Obama to outline plan overriding education law
September 22, 2011 at 5:35 am in Grand Forks Herald
States are about to get some guidance from President Barack Obama about how they can get around provisions in the Bush-era No Child Left Behind law a step the administration has undertaken to effectively gut the law since Congress had been slow to rewrite it. Continue Reading
The intent of No Child Left Behind (NCLB) was good. However, from the outset it established the impossible standard of every student becoming proficient in reading and math by 2014. Every child that can learn should. However, to set some arbitrary standard that every child must meet was a bad idea. If the standards were set low enough that every child had a chance to achieve them, then “proficiency” would mean nothing. If the standards were set higher, perhaps at modest proficiency (Where they now are.), then it is unrealistic to expect every student to achieve them.
Compare academics to athletics. What would be a reasonable standard of proficiency for playing basketball? If the standard is set at the level of a varsity basketball player, almost all students will fail. If it is set at the level of a junior varsity player, most students will still fail. If it is set at the level of a fifth grader, most students might be “proficient” but even there, many would fail.
Focusing on growth from one year to the next should be the only way that “adequate yearly progress” is determined. The adequate progress of the top students should be the normal progress for top students. Adequate progress for students at the lower end of the spectrum should be at least what normal progress is for those. As it is now, the focus seems to be on the students who aren’t meeting the present arbitrary standards.
What is the challenge for the advanced students? They can coast through the year doing almost nothing and still be considered proficient. We need to improve the educational experience for all students, not just those who are in danger of not performing at the proficient level. NCLB should not be thrown out, but it certainly needs serious adjustment.
Like or Dislike:
1 
0