Is No Child Left Behind accomplishing its goal of a better education for our children?
450136
no.  it punishes schools that are doing a decent job by expecting ALL schools to live up to an impossible goal.  why not penalize just the schools that are inferior?  honestly, when you look at the average school population (severely mentally handicapped, etc.) how exactly do you expect EVERY child to be performing on grade level by 2013?
162724
I was recently re-married and now have a 9-year-old son, so I'm clearly not an expert yet.  My husband and I have discussed this topic frequently since we are very concerned about our son's education/ future.  The conclusion we arrived at is that parents are the number one determinant of how well a student does in school.  We noticed that the difference between a good school and a poor school is the level of participation the school receives from the parents.  The public school our son is going to has almost 100% parent participation for open houses and teacher conferences.  The school district is also the highest rated school in our city and very highly rated in the country as well. They are rated high, mainly because the parents demand high performance. They basically teach the same content mandated by the state but they are producing a culture of learning above and beyond the state standard. So, by observation, we've concluded that the schools are not failing our students, the parents are really failing their children. Try shutting off the video games and TV in your house and hand your child a book to read.  You'll begin to see a change in your child overnight.  America is not responsible for it’s future as much as Americans are responsible. This applies to more than just school obviously, but what better place to start.
1091935
President Bush made a commitment to ensure that all children receive a high quality education so that no child is left behind. And just one year after the President first took office, the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) passed overwhelmingly with support from Republicans and Democrats in Congress. NCLB has led to higher standards and greater accountability throughout the Nation's school systems. Here are some key facts and terms that you should know about how this historic law helps your child:\n\nThe Facts About No Child Left Behind\n      Funding: No Child Left Behind gives school districts more money. In fact, President Bush and Congress are spending more money than ever before on the education of America's children.\n    *\n      Flexibility: No Child Left Behind gives states and school districts more control and more flexibility to use resources where they are needed most. Principals and administrators will spend less time filling out forms and more time helping your child learn.\n    *\n      Accountability: No Child Left Behind holds schools and school districts accountable for results. Schools are responsible for making sure your child is learning.\n    *\n      School District Report Cards: No Child Left Behind gives parents report cards so they can see which schools in their district are succeeding and why. With this information, No Child Left Behind gives parents, community leaders, teachers, principals, and elected leaders the information they need to improve schools.\n    *\n      Public School Choice: No Child Left Behind may let you transfer your child to another public school if the state says that your child's school is "in need of improvement." Your school district may pay for transportation for your child. Contact your child's school district to find out if your child has this opportunity.\n    *\n      Extra Help with Learning: No Child Left Behind may also provide your child with free tutoring and extra help with schoolwork if the state says your child's school has been "in need of improvement" for at least 2 years. This extra help is often referred to as Supplemental Educational Services. Contact your child's school district to find out if your child qualifies.\n    *\n      Parental Involvement: No Child Left Behind requires schools to develop ways to get parents more involved in their child's education and in improving the school. Contact your child's school to find out how you can get involved.\n    *\n      Measuring Knowledge: No Child Left Behind requires states to test your child in reading and math every year in grades 3-8. Your child will also be tested at least once in high school. The tests will help you, your child, and your child's teachers know how well your child is learning and when he or she needs extra help.\n    *\n      Scientifically Based Research: No Child Left Behind focuses on teaching methods that have been proven by research to work. There will be no more experimenting on children with educational fads.\n    *\n      Reading First: No Child Left Behind provides more than one billion dollars a year to help children learn to read. Reading First is the part of No Child Left Behind that is dedicated to ensuring all children learn to read on grade level by the third grade. Reading First provides money to states and many school districts to support high quality reading programs based on the best scientific research. Contact your child's school district to find out if its reading program is based on research.\n    *\n      Teacher Quality: No Child Left Behind provides funding to help teachers learn to be better teachers.
