Date: September 10, 2012
Writer’s Name: Todney Harris
Title: Why NCLB is a Failure
Thus far, I have documented my personal feelings regarding the No Child Left Behind
legislation. As of the last week in September of 2012, the act will most certainly be revised during Obama’s administration. Thus far, Arne Duncan the secretary of the Department of Education has revealed that some of the provisions in the act will either be waived or substantially changed. The major provision that all children be proficient in math and reading by 2014 will most definitely be scrapped from the legislation. In return for the waiver, the Obama administration is expected to attach teacher performance to students test scores and create the expectation that charter schools are to be expanded within each state. Obama and Arne Duncan have also stated publicly that each state would be given more flexibility regarding testing controls and
standards.
I agree with the fact that states should have more control. I stated previously that I think it is unconstitutional for the federal government to intervene in the affairs of education. However, I still have a major issue with linking teacher evaluations and performance to student test scores and student data. As an educator, I have a fundamental disagreement with attaching teacher performance to student data and testing scores. I can attest for the record that teachers try their best each and every day. Educators have to work with the students that they are given. It is our hope that all students come to school every day willing to work hard and to learn. However, there are just too many variables that educators cannot control that undermine the process. I think that some common sense has to be applied to this situation.
The overall consensus is that requiring all students to be proficient in math and
reading by 2014 has resulted in unnecessary pressure being put upon educators
and administration. The pressure has resulted in cheating scandals that occurred
in the states of Georgia and Connecticut.
A widespread scandal within the educational community ensued when the Governor’s
office of student achievement investigated the abnormal number of erasures on
student answer sheets. As a result of this investigation, principals, teachers
and other department officials were implicated as culprits of the scandal. As a
result these public officials and educational staff were either forced to resign or were fired if they weren’t willing to resign officially.
Another cheating scandal erupted in Waterbury Connecticut at Hopeville School. An
administrator and a teacher were implicated in the tampering of elementary test
scores. The Connecticut Mastery tests were subject to tampering in an effort to raise test scores as well. A state investigation found irregularities in the school's scores on the State Mastery Tests; there were major improvements, and in some cases, scoring top in Connecticut.
If student data and test scores are still going to be the focus of the No Child Left Behind revision, then more scandals could be a very real possibility in the future. I think it is folly to continue to place undue pressure on teachers and administration. This is the very core essence of the bill that needs revision! I just cannot comprehend why this key issue hasn’t been understood by Mr. Duncan or President Obama.
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