It's About Time wrote on Oct 6, 2007 8:59 PM:that the public be aware of the insanity behind this law. Will all of society's problems be solved by 2014? Will all parents do everything necessary for their kids to be perfect students by 2014? This law is like telling a runner-run your fastest mile, then every year decrease your time by 11 percent or you are a failure as a runner! (and the benchmark scores have been increasing every year since NCLB's inception). NCLB has been a complete failure. Even if some schools are bringing test scores up, consider what has been left behind: social studies, science, arts, music, PE, and technology. All the testing done is by multiple choice, which by its nature, cannot include higher level thinking, critical reasoning, or actual writing. The real world doesn't function this way and neither should our testing of children. Comments?

Thank you Ted Kennedy wrote on Oct 6, 2007 9:30 PM:We must all remember if it were not for Sen. Ted Kennedy NCLB would not exist. It was his brainchild that he sold to Mr. Bush, and together they sold Congress and the Senate on this program. That said, I have to wonder why so many educators seem to believe the goals are impossible. Over the past 40 years the US has gone from the #1 nation in the world for quality of education to #16. We now have so poor a record in Math and Science that our Univeristies are having to hire Professors from foreign contries to come teach. Maybe that is why so many educator believe that by 2014 our primary and secondary school will be failing: not enough quality teachers graduating from our Universities, and too few left in our schools to accomplish the task at hand. Mr. Kennedy was obviously too late with his NCLB plan, and at the current rate of decline the US will become a 3rd world country by 2020.

Neighbor wrote on Oct 6, 2007 9:35 PM:NCLB is total garbage. NCLB relies on testing that is "standardized" so that you will always have winners and losers. It is mathematically impossible for every student to be at 100% because the test is normed to a curve that is regularly adjusted to make the student population fit in the standardized bell curve. With the drivers test at DMV, on any given day, every test taker could pass or every test taker could fail - the test has a preset bar that does not care how anyone else does. The tests that students take do care about how other students have done and score each child according to the population of test takers. NCLB was a stupid law that has enriched the pockets of testing companies such as ETS.

There's a Reason California is 47th in te Nation wrote on Oct 6, 2007 11:34 PM:Nonsense. There's no reason that our kids can't be reading and doing math at grade level, but obviously NOT if we keep doing the same things we're doing. California is academically 47th out of the States for a reason. Instead if emulating the prohrams of the most successful States and Districts, California just keeps bumbling along, experimenting on our kids, trying this and playing with that. The Teachers Union knows how to get their members high COLAs every year, how to make bad teachers impossible to get rid of but not how to insist they behave like competent professionals. Talk to the average teacher your child has in school-their grammar is terrible, their spelling is atrocious and many of them behave unprofessionally. They don't even have to do lesson plans any more. Half the time they don't finish the core curriculum of their subject in a school year. These "educators" and district administrators don't know how to educate. They know how to pander to every federal and state giveaway program grabbing money from government to institute every senseless social engineering program that comes down the pike wasting instructional minutes daily, but they don't know how to teach reading or basic math. What do you expect of school districts that teach kids to rely on calculators in the second grade instead of teaching them their times tables and other basic math facts till they know them backwards and forwards? California used "whole language" instead of phonics for many, many years despite the plunging reading scores, many districts still use "whole language" and they can't figure out why their kids can't read. Additionally, most of the schools' resources are spent teaching the children of illegal aliens, not citizens' children. Eliminate test scores for children who just arrived, speak no English, have parents with a sixth grade education, if that, and the test scores are alot closer to the goal. We're saddled in California with a huge problem of where our resources are going in the schools. Bilingual teachers, secretaries, lunchroom attendants, classroom assistants are all paid much more money and hired first. Kids who speak English sit in the back of the room doing busy work while the teacher struggles to make herself understood. We don't need time, we need a different system. Stop teaching to the bottom of the heap and set some decent standards-if reading and doing math on grade level is too tough for these education professionals, dumpo them and hire from out of State in the top scoring States.Entise teachers who are GOOD at what they do to come to sunny California.

