What do you think about the No child Behind law? If can, statistics would be best.?

Answer 1

I think it's ridiculous. My school is once again a failing school (once rated one of the top high schools in america by Newsweek Magazine) and we are now in "restructuring" and it's kind of like a hamster's wheel. When you are in "restructuring" that's where you stay until you pass. The problem is, we have students at my high school who can't go to the bathroom by themselves, or feed themselves, but they are expected to pass standardized tests. We have students who can't speak English, but they are expected to pass these tests written in English...how are we supposed to pass given these situations??

Answer 2

Firstly, to the answer that said that legal students get busy work while teachers go help illegals one-on-one. You have no idea what you are talking about. I teach in Texas and that has never happened. You must listen to too many talk radio shows.

The problem with No Child Left Behind is that it forces schools to leave children behind. With extra incentive to pass tests the students that used to take the trade courses like auto shop or agricultural classes are being pushed out of those classes to prepare for a test. I don't think most people care if the guy fixing their car knows when Genghis Khan conquered Asia.( I teach History). We need a split system for college bound and non-college bound students. We should also be teaching the immigrants(all) English for a year, if needed, so they can actually learn in the classroom. In Texas, they are pulled out to seperate classrooms specifically for English-as-a-second-language class.

The statistics on the NCLB law are skewed because of the acrobatics the districts go through to meet the minimum criteria.

NCLB is like giving a guy with a gunshot wound a really good bandage. We don't want to look under it and really see what is going on.

Answer 3

NCLB is great in theory, but it’s not working at all.

In my state what the school has basically done to get these kids to pass is lower the standards. And the kids that were actually on grade level are now falling behind because the teachers have to spend so much time trying to get the ones who were behind back on track, that the other kids are just sitting in class all day reviewing what they already know and not learning a thing. And forget separating the classes by ability, because that might ‘damage’ the children’s self-esteem if they figure out that they’re in the ‘below grade level’ class.

So, how did the school end up with so many kids below grade level? Because they were pushing them through the system. The policy of the elementary schools here is that they will not hold a child a back more than once (again, because doing that might damage their self-esteem), so rather the child actually passed or not, they sent them to the next grade. So they ended up with kids starting middle school (6th grade) who could barely read on a 2nd grade level.

Of course, there are lots of other factors that come into play too. A huge one is lack of parental involvement…and I’m talking about things as simple as making sure your child does their homework (obviously, not the case with ALL parents, but with some).

Another big problem in the area that I live in is the number of children starting school who can barely speak a word of English. It’s hard to teach a child if they can’t understand what you’re saying. Yes, these kids are pulled out to attend English-as-a-second-language class, but only for an hour a day. That’s not much time to try to teach a child to speak a language, and it doesn’t happen overnight, so in the meantime, guess what happens--the child can’t keep up. And by the way, where did my school get the funding to expand the English-as-a-second-language program (which is growing every year out of necessity)? By reducing funds that were used for the accelerated students program (which goes back to the kids on and above grade level who are sitting in class bored and not learning).

And I didn’t learn this information by listening to radio talk shows. I know it because I’ve served on the PTA board for years, I’m friends with teachers and principals (who are very frustrated), and I volunteer at the school on a regular basis.

Answer 4

I don't have any stats, but I am a high school teacher, in a damn good public school, and let me tell you, this law SUCKS, BLOWS and everything else!
I have neither the time nor the desire to get that deep into it, but the main reason that it is not functioning is because it leaves out one essential component of a child's education: his parents. Until the parents are made to take at least a portion of the responsibility for their child's education, NOTHING will work. Period. Public schools and teachers get all the blame, yet everyone likes to forget that we are not PARENTS... we are expected to do everything else except TEACH, so it's no wonder children are falling behind every day. The parents themselves don't give a tinker's damn about their kids--if they did, they'd make sure their children were doing what they're supposed to do--homework, attending class, staying out of drugs, etc. Give the F****** parents some responsibility, for crying out loud!

Answer 5

The no child left behind law is not really working. The school systems are getting around this by skewing the numbers. They are not testing the students that they know will not pass, and testing only the students that they are sure will pass.

Answer 6

I have no stats in front of me but I have worked for three years on parent committees to ensure that the laws were met in our public school. While I agree with the principle of the law, it is hard to follow when this law has NEVER been funded. A lot of the rural schools are having trouble meeting the expectations because of lack of funds.

Answer 7

the no child left behine law in theory was good but in practice many of the states did not apply it and because of the large number of illegal immigrants in our school systems who have to be taught to read, write and speak english the teachers didn't not have the tools or time to apply it. the legal citizens in our classrooms are oft times given busy work while teachers are called away to give one on one help to illegals because they cannot understand the english language or write it thus this takes away from teaching normal students in normal studies. if you do a search you will find that the states / counties with the largest student population of illegals also have the lowest scores. sorry you may not agree with it and i am sure some will get ticked over it but that is the truth and the stats

Answer 8

I'll believe in the No Child Left Behind, when I find a city that has No doctors with patients or jails with prisoners in them... where all the ailments have been cured and all the crimes have been solved...

Answer 9

More feel good politics by the Bush administration. You gotta hand it to the Bush public relations team they know how to come up with all these really cool sayings to get we gullible americans going.

Answer 10

No childs behind let, that is correct way to pronounce that little law.