Diane Wiley wrote: > A lot of parents hate this law too -- including me. The last > thing we need is another set of testing that doesn't go back to the > teachers and help them to help the individual students. The only > testing that is useful to teachers is testing that is graded in time > for them to see what the kids know and understand and what they don't > know and need help with.
If you hate NCLB for these reasons I believe that you may have been misinformed. Which isn't surprising given the negative spin that's been generated by groups opposed to NCLB. You can't blame NCLB for being "another set of testing that doesn't go back to the teachers." The design of the tests and how tests are implemented, and test standards are determined by each State, NCLB specifies who is to be tested and how often. Whether teachers should receive feedback on individual students is a complex issue, involving privacy and possible discrimination. However, there is no doubt that there has to be some test which can be used to measure school and district success rates. Without such tests we would return to the Dark Ages of Public School Education. Is it silly and wasteful for the MPS to give multiple tests? I think so. The district needs to coordinate with the State so they have one or two testing days which provides the data they need. > NCLB doesn't do a darn thing to move the students forward > and it costs a fortune -- in time and money. Neither of which > the schools have much of, that's to our lovely Republican > administrations. I suppose that if your children are White and middle class that NCLB probably doesn't do much to move them forward, but if you have a child who needs extra tutoring then NCLB requires low performing schools to provide it and allows children to change schools if their school continues to fail. I don't believe that it should be the Federal government's responsibility to pay for the tutoring of students who are passed over by regular school practices. Public schools should be successfully educating students. NCLB is not about high quality education, it's about providing a way for children to receive a basic education. Which is probably why many middle class White parents could care less and just see it as an annoyance. > The Special Ed laws promised that the feds would pay 40% of > SE costs -- instead they pay some paltry amount. The under funding of Special Education is a separate issue. > When a fabulous school like Barton is on the hit list, you > know something is wrong. This is clearly a scam to devalue > and denigrate public schools. The schools need support and > more money, not more trashing and money wasting tests. So why, specifically, is Barton on the list? Michael Atherton Prospect Park REMINDERS: 1. Think a member has violated the rules? Email the list manager at [EMAIL PROTECTED] before continuing it on the list. 2. Don't feed the troll! Ignore obvious flame-bait. For state and national discussions see: http://e-democracy.org/discuss.html For external forums, see: http://e-democracy.org/mninteract ________________________________ Minneapolis Issues Forum - A City-focused Civic Discussion - Mn E-Democracy Post messages to: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe, Un-subscribe, etc. at: http://e-democracy.org/mpls