To Thank You wrote on Oct 6, 2007 11:40 PM:In order to fully understand your point, there are a few facts that must be mentioned: 1. What is your source for stating that we have dropped from #1 to #16? 2. What is your source showing hiring trends in higher education? I am just wondering if your statement is based on fact, personal observation, or assumption.

jvc wrote on Oct 7, 2007 12:48 AM:No Child Left..... should really read no Treacher Left Behind.... This testing is backward in that we are testing students for what amounts to poor performance based on poor instructors! We must have an educational system that is properly training teachers to teach!Then, once we have good teachers we can assume the student is learning what they should! Doing well by students on tests is directly related to good instructors! Ironically, it is our schools that are failing to properly train teachers that is at fault for so many poor instructors in the teaching profession!

Floyd wrote on Oct 7, 2007 2:54 AM:Briefly summarized, the administrators (please, don't call them "educators" if they aren't teaching in the classroom) are saying "We can't do it because it's HARD!" Well, golly, we've been pointing out their substandard performance for years; decades, even! Now that we're all on the same page, how about figuring out how to actually infuse some education into the students?

ME wrote on Oct 7, 2007 6:17 AM:The reality of the situation is that public education in America is failing. These politicians seem to think that the failure is a result of poor teaching. However, all anyone needs to do is look at the community that supports the school. If a school is failing, then that community does not properly emphasize education. Our greatest teachers are our parents!!!!

Jackie wrote on Oct 7, 2007 7:17 AM:Bush and Kennedy worked together to give us the Unesco program which is from the united nations. This is were your NCLB came from. It is a form of indoctrination they are not teaching. There is no longer a difference between Democrat or Republican they are the same party (FASCISTS) pushing one world government. If you think I am crazing then google NORTH AMERICAN UNION this is to integrate Canada, United States and Mexico. We have already lost our constitutional rights to the war on terror and the illegal war on Iraqu. Soon we will be invading Iran so we can conquer what is left of the none westernized countries.The invasion of illegal aliens is allowed so it will make it easier to integrate the countries. The united nations is the one world government. They will eventualy come out of the closet and declare it. WAKE UP BEFOR IT IS TO LATE TO STOP IT!

Duane wrote on Oct 7, 2007 8:14 AM:Kelli Moors, either you have a "world class school district" or you are "doomed to failure". Make up your mind, girl!

You've got to be kidding wrote on Oct 7, 2007 8:18 AM:True, No Child Left Behind needs some retooling. However, Carlsbad High is referred to as standout school? Did you check the rankings Phil? It is ranked a "2" out 10 when compared to schools with the same demographics. Every school in CUSD scored in the 800's EXCEPT Carlsbad High. Some major improvements need to happen at that school before it can it the same league as Torrey Pines.

Feds Meddling Locally wrote on Oct 7, 2007 8:21 AM:NCLB is no more garbage than any other Federal meddling in local public schools. On the positive side (and administrators mostly agree with this) it has created a very intense focus on improving education, unlike anything that has ever been seen. But, the way the goals are set is just extraordinarily unrealistic. First, for the reasons stated in the article. And second (not mentioned above), because each state sets it's own standards. California set very high standards before NCLB based on API measurements and goals, and then the Feds came in and used those same standards for NCLB. They were never intended to be used that way, and if you check other states, their standards are not nearly as high. Take a look at grade level 5th grade math, or grade level 8th grade math, and you'll see it is at least a year more advanced than the standard most states have set. Wonder why your kids have 2 to 3 hours of homework in 6th grade? This is why. As a parent that pays very close attention to this stuff, it's quite honestly a miracle that schools are doing as well as they are.

Taxpayer responds: wrote on Oct 7, 2007 8:54 AM:That's because NCLB is part of the Republican agenda that opposes public education and supports the notion of public funding for private schools and charter schools.

Reardon wrote on Oct 7, 2007 9:11 AM:One of the concepts that made Dr. Edward Deming so great was "That which gets tested, gets done." It's true, and while the tests may be tweaked they must not be ended for a State that ranks no higher than 46th in federal testing this year. (See "National Report Card.") Yes, one of the problems is non-English speaking students, and aside from the question of "why are they here anyway," there is the even more obvious question of "why are they allowed in the classroom before they are fluent?" Simply requiring fluency before they can pull down the learning of the other fluent students would improve our grades quickly and help our citizen students -- whose parents are actually paying the freight! Foreign students applying for American colleges and universities must first pass a test in English. Keep those non-English-speaking students out of the classroom until they are capable of learning academically in English.

