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Is Standardized Testing the Best Way?

July 6, 2011 By Leave a Comment
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Most can agree that there is something wrong with the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act. The idea is that children won’t get further and further behind their classmates. The hope is that their abilities would be raised to others their age, but what is happening instead is that the standard is lowered to the least common denominator instead. Schools are required to be to a certain level by 2014, but it’s just not going to happen. There are few schools in this country that meet the criteria set by NCLB.

The question is, should standardized testing be the way to evaluate children? Every child learns differently — visual, kinesthetic, auditory — and yet they’re all being tested the same way. For those who need a hands-on approach, reading a question and filling in a bubble is not the best to evaluate whether that student understands the concept.

And that doesn’t even take into account those students with disabilities. These could be slight frustrations, such as dyslexia or ADD, or they could be serious disabilities such as cerebral palsy (and these students are required to take the tests just as much as mainstream students).

If we’re going to require testing for students in order to set a baseline of where the schools are at, then the testing needs to reflect the differences in the children. In the classroom, teachers don’t just use tests. As they’re teaching lessons, they’re walking around and evaluating students as they work on assignments. There needs to be a reflection of this in standardized testing as well.

Filed Under: Government Rulings, Student Rights Tagged With: , ,

No Child Left Behind is Leaving Children Behind

June 16, 2011 By Leave a Comment
Seal of the United States Department of Education 

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The No Child Left Behind act was passed with good intentions, but the road to you-know-where is always paved with just that.  Good intentions. What has really happened with NCLB is that test scores have become heavily weighted as a measure of education. Instead, a large percentage of school children are falling behind and even failing under the requirements of the act.

Education Secretary Arne Duncan is pushing to significantly alter the No Child Left Behind act. States have taken on the task to change NCLB as well. President Obama is also working to push through legislation that would relieve the burden on schools to succeed at all costs.

Children are not the only ones who suffer under NCLB. Schools do as well. A handful of under performing students drag down the entire school, triggering the NCLB. The school has to hire extra tutors to help with those students. However, the school is burdened with the cost of paying for those tutors, even though the requirement is a federal mandate. The schools then have to tap their local tax base to find the funds, and hope that the tutoring will bring the under performers up to speed

Couple this with the fact that 40 percent of students are not passing the tests, it’s a recipe for disaster. Children who would most likely perform at the average or above are victims of a poorly designed piece of legislation. Requiring that students perform to a set of restrictive standards is almost a guarantee of failure. Changing or eliminating NCLB only helps, not hurts.

Filed Under: Student Rights Tagged With: , ,

What is “No Child Left Behind?”

May 29, 2011 By Leave a Comment
President Bush signing the No Child Left Behin... 

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The No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 was initially inked by the administration of George W. Bush, shortly after he took office. It is a U.S. Act of Congress that oversees the public education of children. The general goal of this Act is to help all children within the public educational system, reach their full potential by having them meet academic standards.

The Act was co-authored by the late Senator Ted Kennedy and was widely supported and passed by the Congress.

The goal of the No Child Left Behind Act is for standards-based reform of the educational system. The basic premise is that if high standards are set, along with measurable goals, it will improve the outcomes for individual all throughout the educational system.

The Act calls for requirements that will assess student progress in basic skills. All students will be given these tests or assessments at certain grade levels. If schools are receiving federal educational funding, these assessments are a requirement for continued funding. While this is a federal Act, the education standards are set by the individual states.

The Act also gives parents more options as to the schools their children can attend. It also promotes a more focused approach to math and reading skills that children must attain.

There are four main parts that addresses items such as programs for disadvantaged students, neglected and delinquent youth, additional resources for principals and teachers, and the use of technology in schools. It also addresses providing resources for drug-free and safe environment for students.

Filed Under: Student Rights Tagged With: , ,

Understanding Standardized Tests

May 15, 2011 By Leave a Comment
The re-drawn chart comparing the various gradi... 

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It seems that the educational system is in a constant state of flux, We’ve seen the implementation of the No Child Left Behind Act, to the recent announcements of changes that will be made to that Act.

One thing that does seem to remain is the standardized test as a way to gauge both student and educational institution performances. In addition, how do we go about determining or interpreting the results of our students test scores?

It’s important to, first, realize that not every student will test at an above average level. And it is also important to be able to use those test scores to improve student performance.

Know which tests are being given at what times. For instances, some tests are standardized and given across the nation at the third, fifth and eight grades. Next, make sure you understand the norms of the test. An individual students performance is measured against the “normed” or baseline group. Your individual student’s scores can be interpreted differently depending on which norm the results are compared with.

