Kucinich on the failure of the No Child Left Behind Act

[Zomby Woof]

Kucinich on Failure of No Child Left Behind Act

"Today’s news report highlighting the failures of the Houston school system is an ominous warning of the failure of the 'No Child Left Behind' Act promoted by this Administration. The 'No Child Left Behind' Act is based on the Houston program and is bound for the same problems unless immediate action is taken to reform education in this country.


"This Administration, and Republicans in Congress, have turned their back on the our nation's students and teachers. The President's budget request for FY ’04 underfunds his own bill by almost $10 billion. And, the Republican controlled House plan would underfund the bill by almost $8 billion. This is unacceptable, and our children deserve better."

http://www.kucinich.us/index.php

[snoochie]

1. He's said a lot more about education

On his blog, I think, I read where he's talked about how useless it is to 'teach to the test'. High stakes testing is a huge issue and the companies that produce materials for the tests, and that grade the tests, are not surprisingly also big contributors to political campaigns.

He's a great candidate and I hope everyone that likes him will vote for him in the primaries.

[Zomby Woof]

2. I have scored assessment tests

And he is right on. Students are just aping what the teachers know will be scored according to the rubric. Just more mediocrity slipping through the cracks.

It isn't like the GOP makes a secret of their plans to destroy public education. Kucinich knows it, and we know it!

You bet I am voting for him come our primaries here in February. :-)

[LWolf]

5. And the reason for the "aping:"

Our administrators no longer even make a pretense of supporting actual teaching and learning. We are flat out directly ordered to "teach to the test." In those words. And our site administrators are doing random compliance checks every week to make sure that is exactly what is going on. It works a little differently at every school site; some principals are more gung-ho than others. But the message, both spoken and unspoken, is clear. We will teach to the test. And we will stick to the script. We're now doing quarterly testing based on newly adopted text books. To make sure that we are all following the same schedule of the same materials at the same time; district mandated tests for each unit of the math and LA texts. About 6 hours or so of testing each quarter. So I asked what the purpose of the test was. Hoping that it would justify the extra hours of instructional time spent testing for scores we aren't supposed to keep or use in the classroom. The answer? "To see if teachers can follow directives." Straight from the keyboard of my principal.

In 21 years at this school district, I have never seen morale so low. Across the entire district.

[Zomby Woof]

7. I admire you

I was a teacher for 6 years in public schools, and I couldn't take the enforced mediocrity being pushed from above anymore. My own peace of mind and financial needs outweighed my concern for the kids, so it was probably for the best I left it behind.

I applaud you for hanging in there, and you confirmed my worst fears. After spending 4 months scoring those tests for Pearson, I realized it's just assmebly line "learning" now.

I am beyond anger in describing how that makes me feel, when I think of good teachers like you being demoralized, students not getting the challenges they deserve and NEED, and just the general future of the nation - I feel at a loss to explain.

[LWolf]

9. You don't need to explain.

I know exactly what you mean. The anger, frustration, and loss of hope is literally a hazard to our health. The back spasm I endured last month was brought on by stress. Not physical stress, unless you count the regular 12 hour days plus evening and weekend time I've been putting in. We've already had one teacher who doesn't have to depend on her paycheck resign this year. And I've had more kids out with "stomachaches" this year than ever before. Kids don't want to be there. School has become the enemy. And many teachers feel the same.

If we step back and look at the big picture, we'll see that "assembly line learning" leads to assembly line consuming and assembly line voting. Generations of stepford citizens who bubble in the test or the ballot like they're told, shop like they're told, and don't presume to question or think about it.

Kucinich stands out for public education as well as so many other issues. He'll talk about nurturing kids. About supporting our efforts to teach with actual funding. About remembering to leave creativity and joy in the curriculum. His is an empowering rather than a punitive message. I'm hanging in there at work. Teaching is a calling for me. It's something positive I can give, when I'm allowed to. I don't want to do anything else. So I'm looking for hope.

[Desertrose]

8. My friend who teaches 4th grade in FL....

is so frustrated....she teaches at one school and her son attends another. She said she is so sorry for her kids but is very glad her son (4th grade also) attends a "different" school.

She says she sees education being drawn along the financial aspects....those that have more money in their district have smaller student teacher ratios , computers and so forth...and her class, which was "barely manageable with just enough time to give one little girl extra attention to help her catch up on her reading skills " suddenly received an influx of 6 new students when they had to cut back an entire classroom due to budget constraints about three months into the school year!