Tell the truth! wrote on Oct 7, 2007 9:12 AM:The bigger problem with these supposed educators is that they are lying to you. They refuse to tell the public that they are spending your tax dollar to educate the children of illegal immigrants. These children rarely perform well on these tests. What do you think children arriving from other countries with little or no English skills means??? If these school leaders would step up and support a crack down on these students there would be better scores and more money for arts and music programs. Shame on these lying school leaders. No wonder our kids are so lacking in morals these days.

What? wrote on Oct 7, 2007 9:17 AM:I don't really know enough about this law or the tests to comment. But I have to question the concept. No child left behind? Some kids refuse to cooperate. I know, I was one of them. There has always been and there will always be a percentage of kids that are under performers. I don't like the idea of taking funding from poor performong schools. I think they should fire the principles and teachers at under performing schools. I also think they should make the kids that fail the test repeat that grade. Somewhere in the past they decided it was bad for a childs selfesteem to fail them. Well it is bad to be in a class when you don't know what you should of learned the grade you just left.

Ron wrote on Oct 7, 2007 9:29 AM:If you realy want parents to be fully responsible for whether their own children learn or not. Then give vouchers to parents and let them make the final decision. If a school says: "We can not guarantee 100%, but we can reach "X", if the parent chooses your school, they know what their getting. A real choice in schools will help all kids get a better education. Competition is the way to go.

Here's my point wrote on Oct 7, 2007 9:49 AM:Separate the two issues; one is the idea behind NCLB, a good idea, the other is the rating for NCLB, not a good idea and as others have mentioned, statistically unachievable.

Terrible Story wrote on Oct 7, 2007 10:14 AM:The headline does not match the content. While it sounds as if educators are talking about NCLB, in fact the article mainly expresses the concerns of school board members. Many people, such as Floyd, seem to have missed that point. School board members are politicians, folks. They are not teachers or administrators or professional educators of any kind.

Reardon wrote on Oct 7, 2007 10:32 AM:I’ll accept 47th as the general average of 4th grade reading (49th), 8th grade reading (49th), 4th grade math 49th), and 8th grade math (46th) – but the real problem is that newspapers do not headline those facts! Read the Associated Press story of September 25th in this newspaper, and you will learn that California students gained in reading and math without any discussion of where they gained from. There is zero mention of where California stands nationally! (Google National Report Card.). No newspaper article in this newspaper for years has told the parents the actual numbers – yes, they say we are gaining or not gaining – but NOTHING that says where we are, and where we are improving FROM! (When you are as low as California schools are, almost anything is an improvement but in reading (4th grade) we are just one point above Mississippi and two points above Louisiana, so we had better not get much worse!) This journalistic malpractice is not limited to this newspaper – it is not in ANY newspaper I can find. Absolutely amazing!

About Time wrote on Oct 7, 2007 10:50 AM:It's about time that NCLB gets more attention. Those that enact legislation typically have never set foot in a classroom or asked the right people how to make our system better. We all want students to succeed. Hopefully, our government will be realistic and work with educators instead of against them.

Roy wrote on Oct 7, 2007 10:52 AM:Notice to teachers: The goals should always be a higher than what is achievable.If the goals are being met by a majority of students then the bar needs to be set even higher because the students are obviously capable of more. That is real life! Stop complaining about high standards and do your jobs!

