This is a little off the topic of literacy, but has more to do with education in general. As we all know, No Child Left Behind has made a huge impact on education. But the more I think about it, how much of a benefit does it really have? Think about it.. Sure it helps students who are struggling. But what about the ones who are right on track? Or, for that matter, the ones that are ahead of the curve? They may not be getting left behind, but is it possible that they're being held back from achieving their potential? Perhaps I'm wrong, but to me that's how it seems it could go. Did anyone ever feel that they were held back in school because of one or two students in their class? I had this experience in a few of my classes in high school where the class didn't move on because only a couple students didn't understand the material. Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying its right to move on and leave these students behind, but I also don't think it's right for the other students to be stopped in their learning process. This post may just seems like random rambling, but I'm curious as to what others have to say about this issue.
7 comments:
I was one of those students who you wrote about, Jessica. Like you predicted, I never really benefited from learning how to ace the PSSA tests. I would have gotten a proficient score whether I practiced for them or not. I was always bored, especially in elementary school, when I’d have to trudge through another practice test or essay. It always seemed superfluous to me to be going over and over how to narrow down multiple choice questions or write a five paragraph essay. Perhaps this is what influenced my negativity toward school at a young age. I can distinctly remember asking my mom to stay home from school every day when I was younger; I hated it! Luckily, my attitude changed once I got into high school, but I’m sure most of my peers’ attitudes did not. Perhaps the PSSA tests reinforce the loathing of education that is so common among the youth, yet another downfall of the PSSA tests.
"No child left behind means no child gets ahead." As I was reading this post that is the first thought that comes to mind. In theory NCLB works and has a similar rationale to a chain, only as strong as its weakest link. In practice though it is quite different. Advanced students are not challenged and quickly lose interest. Throughout my educational career I was never challenged or interested; I rarely did homework and never studied, yet I earned good grades. The start of college was like getting hit in the face with a shovel. Having to do homework and study? It took me a while to adjust to a style very different from my previous education. I think we should embrace student's abilities and challenge each of them, but without bias or judgment in order to best prepare them for their future.
Kyle that quote sums up EXACTLY what I wanted to say. This is only one of the problems I have with NCLB. According to NCLB, all teachers must be "highly qualified." By NCLB's definition, highly qualified means "fully certified, have a bachelor’s degree, and demonstrate their knowledge and skills in the subjects they are teaching by either having taken sufficient academic coursework in their field or by passing a state test." To me, this does not seem like enough. Being qualified doesn't mean you will be a good teacher. Some of the smartest teachers I had in high school were the ones I learned absolutely nothing from. They had all the necessary qualifications, yet didn't know how to put their skills to use. Perhaps we should be focusing on the QUALITY of teachers, rather than the qualifications.
I think NCLB touches upon something that we haven't necessarily talked about in class yet, but really relates to literacy and the achievement gap. With tests like the PSSA, I think there has been increased pressure on the teachers to teach to the test in order to meet the standards set forth by NCLB. I feel like this approach teaches students to quickly absorb information (memorize and commit to short term memory) and then dump it onto the test. So then what are they really learning?
I have to agree with Kyle on the topic of not being challenged in high school and experiencing exactly the opposite of that in college. In high school I could finish an entire days worth of work in my first period class and still earn good grades. I think this says a lot about our educational system that I believe is pressured not to push their students very hard in order to turn out a high graduation rate. I was one of the average students who maintained my grades with minimal effort and went on to college. Little did I know what would be expected of me at Penn State. High school did not prepare me whatsoever to manage a college workload, let alone how to do work on my own by “thinking outside of the box”. Everything in high school was done according to a detailed rubric. I think that high school teachers should challenge their students with more demanding workloads in a way that would help them learn for themselves how to manage such a workload in a high school and college setting.
I feel like I had the exact opposite experience to everyone. For me, college was considerably easier than high school. Not only did my work load decrease when I came to PSU, but it was the first time I had really experienced the feeling that a class was being held back by a few single students. Don't get me wrong, there were one or two classes that moved slowly because the teacher didn't want to leave any students behind, but those were classes that I didn't care about (the only one that really comes to mind is my senior science class, which was a joke). My high school, however, was extremely good at placing students. There were at least three different levels for each class (AP being a fourth level for some) and a student couldn't be in the highest level if they hadn't tested into it and got approval from the teaching staff.
I guess what I'm trying to say is that I never really felt any repercussions from NCLB. Even when it came to PSSA testing, there wasn't a class we had to take in order to prepare and rarely did my teachers take a break from regular classes to go over how best to pass the PSSAs (that said, there was a class that was required for some students and for those that didn't pass, but that never effected me).
I understand that NCLB doesn't really work when put into practice, but I personally was never confronted with the effects. I find it interesting to see the extent to which many students were effected by it.
I think that NCLB can be a really great thing, but I agree that it can be detrimental to more advanced students. I think once students enter high school they don't have to worry about that problem as much since there are typically different levels for different classes. However, it would definitely be beneficial to start these different level classes as early as elementary school.
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