In an effort to better education in the United States, The New York Times reports that President Obama is changing Bush's No Child Left Behind policy. The new change calls for replacing "the law's requirement that every American child reach proficiency in reading and math, which (Obama) administration officials have calle utopian," and replacing this with a "new target that could prove equally elusive: that students should graduate from high school prepared for college and career" As Bush's order, Obama's proposed law would include "requirements for annual reading and math test." What do you think of the change? Read the attached article and comment
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/14/education/14child.html?ref=todayspaper
Sunday, March 14, 2010
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Changes are good, but change without support can fail miserably. Nowadays, public school teacher barely have the needed supplies to teach the students. Administering test is fine,for we want to know that they can make it in the work market. We need to have classroom reform before the government bestow more test.
ReplyDeleteMy belief is that Bush only put a bandaid on the situation. I agree we need to set high achievement standards as well as a holistic apporach to the situation. Sadly, how can we achieve basic skills when teachers are underpaid, and students do not have the proper resources?
ReplyDeleteThere are some articles about the program in Detroit...the public system is based on charter school approach, with discipline, and they have had results.
Something has to be done before the futrue of this country is zapped away by a computer game, and then who will administer my medication at the nursing home?! :-)
I do not think this new bill is going to work at all. It is just dumbing down students to what is most important wich is reading, writing and math
ReplyDeleteFrom speech class....Some may argue that, having test the best medium that could be used to monitor a child's improvement in the class room, however i agree with president Obama, there are scientific facts that show that at times people freeze up during test, the pressure sometimes is overwhelming to them, which constitutes to poor test results. Personally i've known straight A students not able to take test, because they get nervous
ReplyDeleteMore changes that Obama wants to oppose, however, the real question is if the American people can afford this change. Obama should concentrating on job creation.Unfortunately, as an extreme luck politician he will not do what is necessary to boost our economy. For example: lowering taxes. Katuska Barberan
ReplyDeleteIt's extremely upseting to read the comments on this page. Even more so than reading the actual article itself. Ironically, even though I don't believe in the legislation I can understand, to some extent, why they are trying to pass it. There are too many grey areas to have a completely solid opinion on the issue e.g. Who sets the standards evaluating whether the kids are ready for college or not? What kind of intervention will the government conduct for the schools that lag behind?. So now we have to pick from one of the lesser evils? Both administrations are completely disassociated with society. A blind man could see that Obama is just doing this to win the Republican vote for re-election. Why do we need to bribe schools? If you want the teachers to do their jobs then let them dont constrict them to standards that are optimistic but unrealistic in nature. I'm a Democrat and I am all for "Big Government" but this is just ridiculous. No person in their right mind would even consider this. One day if I become President I'll change this world... Or maybe I'll reform to the "Aristocratic" nature of the modern day politicians.... Elvis Camacho
ReplyDeleteI personally think that this change is a bad idea and a good one. I don’t think that the teachers should be held fully responsible for the students poor test scores and not graduating from that. I totally agree with Theirryseignon. Most students get nervous with all the pressure being put on them to pass the FCAT. You cannot fully blame the teachers for some students poor test scores because a teacher can and will do their job the beat to their ability but it is up to the students to apply what’s taught in class to the test. On the other hand, I do agree that teachers should not only teach just to be prepared to take a test. They should be taught to fit the qualifications for colleges and universities all over the world. It is like the students are cheating themselves in life.
ReplyDeleteThis has really good intentions and I admire that. But seriously, some of the things don't make since.
ReplyDelete"In addition, President Obama would replace the law’s requirement that every American child reach proficiency in reading and math, which administration officials have called utopian, with a new national target that could prove equally elusive: that all students should graduate from high school prepared for college and a career."
How can you take away the requirement of reading and math proficiency?! Not to mention.
"The administration would replace the law’s pass-fail school grading system with one that would measure individual students’ academic growth and judge schools based not on test scores alone but also on indicators like pupil attendance, graduation rates and learning climate."
I understand that stupid tests like the FCAT should not define a student. But things like attendance is trivial. That is such a free pass. And with that free pass, more people will "pass" and enter our society. They spoke about how people "dumb down their standards". But this is dumbing down our standards. We are going to have people who "passed" not because they are actually smart or learned anything, but instead they went to school. I think grades really need to be looked at. Even effort and conduct should be looked at in consideration for this.
Also, what types of careers and colleges are the preparing these kids for? Someone has to pump the gas in my car, will it be one of these kids? Because at the rate this seems to be going that is what they are training them for. This plan needs to be re-looked at to actually make a difference.
I actually have to agree with whomever it was that just commented directly above me. I admire the fact that President Obama and Secretary Duncan are working diligently with their fellow cabinet members on a plan to tackle the problems our education system has. But realistically, does it make any sense to eliminate a system altogether?
ReplyDeleteThe Obama administration wants to focus less on exams, and more on the core values: attendance, grades, participation, etc. That I can agree with, because I myself was never a good test taker growing up, and I always hated that my exam scores were sometimes used as a way to determine whether or not I was intelligent. But by the same token, I feel as if Obama's plan of eliminating this system is almost like wishful thinking in a sense.