Spouse of OUSD Teacher wrote on Oct 7, 2007 11:17 AM:jvc has absolutely no clue what they're talking about. Our teachers are as good as, if not better than, anywhere in the country. The problem is illegal immigration, plain and simple. We cannot continue to absorb the countless unskilled, or uneducated immigrants who have come here without the same values and focus as we do without any consequences, of which are too many to explain in this forum. My spouse teaches in a predominately Hispanic school (80+ percent), and a good percentage of them are either an illegal alien or their parents are. And what makes my spouse’s job that much more difficult is that a lot of these kids don’t speak much English at home, nor do they get any support from their parents. Academic success is not emphasized, which can be seen by the high drop-out rate amongst Hispanics, which hovers around 30 percent. While my spouse and a few other teachers are bilingual, they are not allowed to teach in Spanish. If you look at the statistics, Hispanic kids do the poorest and have the lowest API scores of all the racial groups here in San Diego County, (with Asians at the top). So, to blame our teachers for the failure of the NCLB Act is a total fallacy. While the NCLB act has good intentions, it clearly doesn’t take into account the fact that Hispanics are unable to pull themselves out of the rut of academic underachievement.

Spouse of OUSD Teacher wrote on Oct 7, 2007 12:11 PM:I've had a chance to read the posts in here and I'm appalled at how many people use improper grammar and can't spell, yet here they are pointing fingers at our teachers. Nonetheless, I've said this before and I'll say it again; the failure of the NCLB Act does not rest on our teachers, rather it is directly related to illegal immigration. There is a great schism between how Hispanics view academic achievement and how the rest of our society views it. Many of us grew up in households where it was pounded into us that we need to stay in school, study hard, do our homework, and go to college. This is not happening in the homes of many Hispanic kids. Their role models are completely different than most of us and academic achievement isn't stressed. Many Hispanic parents aren't providing, nor are they equipped to provide, the support at home needed for their kids to attain academic success. Many lack the 'follow-through' when it comes to making sure their kids are doing what is needed to be successful. And worse, they expect the teachers do all the work. So, to put blame on our teacher is a total fallacy. Let’s quit blaming our teachers and give them the credit they deserve.

teacher wrote on Oct 7, 2007 12:39 PM:Roy, I don't know any teachers who resent high standards. I love the fact that we finally HAVE standards! Thank GOD! At least now, we know EXACTLY what to teach...and when. What I resent is the fact that a student with an IQ of 68 (or LOWER) is held to the same STANDARDS! I resent the fact that a child who was born addicted to crack and is currently in foster care is held to the same standards. I resent the fact that a child who has been in the country just over a year (and likely had little education in his own country) is expected to score PROFICIENT on a standardized test. I resent the fact that kids who may not even be "legal" are factored into our school's scores. I do not get to CHOOSE the kids I teach. I teach every child in my class to the BEST of my ability. I have high standards for EVERY child that I teach. However, my goal is for each child to reach HIS full potential. I have had MANY students come to my class who were not proficient in their own NATIVE language! I give 110%, as most teachers I work with do. I love and genuinely care about my students. I am a professional. I respect the parents of the children I teach. I know I CAN make a difference. All three of my children have been blessed with FANTASTIC teachers. My first grader reads voraciously and can write a paragraph. My other child scored a PERFECT score on the standardized test. Gee...someone must be doing something right! Might it be because they have both been read to since birth? Might it be because WE, as a family, value education? Might it be that we, as parents, RESPECT our children's teachers? Might it be because we are both college educated? Come on! It's not hard to figure out why schools like Torrey Pines have higher scores than Oceanside High. Try pouring water into a sieve sometime. Maybe you'll understand what I am trying to say. In the meantime, maybe you should pay a visit to a local school so that you can observe, in person, what teachers are doing right. I think you'd be pleasantly surprised. Don't believe all of the propoganda. Come see for yourself!

teacher wrote on Oct 7, 2007 12:42 PM:Spouse of OUSD teacher, I agree with almost everything you said. However, I would attribute much of the poor grammar and spelling to the fact that many people are pretty FIRED UP when they post here!

GFN wrote on Oct 7, 2007 12:47 PM:Reardon, 9/11 am post...YES, you are absolutely correct!!! The question really is "why are they here anyway?" Demand fluency BEFORE they are allowed into a real classroom. I have a young teacher friend and she barely gets past math and English and not much more of the curriculum. 40% of her students are ESL's and she IS A GREAT TEACHER.

