
2. To ‘reverse course’ on any decision he’s made since taking office, would subject Bush to derision as a ‘flip-flopper’.
Unlike a sane person, who incorporates new knowledge as it comes in, and occasionally has to change his/her position because of it, Bush is doomed to adhere to the same pre-conceived notions he has held from the womb.
This piece was written more than two years ago. My understanding is that a lot of the most objectionable kinks in the program–especially dealing with special ed issues–have been worked out.
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