1094973
I totally agree that the testing and assessment is focusing not just on memorization, but memorization of certian information.  It is so focused that those kids who have a natural interest or aptitude for certain subjects can't get beyond the basics in class.\n\nWe need to bring back discussions, research papers, etc.  I was writing research papers as early as 3rd grade.\n\nUNFORTUNATELY another big affect on the kids today in learning, is lack of parental involvement.  With both parents working (sometimes multiple jobs) or single parents struggling just to put food on the table, there is often not enough time in the day (or energy in their body) for some parents to be more involved in their child's education process.\n\nNot only does the school system need to reasses their programs (No Child Left Behind is good in theory, but needs some reform)... but parents need to be more involved and in some areas that means we need an economic/income boost.
925267
This is where you find the heart of the matter. The future of any country depends on an educational system available to everyone, look at Ireland's example in their universal education system, they have transformed their economy in a very short period of time and are now attracting the best companies in the world. The greatest purpose in America was to see our children reach their American Dream and yet, all we do is complain about the cost and how much the teacher is making, complain about the jobs leaving the country, but don't give the kids the tools to compete. If you want jobs to return you must compete with countries that are providing first rate education to their future work force. It ain't rocket science.
1055079
I'd have to know more thank 'its an alternative' school. Like does it work specially with children who have special needs? If it did, probably. Those kids have a hard time in school.
553447
I think poor communities get better educational opportunities than many recognize or are willing to acknowledge. The problem, I think, is that most in those communities don't want to do the work that is involved in getting a good education. It is easier to fail and blame it on outside forces, than to admit you need to work harder to succeed. Until those in the poor communities realize that the power to succeed is within themselves, poor communities will continue to be poor with succeeding generations.
332223
The last several decades in our nation have witnessed growing concerns that our educational system is not adequately preparing all of our citizens to develop the skills and knowledge they need to live and work successfully in today's complex society (National Commission on Excellence in Education, 1983). Calls for change have centered on the need for schools to provide opportunities for students to engage in activities that promote in-depth understanding, critical thinking, creative problem solving, and the ability to use knowledge in real-life settings (Darling-Hammond, 1993).\n\nIn response to these concerns school improvement efforts have proliferated, aimed at all aspects of the educational system - school structures, organization, governance, and leadership; family and community involvement; as well as curriculum content, instructional methods, individual and system-wide assessments. While all of these initiatives are important, many have been undertaken leaving some basic assumptions about teaching and learning intact, assumptions that have not been sufficiently informed by current understandings of how students learn.\n\nMany commonly accepted educational practices have been influenced by ideas of teaching from the past, based on traditional behaviorist views that teaching is primarily an act of "telling" - supplying students with facts and information in much the same way that an empty glass is filled. While these practices have been successful at producing proficiency in the lower-order skills measured on many tests, they have generally met with little success in developing the kind of knowledge and abilities that\n\nstudents need in real-life situations (National Assessment of Education Progress, 1981).\n\nIn contrast to this transmission-of-knowledge model of teaching, newer understandings of how people learn present a conception of teaching that focuses on developing "thinking" students who understand and can use what they learn. This conception is termed "constructivist" because it sees learning as a dynamic internal process in which learners actively "construct" knowledge by connecting new information to what they already know, rather than as a process in which learners are passive recipients of information transferred to them from external sources. This newer conception's emphasis is on developing students' capacities for analysis and problem-solving, rather than on having them "cover the curriculum" in the most efficient manner possible. Rooted in the assumption that all human beings have a deep drive to make sense of the world (Carini, 1987), constructivism sees learning as motivated by interest and shaped by individuals' cultural and linguistic backgrounds as well as their different learning styles and strengths (Carini, 1986; Gardner, 1983). From the perspective of the constructivist view, learning is supported by multiple experiences and social interactions, rather than by solitary drill and rote memorization (Dewey, 1916, 1956; Piaget, 1973,1980; Piaget & Inhelder, 1969; Vygotsky, 1978). It is a nonlinear process that requires extended periods of time to visit and revisit ideas until they are organized into coherent, stable, and generalizable understandings (Bruner, 1966; O'Brien, 1987).\n\nBecause constructivist principles are based on knowledge of learning, they provide a good starting place for school improvement efforts aimed at supporting students to become better thinkers, creators, and problem-solvers. Without such a focus, reform efforts run the risk of merely "reforming again, again, and again" (Cuban, 1990), focusing on the surface structures of schooling but leaving the central problems untouched.\n\nThis article describes constructivist teaching, highlighting some of its essential\n\nelements. It also discusses some of the challenges that constructivist teaching poses for teacher development. It demonstrates how a c
1176784
Yes. The problem is that it's difficult to sound well-educated when one isn't. Welcome to the pacification of America. First, we'll stop teaching English in the classroom, and replace it with self-esteem training. That way, when they can't speak or write cohesively, they won't feel so bad about it. No child gets left behind if none of them go anywhere...
