No Child Left a Dime

[Dreadsox]

I am looking for a good lawyer. I believe that NCLB is a violation of the constitution of the United States.....

Here is why...education is supposed to be left to the states because it is not a specific item listed.

Now we have NCLB which I believe is a good thing. Here is the bad thing. There is NO CONSISTENCY STATE TO STATE.

NCLB requires that the states create a testing system. 50 States with 50 different exams. Where is the equity in this system? I would love to have my students taking the Texas test. I say this not to insult anyone from Texas or the south. I say it because after the last seven years of administering the MCAS, I can assure you that the samples from both tests are not even in the same ball park.

NCLB was also designed to make sure that EACH subgroup in a school is making yearly progress towards the 2014 year Federally mandated every child MUST PASS. EVERY CHILD MUST PASS, in every grade tested....3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, and 10. EVERY CHILD MUST PASS.

What is a subgroup? AWell, your ENTIRE school could demonstrate that they are making AYP towards the 2014 goal, but if any of the following groups....

blacks
ESL
Free and reduced Lunch
Special Needs
American Indian
Asian

does not make progress your school FAILED to make AYP. It does not matter that your entire student body made progress...if ONE....ONE subgroup does not make progress....YOU FAILED. If it happens two years in a row the state takes over your school.

Now, I am all for making sure your subgroups improve, but here is the kicker......Statisticaly your subgroups might be so small that one student can cause you to fail.

Now today I read the state of UTAH has made their own law....saying that subgroups less than 40 students should not count against AYP.

So now each state gets to make their OWN RULES......

no offense...but how many African Americans attend schools in Utah? Want to bet, that most have less than 40......seriously.....

And we have schools in my town with less than ten that have been labeled as a FAILING to PeRFORM school.

 

[BostonAnne]

NBC - what can you do about this?

Seriously - this is not good.

 

[nbcrusader]

Interesting dilema.

My guess is that Mass. has elected not to make their own rules or create them in a self-benefiting fashion.

I'd have to do some research, but my guess is a case can be made if federal funds are withheld from some states, while Utah gets full funds for their lack of subgroups.

 

[verte76]

Since Alabama is the perennial caboose in the national educational system, there's no way our students could be passing the tests given in states like Massachusetts with better systems.

 

[coemgen]

I covered education for four years here at the paper. Our school district here has more than 20,000 students and is one of the largest in the state. I've also covered three other smaller school districts. The superintendents and staff from each district can't stand NCLB. It's another unfunded mandate (like special education). The points you made are right. It's stupid to have different tests for different states. States that show lower student improvement are taking an easier test than states that fair better, like here in Kansas. Then, when it comes to NCLB, states that perform bad otherwise come out on top and states that typically do well are average or low. It's retarded. Plus, the whole subgroup thing is bs. The main reason it's bs is because the subgroups TAKE THE SAME TEST as everyone else. So, for instance, we have a high hispanic population here and the students who come up from Mexico take the same test as everyone else, regardless of their grasp of the English language. No wonder they fail! Plus, it takes five to seven years for a student to become academically proficient in another language. And this gets harder the older they are. NCLB is good in theory, but crap in the details.