Identify the reporting methods of the scores. These can be stanine, grade equivalents or percentile rankings.

Make sure you understand how the results will be used. Some school districts use the data as a measurement of academic policy or effectiveness. Scores of individual students should not be used to make decisions on remedial programs or other such programs.

Finally, understand that these test scores measure performance, not your student’s potential. The test basically determines how much a student knows on a particular date, but not about future learning potential.

Filed Under: Government Rulings Tagged With: , ,

No Child Left Behind: Title Change

March 16, 2011 By Leave a Comment

The Obama administration has authorized a title change in the No Child Left Behind Act. Instead of having a dull title, one of the sections will specifically be named “Improving the Academic Achievement of the Disadvantaged.” The Obama administration hopes that the new title change will ensure that all children are given an equal opportunity to receive high quality education. According to the administration, such education may be achieved in a number of ways; one being the closing of the achievement gap.

The achievement gap is a concept that haunts all educators and parents alike. While educators are working hard to beat the statistic that says wealthy children reach higher heights in academia than impoverished children, parents with lower incomes are constantly encouraging their children to not take part in such statistic. Many problems with the education system would be solved of the achievement gap were closed or at least minimized. The Obama administration is showing parents and educators their concern for children by changing the title of a section in the No Child Left Behind Act.

Although the change is optimistic, it is hardly believable that such action will close an entire achievement gap. For decades disparities in education have stemmed from the attitude that some children are privileged over others. While low income students living in the ghetto may be more intellectually inclined than the child living in a mansion, the child of luxury is given more opportunity because his or her parents can afford to pay more in taxes for better schools. Americans must come away from the mind frame of self-gratification and into the concept of sharing the wealth in order to substantially minimize the achievement gap. Impoverished children should be given the same opportunities as wealthy children and should not be punished with poor education practices just because they live on the other side of the train tracks.

Filed Under: Parental Involvement Tagged With: , ,

Revamping No Child Left Behind

February 23, 2011 By Leave a Comment

The White House is planning on having reworked the No Child Left Behind laws that legislate education before most of America’s students go back to school in August. Unfortunately, this measure will have to have serious support from the Republican party as well as the Democrats, and they do not seem to be willing make it a priority.

They are hoping to make the laws more flexible than they have been in the past and also help Washington take a step backwards from controlling the standards and how they are set. Many teachers and schools believe that the White House has made strict laws that they can not regulate without knowledge of the schools themselves. They are hoping that not only will the regulations be relaxed in regards to standardized testing, but also that there will be more local control of these regulations.

The plan to have it done by the regular August recess hinges on Republican lawmakers agreeing to work on the laws. Republicans made it clear to the country that their top priorities were both increasing the number of jobs and fixing the economy. Even if they were on board with the Democrats, getting this type of legislation through by August is not likely to be feasible.

The president has told those in the White House that he believes redefining the federal government’s role in education through No Child Left Behind is top priority for him. The biggest problem with this would be that Obama wants a large rewrite of all of the No Child Left Behind laws. This takes time and money. Also, Republican law makers are more likely to approve new legislation if it is a series of small laws that make changes to old laws already enacted.

Filed Under: Government Rulings Tagged With: , ,

Differentiated Teaching Methods Important for Higher Test Scores

February 10, 2011 By Leave a Comment

While the No Child Left Behind legislation sought to assure the government that all schools were preforming well and those that were not were being brought up to standards. All students are given the same test, with the same questions, the same four answers to choose from for each test question. All students are held to the same standards.

When it is time to teach children the information that is on the tests however, in course of daily classwork, they can not be all taught the same way. Each and every child in a classroom learns differently than the others. While a majority of them may be able to get the information one way, that does not mean that the bet way for each child was used.

Three basic ways of learning a piece of information are hearing it, reading it, and writing it. While some students will be completely frustrated when it comes to having to write out pages of information, others will soak it up better as they put the pencil to paper.

In addition to that, some children learn more slowly than others. This doesn’t mean these children have learning problems. It just means that they do not always pick up the same types of material as quickly as other children. In fact, while some children breeze through math class, they are slower in reading. It happens the other way around as well. It is not as often that one find a child who excels in both areas of study.

Children need to be given time to learn at their own pace without slowing down those who are learning at a faster pace than they are. This can be difficult to do in a classroom of 25 children, but is possible. Besides time constraints, students need to know how they best learn so that they can incorporate it intot heir lessons.

