When Congress passed No Child Left Behind (NCLB), they looked to the phenomenal results the program had in Texas under Bush. What they did not know is that Bush achieved those results in Texas by pushing marginal children out of the school system. Bush had only one successful initiative as President. It was not NCLB. It was No Millionaire Left Behind. NCLB has been a dismal failure, forcing teachers to focus on how to test, not how to learn. Attempts at reform have been blocked by Republicans have blocked real reform. They are trying to establish a school voucher program to make Main Street Americans help finance high priced schools for the super-rich and dogmatic religious schools for Republican supply side pseudo-Christians, all to the detriment of the public school system. So Obama says he’s tired of waiting.
Criticizing Congress for months of inaction in updating No Child Left Behind, President Obama on Friday offered to lift the law’s most onerous provisions, including its 2014 deadline for bringing all students to proficiency in reading and math, for states that promise to follow his administration’s own school improvement agenda.
“Congress hasn’t been able to do it, so I will,” Mr. Obama said in a speech at the White House. “Starting today, we’ll be giving states more flexibility to meet high standards.”
Under the plan outlined by the White House, Secretary of Education Arne Duncan is inviting states that agree to overhaul low-performing schools and adopt more rigorous teacher evaluation systems to apply for relief from the Bush-era law’s 2014 deadline and other unpopular provisions. States that qualify for the waivers would be allowed to design their own school accountability systems.
Mr. Duncan sent to state governments on Friday a 17-page guidance document outlining 10 key provisions of the law that the administration is offering to waive for states that qualify. Besides the 2014 proficiency deadline, they also include requirements that schools declared failing must provide students with after-school tutoring and free bus transportation to better schools nearby. Administration officials said both those provisions of the law have been ineffective… [emphasis added]
Inserted from <NY Times>
I lack the expertise to comment on the efficacy of the requirements to obtain a waiver, so I’ll leave that to professional teachers to explain in comments.
When I was a child in school, I was taught how to learn and how to think. These skills have served me all my life. Today’s trend, forcing teachers to teach what to learn and what to think, needs to be stopped now.
10 Responses to “Obama to scrap No Child Left Behind”
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When I was a child in school, I was taught how to learn and how to think. These skills have served me all my life. Today’s trend, forcing teachers to teach what to learn and what to think, needs to be stopped now.
I quote :–you are so very right!!
Thanks, Phyllis.
I grew up in a small school district in Arkansas that had all twelve grades in the same building, one room per grade. That was back in the 1950’s. Until that district finally consolidated, a lot of successful people got their education in that little school.
I’m only speaking for myself, but a big difference I see is that a lot more parents wanted their sons and daughters to be the best they could be, back then. They were engaged in the process a lot more and understood that quality education takes revenue to sustain. People valued schools ahead of everything else. Now they wear their ignorance like it’s some kind of badge of achievment. (Tea Party)
It’s about time to start letting the teaching professionals do their job as they see fit. Give them all a big raise, while were at it! Do away with home schooling and vouchers. Kick the “creationists” out of ALL the schools. I’m glad to see the President doing away with that shoddy Bush program.
Good observations, Johnny,
It’s about damn time we demand the schools teach children to think not just take tests. We’re so far behind in the brain drain it isn’t funny. America is almost post-industrial. We DON’T need factory automatons. Our children need to learn how to compete in the real world.
Blue, that’s exactly my point. Thank you.
It is about time someone stomped on that one. I have watched wonderful, creative teachers become robots and stress out because of the emphasis put on this testing. Children are being labeled and sorted because of one test. There is a lot of money to be made for these test companies from the text books right down to the instruction booklets for teachers. School budgets are getting cut, but not the cost of this testing….it is taking over and it is leaving children behind sometimes up to two years if they don’t pass in the third grade. Let’s face it some of us are not good test takers. Give a little respect to the teachers expertise.
Welcome, Janet! 🙂
I think your understanding of this is excellent.
‘Columbus sailed the ocean blue in 1492.’ Does anybody remember that little ditty to help you remember Christopher Columbus? In my day, we used such tricks to aid in learning. First we were taught to remember, but as we grew older, we were taught to think, apply logic, to discern meaning from both what was said and what wasn’t, to read through the lines. There was no question of pass or fail. If you learned, barring any catastrophe, you passed. If you didn’t you failed and had to repeat the year. I am not in favour of repeating a year in most cases because I think it can make the student lazy. However I am definitely not in favour of advancing a student just for their self esteem. What teachers have to do is figure out how to reach each student on their own terms and get them excited about learning. That is easy to say but much harder to do when you have 40 kids in a class. I remember having 150 kids in my grade 11 physics class — how does a teacher reach out there? In that same class, I remember the teacher coming to class dressed as a white rabbit — picture a 6 foot 4 inch white rabbit, big sagging powder puff tail, lopsided floppy ears and horn rimmed glasses! I still remember that lesson on the polarisation of light. In grade 13, my history teacher had a list of topics in Canadian history and everybody had to choose a topic and write a major paper on it. I didn’t like the topics so after figuring out what I wanted to do, I approached the teacher. He didn’t think I could so I had 2 weeks to prove him wrong. I did. I received an A++ on the paper.
I’m not trying to elevate my own accomplishments but rather show that a motivated student, with guidance and encouragement and the support of good teachers, will rise to the occasion and succeed.
A teacher teaching to the test does nothing to help a student learn and grow. By fudging scores so that the student and the school look better, is doing nobody any good. That does nothing but promote lying, and there is enough of that in government. It also sets up the student for failure later in life when their job requires them to think and creatively solve problems, but they can’t.
When I looked at the example of the schools in Finland, I really liked it and thought that it developed thinking people, not robots.
From the New York Times — “This voluntary opportunity will provide educators and State and local leaders with flexibility regarding specific requirements of the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 (NCLB) in exchange for rigorous and comprehensive State-developed plans designed to improve educational outcomes for all students, close achievement gaps, increase equity, and improve the quality of instruction.”
The commitments the administration is requiring of states closely resemble elements of the administration’s own blueprint for rewriting the No Child law, sent to Congress last year but never acted upon.
Representative John Kline, Republican of Minnesota, . . .
“This sets a dangerous precedent. Make no mistake — this is a political move that could have a damaging impact on Congressional efforts to enact lasting reforms to current elementary and secondary education law.”
No Mr Kline, this is not a political move. This is a move in favour of students who are being used as bargaining chips by the obstructionist Republicans.
IMO, NCLB promotes mediocrity and promotes inequality in education, and that does nothing in this fast paced technological environment in which we are living. Like TomCat, I lack the expertise to comment on the efficacy of the requirements to obtain a waiver. But I am sure that Bush’s NCLF is NOT the way to go.
Lynn, I agree.
Many wish he had done more, but all he can do by executive order is grant waivers.