I always knew I hated No Child Left Behind. It wasn’t until this semester that I really grew to despise it.
I'm currently a student teacher, and as many schools have not done, last year our school did not meet the Academic Yearly Progress scores we were supposed to.<br/>Unfortunately, that means our jobs just got a lot more difficult.Unfortunately, that means our jobs just got a lot more difficult.
Unfortunately, that means our jobs just got a lot more difficult.
NCLB was implemented in 2001 by former President George W. Bush. The bottom line of the plan is that all students should be at a 100 percent comprehensive level in reading and math by the year 2014. If schools miss the mark, they begin losing federal money.
Sounds crazy, I know.
Teaching students who have already missed the mark last year to not only hit the required scores from the previous year, but go even further and reach for an even higher number, is virtually impossible.
Don’t get me wrong, I believe every student can learn, but at their own rate.
It’s tough to see these students finding out they have failed, and to see the look on teachers’ faces when they realized all their hard work from the previous year only resulted in the school losing much needed money.
We’re told to have the students writing and reading more, yet our printers are being pulled from the labs, and we’re not allowed to buy more books.
Students need individual attention sometimes in order to understand a concept, but how is this possible when we have cut teachers due to budgets, and they’re left with 30 plus students in each class?
I understand the importance of students improving, but what happened to the learning experience and teaching everyone in a way they can understand?
We have resorted to bribing students with food and prizes if they meet the targets the government has set for us.
No longer are we worried about what are our students learning to use later in life, it’s about what will they be tested over the in the spring.
Schools need to spend more time teaching students to appreciate learning, and what it will do for them in their futures. Instead, we are sharing the stress we have from the government breathing over our shoulder with our classrooms.
Every year, thousands of schools fall off the wagon after the target scores have gone up, and the students were unable to attain the goal. According to the U.S. Department of Education, in 2008, only 70 percent of schools in the United States actually made AYP.<br/>They have continued to raise the targets, and have indeed, left many children behind.They have continued to raise the targets, and have indeed, left many children behind.
They have continued to raise the targets, and have indeed, left many children behind.