Roy wrote on Oct 7, 2007 12:56 PM:teacher: My wife substitutes at Elsinore Valley Unified so I get an earful related to what you are saying. I under stand this: children wiil be left behind regardless of the name of the program. Not everyone will meet the high standards and some will not even come close. Do the best you can for the many that are capable of meeting the standards. My daughter was put on a math "at risk" list last week and will need math tutoring. I am lucky, however, her problem has more to do with either the boring way the curriculum is taught, or her own dislike of it, than her ability to learn it. Some kids must dicipline themselves to learn the subjects they hate. I am sure all of us adults can relate to forcing themselves to learn subject matter that they could not stand.

Read this wrote on Oct 7, 2007 1:02 PM:The goal of NCLB is to not have the federal government pay for any public education. Schools only need to follow NCLB if they want federal money. The federal government likes this law because they hope that states will just stop taking federal money. For example, Utah does not follow NCLB because they do not take federal money and there students are performing better because they are not teaching to the test. Also, every state sets their own standards. One of the reasons why we are low is because we have very high standards.

NCLB Analogy wrote on Oct 7, 2007 1:06 PM:Here is how NCLB would be implemented for dentist. Dentist will be graded based on how many of their patients have cavities. From the first time they see that dentist it will begin. It doesn't matter what they eat or drink or if they even brush. It is the job of the dentist to keep them cavity free. Everyone's teeth are exactly the same so all dentist should be graded the same. This is what NCLB wants to do to education. It does not make sense. Not every student is the same.

Floyd wrote on Oct 7, 2007 3:02 PM:If you're concerned about the poor grammar and spelling in these posts, don't you suppose those people have personal experience with the failure of the school systems to teach? And that the problem has existed for decades? Who better to demand improvement than those who have directly experienced the failures of the education system?

Paul wrote on Oct 7, 2007 3:03 PM:Hey my fellow bloggers, an easy solution to our educational problems - we need another ballot initiative for the next election to increase funding for the schools! When you have a problem, government solution - throw money at it.

Randy wrote on Oct 7, 2007 5:15 PM:100% at grade level is impossible to attain- Immigrants move into the districts at mid-year and cannot speak English!

jvc wrote on Oct 7, 2007 6:15 PM:Good try,but to try to blame poor instruction on students whose first language is not English is absurd! We are talking about poor student performance by those whose first language IS English! I submit that it should not be a policy that teachers are being trained on the job!

been there wrote on Oct 7, 2007 6:25 PM:We love to compare schools, states and kids. True standards set goals , like a high jumper faces. The reality is that more students are graduating high school, attending college and graduating college than ever before! Even SAT has to periodically revise their tests because today's smarter students master them and we get score inflation. A few days ago this newspaper published a sample standards test. Those of you who love to bash education should take it. It might be instructive to be humbled a bit. Maybe then you will have to find something else to bash.

Reardon wrote on Oct 7, 2007 8:07 PM:To Paul: Even though I hate government spending, paying teachers more is a good idea -- $100,000 for each beginning teacher. (Subject to teachers giving up tenure and unions, and accepting tough testing.) "Women's Liberation" liberated women to be engineers and scientists and CEOs -- taking the best and the brightest from the ranks of teaching. Teaching needs to be professionalized, and that means incentivizing the best and the brightest back into the teaching ranks.

teacher wrote on Oct 7, 2007 8:51 PM:JVC, At my school the majority of students who are native English speakers are proficient (a high number are advanced). There are some exceptions to this, of course. For example, special education students typically do poorly on these tests. Of course, most of my students' parents are college educated and will do whatever it takes to help their children succeed. Education is a PARTNERSHIP. Yes, students can be successful without parental support. If I didn't believe this, I would have quit teaching years ago. However, success is almost guaranteed when both teachers AND parents work together. Also, I am not sure what you mean by "teachers being trained" on the job. Our district won't even think of hiring a teacher to teach a subject he's not credentialed in. Also, most teachers in our district have a Master's. We actually make good money. However, had money been my motivator, I would have chosen a different profession. I look forward to going to my job each day. How many people can say that they RARELY have a bad day at work?