607493
"The question is: IS our children learning?"\n\nNot if they're following your lead, Mr. President...
289977
If there is, it doesn't say much for their educational system.
771586
Not really--based on my observations.  The money needs to be spent in the classrooms for more teachers to reduce the class numbers.  And there should be more teaching observations from external sources like principal reviews, education experts, etc. and having them help teachers become better teachers.  \n\nGiving teachers more professional development classes is like giving problem students more classes to take.  It doesn't make the student better, it just makes the student do more of something they are not good at.\n\nThose are my personal opinions.
559792
Just coming out of teacher's college and seeing 4 different schools, I can't say that No Child Left Behind really helps.  I don't see how it helps children to be passed into the next grade if they can't achieve all the requirements of the last one.  I would make exceptions for students who have been identified as having LD or any other disability but not for the few underachievers in the classroom.  It's really hard to have more than one student in a classroom who can't keep up with the work given to them...with such big class sizes, it's no wonder that a teacher can't give them as much support as they really need.
776974
We would "just teach" if we were allowed to. Unfortunately, the powers that be dictate to us what we can and cannot teach.  Classes are now geared towards the children being able to pass exit level examinations and just for education for education's sake. It's not the teachers fault, its something that begins at the Federal level.
548968
looking at no child left behind... I almost start to wonder if this isn't trying to destroy an already underfunded education system... \n\nWith no public education...the wealthy would be the only ones that could afford to become educated and then keep control of their wealth through that control of education... \n\nah... capitalism at it's best...\n\nDon't you just love how freetyme813 insults basically every American with his rants on public school... almost everyone attends public school and if we're all that "stupid" then why did the majority vote for conservatives?\nTest scores are at all time highs... so if he's calling today's kids dumb... and you graduated a long time ago like I did... then he's calling all of us really dumb....\nI think we all know who the "dumb" one is here...\nSorry we didn't go to private school because our daddy was rich like you apparently did... some of us have to actually work for what we have...
388467
I agree that the 'No Child Left Behind' act is ruining American education. I, personally, think it's a bad rule and that because of it the smarter kids are bored. I'm in school right now and I'm one of the smartest ones and this rule is making school a drag for me because we have to keep learning it all over, even if only one person doesn't know it. This act is making the smart kids, who will one day contribute the most to society, want to or drop out of school.
249015
Here is some of the thinking at the website I've attached. \n\n"The “more is better” approach is common to government projects.  The logic is that because education is good in principle, and schooling is the way to create education, more schooling will necessarily create more education. Thus it follows in current logic that, in light of the evidence that education is not consistently occurring, more schooling should succeed where less has failed."\n\nThere are valid arguments on both sides.  Countries such as Japan and China place much more value on structured education than we do in the western world.\n\nPersonally, I don't think there is one correct answer to the question.  For students who don't have a positive and stimulating home environment, a longer school day and a longer school year may be a very good option if it is done in a constructive manner.  However, what about the students who are exposed to positive learning experiences outside of school?  Do they need a longer school day?\n\nNo simple answers.