If it were up to me, I would have a completely balanced and fused version of what Obama feels needs to be changed, as well as what Bush felt were right provisions for the act. I would eliminate the grade system that Bush implemented that put schools on a grade system. I really dislike the idea that teachers get bonuses if their students performed well, because I feel that teaching as profession should be enough of an incentive to go out and not only teach, but to the best of their abilities. On the other hand, I disagree with Obama when he said that "schools that achieve excellence or show real progress will be rewarded", because I feel like that is belittling students coming from failing schools. Also, I feel Obama is rushing this issue by trying to have a bill passed in August. For things to truly be fixed correctly, we need to take our time and make sure that we have several *bi-partisan* issues on the table that can have long-term positive effects.
I suggest that before we jump the gun, we take a closer look at what we have right now, and find a way to tune or tweak what is already in place. Maybe we won't have a solution within the next year or five years, but if twenty years down the line things are better, I would call that a success.
After reading this article, I feel that Obama has the right idea but obviously not the best-liked approach to go about enforcing it.
ReplyDeleteI do think that teachers should focus on making sure that theis students learn the materials required for their proper grade level but I also think that parents should also be held more accountable too.
If a student does not want to participate in school activities, a teacher cannot make them, only their parent can so why should the teacher be a fault.
Granted, if the law passes, their are certain steps that teachers can take to make sure that their job or school's reputation isn't at stake due to the poor performance of unwilling students, but for the most part, it all starts at home.
However, I do feel that over these past few years, teachers have been geared towards only making sure their students pass certain test because of the stress that the Bush Administrations' No Child Left Behind policy put on test scores. I feel that teachers should do more than just the minimum requirements to make sure a student is actually grasping the knowledge they should learn, so that way when they get to college, they are able to pass their CPT, and start taking college credit classes from the beginning instead of wasting more time in college taking prep classes. They would also save money.
This is something I think Obama should do. Like the person above said, teachers worry too much about the fcat. This is something I remember from back in high school. I don’t think this test is a good way of telling if a student is smart or not. Teachers must actually teach, rather than have a test run their class. I have experienced this as a high school student, and it made classes more frustrating. I would therefore back Obama in his plan to make the education system better.
ReplyDeleteAs the two people before me said, using the FCAT to measure a student’s level of intelligence has proven to be troublesome for teachers and useless for students. Teachers base their class curriculum around this test every year, which takes away time from teaching their students the material that truly matters. This is something I have seen from personal experience. It changes the learning environment in the class and makes all students only worry about this test. I think this is something that be should done away with, or at least, implemented in a different way – one that won’t deter students from learning and promote knowledge they will need in the future.
ReplyDeleteAdditionally, the problem is not just found with this test, but also with the way parents are bringing up their children. As was said before, the motivation and encouragement for learning starts at home, and nowhere else. It is from here that a child will feel compelled to perform well in school and participate in extra curricular activities, which would lead on to a successful college career. Parents must stress the importance of these two, and they are the ones who should be held accountable.
I like Obama’s plan of bringing a more holistic education to the classrooms, and getting many students ready for what awaits them in the college world. However, I hope he is able to find the resources needed to do this. This is something that will require a lot of time and effort, not just from the Government, but also from teachers, parents, and ultimately, the students. - Cesar V.
Obama has no idea what he's doing.
ReplyDeleteHe's all bells and whistles. Sure, all the crap he's saying to the nation sounds like he's actually proposing something, but all he's doing is actually hindering the youth.
Students should be rewarded on a pass-fail merit, not on the idea of that the school as a whole needs to be top-notch scouts. Not everyone is motivated and determined to succeed in their education. While we should strive to change this mindset, I believe this fabricated-black-president is going about it all wrong.
"“This’ll be controversial,” said Bob Wise, a former West Virginia governor who leads the Alliance for Excellent Education..." Well no shit. Teachers are also getting the screw-job in this mess as well. Why does he feel that he has to go change everything like his life depended on it? He's like the pope who canonized all these saints in the span of minutes. Seriously, everyone really needs to open their eyes and see what's going on. For example “In addition, President Obama would replace the law’s requirement that every American child reach proficiency in reading and math”. This is not going to end well.
ReplyDeleteI do agree with Non believer that Obama is pretty much just bells and whistles. He says and claims a lot of things that don't really happen. (For example, pulling out of the war, and not wanting to drill oil from our oceans.) And I do think that students should be rewarded on pass or fail. The students are the key word, not the school. If the school is in a ghetto area and no one is motivated to do anything that would hurt them deeply. Yes I understand that they are trying new methods to try and avoid this like counting attendance and all that stuff, but it can't really be counted for much. If it were counted for a lot then that would be a joke.
ReplyDeleteI also agree with Phil. How can you take away the requirement that every American child should reach proficiency in reading and math and think things will end well? We might as well kiss intelligent life good-bye. It’s not like those standards were very hard to begin with. It made me laugh so hard when I read, “The law’s focus on reading and math has led thousands of schools to shorten time devoted to other subjects. Hoping schools will once again offer a rich diet of art, history, science, physical education and other courses, the administration says it will allow states to test subjects other than math and reading and use scores on those tests to rate their schools, though it will not require states to do so.” Last time I checked, reading is involved with science, art and history. Not to mention math eventually gets involved with science. So if you can’t handle fifth grade reading or math, how can you really have a rich diet of this without the basics? And if the standards are getting lower, I guess the careers for these kids will be mediocre just like Chibi said.