We dabbled into the matter of standardized testing last class and I felt that knowledge helped me segway into this next dilemma. In these chapters we learn that schools that are penalized for not reaching a certain requirement for test scores, namely AYP, are negatively impacted. They are given sanctions. This goes against what I thought was a “moral education”, if there is such a term. It goes against my own view of compassion and it feels as if the legislation of NCLB is trying to keep the bottom at the bottom. These kids are put in classes called LEP, standing for Limited English Proficiency. This is ridiculous, in my opinion. To have a group called this, we are telling are children that they are limited! This is America where you work your way up and you can live the American Dream with some hard work and sacrifice. Its backwards.
In that respect, NCLB offers no hope to struggling schools and students. It simply leaves these schools to rot. Yes, it encourages schools to raise their student’s test scores but at the same time, that school is probably losing some of it’ best students by way of transfer.
Chapter 4 talks more about this disconnect between society and the bodies that govern education. Since we started this class I have called for the voice of students and teachers alike to be heard in these decision-making places of NCLB legislation. Because, I don’t think that students or teachers would have come up with NCLB if they had the choice. I think they should be the ones with more of a decision because they are the ones in the classrooms 5 days a week, all day long. Not the board members sitting in their offices all day long. Shouldn’t a teacher at a school or a principal be a board member? They clearly won’t understand the key issues if they don’t even work in that environment.
This leads me to a larger question which is: Is standardized testing really an effective measure of a given student’s educational capacity? A student might be able to think and reason better than another but not be able to write in script at the age of 10. Presumably, this would be because of bad instruction. My point is that NCLB fails to help; it only hurts.
