What are your thoughts and opinions about NO CHILD LEFT BEHIND?

Answer 1

It has some good theory behind it, but it's just horrible how they are putting it into practice.

1. The children who are having problems are getting more assistance. But, at the detriment to those who are excelling. I was in a district where the entire TaG program was cut out because after they hired the paras and teachers they needed to help lower achieving students there was no money left for TaG, which wasn't federally mandated! I have a child who has now missed 2 years of TaG, the first because of that school and now another because she wasn't in TaG last year, so they are observing her this year!!

2. Middle Schools philosophy is getting thrown out and districts are going back to Junior High ideas.... everyone is a specialist and expert in their area and no one is a teacher first. Our district had to trash its language exploration program in the middle school. We taught intro to Spanish, French, and German, 5 weeks each, to expose the students so they could make a valid choice for a year long language class in high school. We all had certification in at least one language. NCLB decreed that the teacher for that had to be certified in ALL 3 languages!! It's an intro course!!!! Hello, good day, good bye, days of the week, colors, etc. Find me someone certified to teach all 3 languages, and you can bet they don't want to teach middle schoolers!

Answer 2

As a mother of a nine year old, I think that the idea was stupid and it has alot of flaws. Because so much of the funding can be cut from the schools if the kids don't do well and improve every year, the teachers end up teaching just what's going to be on the tests and can't stray much from it. My son's class had to quickly learn everything they could about fractions in less than 2 wks because they were having trouble and needed to spend more time on other areas in math. The test require that fourth graders know alot about fractions and math in general. My son and his classmates did poorly on fractions because the teacher didn't have the time to go over fractions like the class needed. Now is that the teachers fault or this stupid No Child Left Behind... I also don't like teacher's pay based on how all the children do, because there are alot of kids and parents who don't care how the kid does in school. Or how about the kids who have learning problems?

Thanks for letting me vent on this subject.

Answer 3

The federal government has instituted a program that makes great press but does not make great education. Most states have their own standards and tests and the federal standards and tests are not the same. I know of schools that are among the leading schools in the state but fall into the category of underperforming under no child left behind. Couple with this is the complete lack of funding and you have created a Wash. D.C. bureaucracy that is politically motivated and at the same time put additional burdens on already strapped school districts. Nice going shrub.

Answer 4

I dont like it. Every child learns at a different pace. If a child is not up to par with the rest of the class than hold them back. You may be hurting that child by forcing them into the next grade when they are not ready. It will cause the child to be even further behind because the subjects get harder. It may even make them fill stupid and eventually hate school.

Answer 5

By 2012 all children will be left behind (except those whose parents can afford elite private schools), because by then every school will have failed, and the Feds can finally stop funding public education. For those who do not know about NCLB, the law requires schools to improve every year so that by 2012 100% of the students are at grade level. What a joke!

Answer 6

Its a joke. First of all, its impossible to "leave no child behind." Whether people want to admit it or not, every child does not have the same level of intelligence and can't be advanced at the same level as others. My cousin is just going into teaching, and his third grade class is just ridiculous. Children in his class should not be in third grade, and weren't passed by their second grade teacher, but she was literally overruled by the principal because, despite having failing grades, they can't be "left behind." This program isn't helping our youth, its hurting it.

Answer 7

The only mistake Clinton made worse than monica. Just a way to get kids who are lagging behind costing extra money out of the system. Plenty are getting left behind though. People do age out of the education system.

Answer 8

I have dealt with this subject in many of my classes. I think it is a good idea if you are in a big school. However, I work in a school that is P-6 grade and we barely have 200 kids. We do not see the benefits of NCLB. Our kids are being left in the cracks on a daily basis. I hear of other schools who have distance learning w/professors and other important people (astronauts, and governors) and our school is lucky to get playground equipment.

Answer 9

In THEORY it is good, in practice it is bad. It does exactly the opposite of what it is suppost to do. the poor and lesser educated children still aren't passing the test in great numbers, and the richer and probably better educated students just have to pass another test to the detrement of learning other topics because the teachers teach to this test. Teachers hate it.

Answer 10

I HATE it. It makes my high school diploma a useless peice of crap, not worth the paper it is printed on. It doesn't really mean that I succeeded in anything because now EVERYONE gets to pass, and it doesn't matter if they don't have the intelligence level to make it. IT HURTS EVERYONE. It is bad for the ones who wouldn't really make it, because now they are just having it handed to them so easily and it takes away that feeling of responsibility that you have to work, and sometimes work hard for what you want in life. For those that can make it and earn their diploma, it doesn't matter because they are just handing dipomas out like candy. It's a useless piece of paper now and I may as well throw it in the trash! I wish the government would change it!