And...she says the same thing you guys say...its not about having the students LEARN anything, its all about scoring on those stupid tests which prove nothing.....its heartbreaking, it really is to hear her stories about kids not being able to read or do the simplist math and being passed on tothe next grade because of how it looks.

Bless you ,:loveya: LWolf and all the teachers out there who continue to care & try for our kids- inspite of the insanity of administrators & politics...we need Dennis who actually cuts through all the bs & games and sees the truth....his desire for change gives me hope....

:hug: & :loveya:
DR

[LWolf]

10. I hear the same from teachers all over, DR.

I talk to teachers from around the nation as well as around my district and state, and it's always a variation on the same story.

Have you listened to Dennis'hour-long forum with the "Every Child Matters Educaction Fund?" I listened to the whole thing before they posted a transcript! You can listen to it or read the transcript here:

http://www.everychildmatters.org/site/PageServer?pagename=ecm_forums

And here's a snip about public education:

State budgets for education are being cut. Federal funds for education are being cut. So local communities more and more are stuck. Again, what are our priorities as a nation? Here’s what I intend to do. I intend to change those priorities and to dramatically increase funding for elementary and secondary education to such levels that states will have the ability to have the ability to fund fully programs across the board, and then if school districts
want to do more with the money they have, they can do that. But we have to raise the floor, literally, for everyone. And the federal government should do that. And you know what? We could do that without sacrificing local control, because the local-controlled schools is what makes – gives schools the ability to really, you know, get people involved and really go places. What’s happening now?
We’ve got the opposite, where local control is being discouraged because schools don’t have the money and then the federal government comes on top of that with programs like No Child Left Behind where they issue mandates that schools can’t even afford. The whole
system’s upside down – power of the federal government to create the discussion about the direction our educational system’s taking. This No Child Left Behind Act, and for whatever intentions it has, has turned into a condition where we threatened local districts with the loss of funds if the children aren’t passing tests. So what are
we doing? We’re creating a nation of test-takers. We’re putting enormous pressure on our children to take tests. Our children, who have such great creativity, who are so excited to learn: we’re turning them into test-takers. Why? What is that about?

As president, I will engage the participation of educational
psychologists, of teachers, of parents, of children, and come up with a whole new approach to education which is based on the quality of the educational experience – on tapping the creativity of the children, not just creating a nation of test-takers as if we’re turning out widgets to be part of an economic machine that is mindless and not directed towards the health of any individual child or family.

So my presidency is going to be about a different direction. It’s about challenging the premises on which we’re operating. It’s not being satisfied with the way things are, but it is going to be about making it possible for local communities to have the resources they need to make the decision that they want to make, because there is
nothing better than a system where parent-teacher groups can come together and talk about the needs of their specific community. And the federal government can help empower that by making sure the resources go through the states to make that happen. What we don’t need is the federal government to be cutting funds for education
while at the same time giving mandates.

It’s the worst thing that has happened to our educational system. So I’m very optimistic about what we can do for our schools, but it has to be about more than talk. We can’t – you know, all of us can agree with these fundamental premises about the importance of education
in our lives. But what takes it beyond talk to real programs? Vision; a willingness to act; a desire to involve the society in taking a new direction on education. That’s what – I’m referring to the presidency of the United States. That vision, that willingness, that dynamic, that understanding of the possibilities of education in the lives
of each of our children, and to make the system respond to that by changing our priorities. It’s not going to be a presidency that’s going to be about tax cuts for the wealthy. We want to create wealth. We want to teach our children how to create wealth. It’s not going to be a presidency about building a bigger military so we can dominate the world. Now we’re going to work with the world cooperatively so that we can all be secure.

[LWolf]

3. I'm glad to see this on his site.

When I started paying attention to Kucinich last spring, he seemed like the ideal candidate. The only thing I needed to get behind him 100% was to hear his stand on NCLB and high-stakes testing.

So I drove down to Santa Ana to listen to him, and got a chance to ask him about it at the reception afterwards. He responded so quickly, and with such accuracy, that my concerns were laid to rest. That was a semi-private conversation; I'm so glad to hear him taking the issue to the public. You can bet I'll be sharing this in the staff lounge!

[JohnKleeb]

4. I am impressed and glad he doesnt like those tests

As a high school student, I know damn well that those things arent useful, maybe the SATs are, but many of the other one are useless and do nothing but put unneeded pressure on the kids.

[genius]

6. Good for Dennis

American schools are worthless except as a last resort though. They stopped teaching years ago.