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Thursday, August 23, 2007
Debra J. Saunders :: Townhall.com Columnist
No Fad Left Behind
by Debra J. Saunders
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"Many Americans do not believe that the success of our students or of our schools can be measured by one test administered on one day, and I agree with them. This is not fair," Rep. George Miller, D-Calif., told the National Press Club last month.

As the House Education and Labor Committee he chairs is expected to roll out a draft for legislation to reauthorize the 2001 No Child Left Behind bill, Miller and fellow Democrats want to change NCLB testing.

Currently, the law requires that students be tested in math and reading every year between third-grade and eighth-grade, then once in high school. Miller explained he would add "multiple measures of success. These measures can no longer reflect just basic skills and memorization, but rather critical thinking and the ability to apply knowledge to new and challenging contexts."

On the one hand, Miller is right to push to improve NCLB. He wants to allow states to apply graduation rates toward their yearly NCLB progress scores and also would have states include history and science test scores.

On the other hand, when the education establishment touts testing for "critical thinking," that can be code for: Maybe the kid can't read, but look at the bright side, he's smart.

And when educrat groups -- such as the Forum on Educational Accountability -- recommend that NCLB add "comprehensive assessments systems," which would include portfolios (essays, drawing, reports) in order to offer "rich and challenging educational goals," beware. What sounds like more sophisticated testing could end up being more confusing and inconclusive. A kid who can draw does not mean a kid who can multiply.

"The great danger here is that it clouds the accountability system," noted Amy Wilkins, vice president of Education Trust, a nonprofit group that advocates for higher standards in K-12 education.

No Child Left Behind's mission -- to help all children read and compute at grade level -- puts basics first so that children have the fundamentals in place to tackle more challenging subjects. Testing for problem-solving and critical thinking skills would only allow children who don't know the basics to score higher than they should. Continued...
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Reply # 1
Date: Aug 29, 2007 - 2:44 AM EST
The Good Old Days of Public Schools
I went to school when the only employees the school had were teachers, a principal, and janitors. The school's budget was a pittance compared to the amount of dollars thrown away on "education" today. The teachers were quite good and would not tolerate any nonsense in the class. Spelling bees were common as were math bees (you all stood up and one at a time, were given an addition, subtraction, multiplication, or division problem). If you gave a wrong answer, you sat down. In sixth grade, the entire class of 20 students had to take a mathematics exam and had to score 100 percent on it. We were also told that if anyone did not score a 100, they would have to take the exam again until they scored a 100 or had taken the exam 3 times. I was the only person who scored a 100 on the first attempt. I received some nasty looks when the teacher passed out the exam to everyone but me for the second attempt. Neither I nor any of my old classmates ended up in prison or in psychiatric therapy in later life because of this event. Thank goodness there was no ACLU to threaten to sue on our behalf and tell us that scoring 50 out of 100 was good enough for an A. I look back on my old school days fondly and realize that all of the students were able to receive a very good education because of good teachers and discipline in the classroom. By the time we graduated, each of us had a strong knowledge of spelling, math, science, and even manners. I thank God that I went to school when I did.
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Reply # 2
Date: Aug 23, 2007 - 10:30 PM EST
my questions about NCLB
I have always been perplexed by this ardent defense of NCLB by my fellow conservatives. One the one hand, they moan about how unconstitutional the entire Department of Education is, but OTOH they act as though NCLB is some great idea. The fact is that NCLB represents one of the Bush Administration's biggest forays into big government thinking. It totally takes the ability to teach students out of the hands of the local school boards and puts it into the hands of Washington bureaucrats; that is not a good thing people!

Also, while I understand why the Administration wants set standards I have seen first hand the problems in using those standards at all costs. I am studying to become a teacher and I have seen a local school penalized for not meeting their AYP and labeled as a failing school, when by any other standard they are doing a very good job. They are a school that is in an inner city area, where there is very little parental support for the kids in their education, and the school has become a dumping ground for problem students from other schools. They have a great number of students that are well behind their grade levels and have to spend a lot of time trying to get them caught up, with some of the students being 2 grade levels behind. When the school gets the student that is 2 levels behind only a level behind, that is a major success IMO, but the school is tagged as a failure. This type ofsituation goes on more than the NCLB proponents would like to admit, but no allowance is made for schools in this situation. IMO something needs to be done to recognize that a school can be meeting its obligation to educate students, even if they are not able to make the federal AYP goals.
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