Helping children understand their own differentiated learning styles is one way to give them the power to push themselves towards excellence.

Filed Under: Teacher Rights Tagged With: , ,

Gifted Children Left Behind

February 3, 2011 By Leave a Comment

With No Child Left Behind (NCLB) aimed at making sure all schools make the grade, schools had no choice but to focus on those students who were not doing well on standardized tests to help them improve. While there can be no begrudging a system that helps children who really need it, what about the system that ignores children at the other end of the spectrum?

America’s brightest children are struggling in classrooms that do not meet their needs as independent thinkers. They are tirelessly bombarded with rote memorization and multiple choice tests when what they really need are classrooms structured to give them freedom in their learning.

Many people assume that a child who is gifted is smart enough to survive and excel no matter what the situation within the classroom. This is not true. Gifted students often have social issues as well as problems with motivation and organization. Unfortunately, our classroom teachers have little time to deal with these issues considering the rest of their responsibilities.

One way to make sure that this problem is taken care of is to push the school administration to allow students to be advanced through schools a their own pace. So many times, parents who know what is best for their children ask the schools to help only to be told that nothing can be done. Some choose not to deal with the issue. Others decide that it would be better for the school district to have gifted students who can help raise average test scores in their original grades.

A common comment for parents of gifted students to hear is, “If I let your child do it, I will have to let all children do it.” This is not true. While any student who can pass an adequate test should be allowed to move ahead, every students who asks should not be allowed to skip grades. The only problem is when nobody is allowed at all.

Filed Under: Student Rights Tagged With: , ,

Raising Our Expectations for Global Compeition

December 19, 2010 By Leave a Comment

We have all heard the statistics: our students simply are not performing as well as students in other countries. This alarming information has lead to major reform movements in our country as we struggle to develop a system that will allow our students and our country to grow successfully in the future. Unfortunately, none of the changes has had the desired effect leading more and more people to believe we should institute a policy of international benchmarking.

International benchmarking will allow the United States to set federal standards that are competitive on a global scale. By setting these standards and developing the curriculum, support staff and teaching staff needed to meet those standards, we will better position our students to compete on the global scale.

We have arrived at this point, largely due to the No Child Left Behind Act of 2002. This act did require that higher standards for education be set, but left the determination of those standards to the individual states. In other words, we currently have no federal education standards; rather we rely on 50 separate sets of standards. Nor were the state standards developed to meet federal criteria. NCLB simply stated that state must implement coherent, challenging and demanding standards for math and reading.

Implementing a series of international benchmarks will allow the United States to return the advantage to our students by allowing them to compete on a global scale. As technology continues to grow, making our world smaller and smaller, our student simply must be able to compete globally. Failure to prepare our students for this global competition represents one of the biggest mistakes our country may make.

Perhaps international benchmarking isn’t the answer we seek, but the idea behind it is sound. How can we expect our children to compete with student from across the world if we set our standards lower than theirs?

Filed Under: Government Rulings Tagged With: , ,

The Ongoing History of Reform

December 15, 2010 By Leave a Comment

You may be surprised to learn that education reform isn’t as far reaching as we assume. In fact, there have been very few pieces of large legislation aimed at directly reforming our education system. Sure bills like NCLB have been passed and they do impact things like funding and accountability, but the day-to-day business of running an elementary or secondary school is left largely in the hands of the state government and the local school administration.

That being said, there is a history of ongoing issues with our education system and today government officials, school administrators, teachers, parents and students are faced with a long laundry list of reform options to choose from.

One of the largest areas where reform seems needed is that of teacher quality. Many organizations and parent groups are actively seeking methods to improve the overall quality of our teachers. Some of the reform ideas include creating improved training programs that include a more rigorous credential standard. Other ideas such as merit pay, bonus pay and holding teachers directly accountable for their student’s performance are also popular.

Historically, in addition to teacher quality initiatives, other areas have been concerning as well. A battle over the length of both the school day and the school year has been ongoing. Other groups argue that we must find real life measures to combat raising dropout rates, absenteeism and poor performance.

Technology has, of course, brought a whole new set of reforms to the forefront. Many parents and educators are concerned about blending technology and the schoolroom. Creating virtual classes and increasing access to tutors and resources are just few of the reforms that are being suggested.

The history of school reform is long and it is likely to only continue to grow. Watching the debate as the government tries to decide what the future of No Child Left Behind holds.

Filed Under: Education History Tagged With: , ,
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