To Teacher: wrote on Oct 7, 2007 9:08 PM:AMEN!

jvc wrote on Oct 7, 2007 11:20 PM:I am sorry but I have yet to meet a teacher/instructor that was not deficient in some aspect of teaching! Maybe this profession does not attract the brightest or our schools are not properly preparing these teachers. I do not think it is unfair to say that our students are failing to meet minimum standards and as a result we must examine the teaching profession itself besides proper funding!-

Paul wrote on Oct 8, 2007 6:54 AM:To Readon, I have a relative, retired teacher, (never in an adminstrative postion) her retirement is 60K + a year!-

Spouse of OUSD Teacher wrote on Oct 8, 2007 8:05 AM:Again, JVC keeps beating the same 'let's blame the teacher' drum. Armchair quarter-backing from the sidelines and generalizations made about teachers does nothing to lend credibility to your argument. And JVC offers no meaningful or logical premises to their conclusions. On the other hand, I can offer one clear premise to my conclusions that the NCLB Act is a failure hare in San Diego County; low API scores of Hispanic students. These scores, available online, show that there is a disparity between them and other racial groups and speak volumes at 'why' the NCLB Act is a failure. And what immediately jumps out is that the blame cannot be placed on our teachers. We have a significant (immigrant) Asian population here in San Diego, yet they score the best, with white students behind them at a close second. But the bottom line is, Hispanics are the root cause, not our teachers.-

Oldtimer wrote on Oct 8, 2007 10:06 AM:When I went to public school there was no issue about who could or could not do work at grade level. If you could't, you flunked and stayed in the same class another year. Pretty good system. 100% of any graduating class could pass the tests. If you couldn't pass, you didn't graduate to the next class. How simple. How elegant! NO teachers union nonsense.-

Kids Perspective on Oldtimer wrote on Oct 8, 2007 4:19 PM:I just read Oldtimer's comment to my 13 year old son. He laughed! And then his comment was, the kids know they won't flunk, and since they know there isn't going to be any ramifications for not doing well and so really don't care in the slightest about NCLB, Program Improvement, Federal Sanctions, etc. In fact, given the current "don't make them feel bad" mentality of educators, there is NOTHING that a teacher can do or say or hold over a kids head if they decide they want the entire school to fail! And they know it!! The difference for my kids is they know they are going to have to come home and face me if they blow it. Parents make a big difference.

jvc wrote on Oct 9, 2007 1:43 AM:What is the nature and function of education in our nation? In K-12, it is about acquiring functional literacy!In higher education, education is about overcoming the esoteric nature of knowledge that is kept from the student by the privileged! Therefore, are we to believe that we cannot teach our students to become functionally literate after 12 years? There is not a subject in being able to read or write that I can think of that cannot be taught in one year then alone 12! Something is really amiss here! As to higher education, the privileged will always control knowledge!-

Spouse of OUSD Teacher wrote on Oct 9, 2007 9:09 PM:JVC, keeping the discussion on K-12, if you take a child who's primary language is Spanish (NOT English) it takes between 5-7 years to get them functionally literate, depending on things like intelligence and support from home (and other factors). IF all these are in place and a student does attain functional literacy after say 5 years, they are still behind the 'power-curve' and are generally behind the rest of their peers. You cannot blame the teachers for this. Teachers have 20+ kids who they need to teach, and some are just not going to get the same out of their education as their peers because of factors beyond the teachers' control. Unfortunately, resources are limited (versus unlimited like some would like to believe) and teachers have to teach curriculum that is going to prepare a broad spectrum of their students for the next grade. This all falls back on whether these kids come to school prepared and ready to learn, cooperate, and have cooperation at home. Many of the immigrant kids don't come prepared with basic skills and my spouse even has some that haven't even gone to school prior to them coming to her school. When I grew up in a large city we had the same kids pretty much year after year. In my spouse's class she'll lose about 10 percent of her students throughout the school year. Many of these kids have an unstable foundation and move from place to place (and even back to Mexico) with a higher frequency than most. So, there are many factors beyond a teacher's control that contributes to the scholastic underachievement of these immigrant students, who are largely to blame for the failure of the NCLB Act.

jvc wrote on Oct 9, 2007 10:44 PM:It is so easy to blame all these weaknesses in the teaching profession on the very poor of the Hespanic race but this is a smokescreen for the failures in the teaching profession! In her speech of yesterday, the President of Spelman College stated that any child learning ANY language is ready to grasp any knowledge being taught! Please quit the excuses and equip yourself to impart the knowledge that students need to become literate! No more excuses and most of all it should be a reflection on instruction when student are doing poorly on tests! Again, the failures in teaching is being addressed toward those failures in classes with students whose first language is English! Unfortunately, many of our schools are doing nothing but offering sitting services to the student!And most importantly, we must discontinue the notion that the teaching profession is beyond scrutiny!

Jason wrote on Oct 9, 2007 11:09 PM:We need to improve the quality of our education system in America. That is a simple fact. NCLB is the first tangible effort to accomplish that. The plan creators stopped talking and took action. Now, it can be argued that there should be some changes to the plan, but to claim it's some kind of conspiracy or "evil plan" is just sad. Buckle down and make the effort. The first post claimed it was too hard, and too easy in the same post! Stop crying and start working harder.

Spouse of OUSD Teacher wrote on Oct 10, 2007 5:54 AM:It's plainly obvious that JVC has a personal vendetta against the teaching profession. If you don't work with, or are closely associated with the profession, you're words are pure rhetoric and don't hold much credence. As for our educational system, we have one of the best in the world despite all the dismal news about the NCLB Act. This country continues to pump out some of the greatest minds and innovators and we set the bar for technological advances in a broad spectrum of industries. A neighbor of mine once said we?re moving into a new era, and you?re either on board or you?re not. Those that aren?t are going to be relegated to the menial jobs.-

jvc wrote on Oct 10, 2007 8:30 AM: Yes, the system needs fixing and sadly we have not been able to even compete with third world countries in the field of education!We can start with fixing it when we admit there is a problem! For our sake, I wish I could admit that our schools are as wonderful as you see them!But, since you and others do not see the need for improvement, nothing will change!-

James wrote on Oct 10, 2007 8:54 PM:It's true, the unreality of the legislation is completely irrelevant. The test scores are irrelevent. The ONLY thing that matters is that schools are being held accountable like never before, and a huge spotlight has been shown on how poorly educated (and just plain stupid) most American kids are. Thus NCLB has to be declared a huge success. Now maybe educators will begin to wake up to the radical changes that must be made to public education.

Eric wrote on Oct 11, 2007 11:16 AM:The tests aren't normed. They're based on meeting a standard. In theory, every child could meet the standard. In practice, there are plenty of good reasons that some children each year will fall short. So, yes, the 100 standard is unrealistic but not for mathematical reasons. It's for human reasons. The federal law requires state tests in grades 3-8 and once in high school, in reading and math. If Nc is testing in more grades, that's the state's choice. The periodic increases in the percentage of students who must score proficient are set by the states, not Congress. The law doesn't require perfection. It requires students (but not the kids in kindergarten, grade 1, grade 2, and three years of HS) to pass fairly easy state tests.

Steve wrote on Jan 9, 2008 8:15 AM:There is always a group of people that blame teachers. There are some good teachers and some bad teachers, I am not going to argue that. Just like every profession, you have your good and bad.

It's like blaming a dentist for having cavities, when you continue to eat sweets, or a personal trainer for not losing weight, when you continue to eat like a pig.

Lately I have noticed that no one wants to take responsibility for their own actions.
The bad teacher is at fault.
The lazy students are at fault.
The bad parents are at fault (let's face it, your kids aren't perfect)
Poor leadership.
The families that choose not to learn the language of the country that they are in are at fault.

But each is at fault for their own failure. Not for someone else's.

As a teacher, I worked hard to have every student pass. I would call parents and visit them. Students always had access to me for help, either by phone, email, morning, after school, or lunch. Did all my students pass? No. Some just did not care, some had bigger issues to worry about, and some parents did not care. Do I consider myself successful? Yes, I did the best that I could. Each I would do a little more.

Don't blame the teachers, hispanics, immigrants, parents. Take care of your self and your own first. Then instead of complaining, go out there and help someone. It is easy to be behind a computer and point fingers.