Eric

Ashley

Chris

Christie

Dan

Michael

Tyler

Hilary

and Hilary again

I learned that schools throughout Michigan and the country are facing the same problems from No Child Left Behind, and that there are people attempting to reform the legislation when it comes up for renewal.  Also, parents are starting to understand why NCLB isn’t working, and are joining the side of teachers and administrators in denouncing the bill.  However, policy-makers are still in support of the bill as-is, and some even feel that grading standards are not standardized enough.  I guess the present system is too complicated to create accurate statics, because statics are the most important thing when it comes to education. /sarcasm

If more parents become educated on the dangers of setting such standards as NCLB demands, they will be able to use their influence in elections and pressuring their representatives to take proper action in reforming No Child Left Behind.

Anyway, that was my rather scattered summarization of a semester’s worth of blogging, but I do feel like I have learned a lot on the subject and actually have some hope for the future.

Alyson Beahm, an elementary teacher in San Francisco, wrote in to the San Francisco Chronicle describing how NCLB has hampered her ability to teach and her students’ ability to learn.  Most of the students in her school are English-language learners, most coming from Mexico, Thailand, and Laos.  The children from Thailand and Laos must first learn English letters before learning how to speak, but all groups of students are expected to read at grade-level within the year.  Beahm feels, and I agree with her, that NCLB and its supporters expect miracles from teachers and then punish them when they ultimately fail.

This year, while the majority of Beahm’s school met AYP, their most significant subgroup, Asian American students, did not, so the school was deemed “failing.”

So, once again, we did not meet the goal. Failing to meet the goal two years in a row labels a school Program Improvement. If you are such a school for five years, No Child can come in and wipe the slate clean, getting rid of all the teachers and replacing them with new, “more qualified” teachers – teachers who evidently possess mystical powers to teach English to nonnative speakers in the blink of an eye.

This same thing is happening across the country, in Detroit ghettos where teachers and students don’t have access to the materials necessary to succeed; in suburban communities where high test scores are demanded and struggling students are punished; and throughout the country where recent immigrants and English-language learners are automatically at a disadvantage when taking standardized tests.

No Child Left Behind is setting these teachers and students to fail.  And once the “failing” teachers are removed and new, “highly educated” teachers replace them, the students will continue to fail because they are not getting an authentic education.  Instead, they are being taught how to correctly fill out a scantron.

Quality Education Gets Lost in Translation

Alyson Beahm, December 2, 2007

The San Francisco Chronicle

According to the Detroit News article, Education Secretary Margaret Spellings feels that

[there] needs [to be] some truth in advertising,” Spellings said, referring to the hodgepodge of ways states report graduation data.States calculate their graduation rates using all sorts of methods, many of which critics say are based on unreliable information about dropouts.

Allowing the individual states to set their own passing standards is causing a snag in the reporting method and throwing off their numbers. Critics are proposing a federal mandate stating what a student needs to have completed to graduate high school. So much for states’ rights, and for tailoring/reforming No Child Left Behind to actually maybe work. Instead, politicians would rather standardize the standards they use to measure students, and get rid of the “loopholes” in NCLB rather than fix it. Nice.

Uniform Graduation Rate Reporting is Urged

Nancy Zuckerbrod, November 10, 2007

The Detroit News

The MEAP test was replaced last year by the Michigan Merit test, which is formatted much like the ACT and is now used to measure AYP across the state. The first group of juniors took the test in the spring of 2007, however, the new curriculum used to prepare students for the new, rigorous Michigan Merit exam did not begin until fall 2007. So those students took a much more difficult exam than the MEAP test without adequate preparation because the state did not have an approved test curriculum in place until fall. And now people are surprised that the scores are so low. I suppose it’s just another look at how well politics and education mix. /sarcasm

I was pleased to see that the paper had interviewed several parents who understand that more standardized tests/harder exams =/= a successful/unsuccessful school or a better education. Rather, those parents interviewed voiced the same concerns I have in this journal: an entire school cannot be deemed “failing” because a few groups of ill-prepared students, such as non-English speakers and special education students, did not perform to state standards for “normal” students. A brilliant quote came from one mother who feels that standardized tests are being misused by the state:

Lisa Murchison, a Warren Consolidated parent, said she doesn’t think standardized tests are the right way to measure academic performance.

“With all of the rules associated with AYP, how can you expect every fourth-grader or every 10th-grader to be at the same level?”

“There is too much government control in this, and the government is not letting schools succeed on their own,” she said.

At least some parents are starting to understand what educators have been saying all along.

My favorite part of article has to be the bit about the need to offer Algebra II in high school. My high school used the integrated method (I have since learned that it is not always the most effective program to teach math), but I don’t feel as if my education was lacking or that I was unprepared for college classes because I was not offered Algebra II. Sharif Shakrani, co-director of the Education Policy Center at Michigan State University, makes it sound like Algebra II is the golden ticket that will allow students to be completely successful in college, and for schools to pass AYP.

Shakrani said schools, including those in Detroit, need to do a better job of ensuring students take Algebra II.

“Every school now must offer Algebra II,” he said. “But the proportion of students who take it — like at Cass Tech, King and Renaissance — is very high and they’re doing all right. But at other schools, the proportion taking it is very low, and those are the schools in trouble.”

If only those in education administration and policy-makers would talk with real-life teachers who are the ones in the classroom everyday, trying to prepare students for the tests as well as teach them the necessary skills to function in the world. If more teachers had a direct say in setting standards and reforms, I believe NCLB could actually work.

Feds Flunk More Michigan High Schools
Shawn D. Lewis, December 1, 2007
The Detroit News

Wrong.  Through my Google Reader, I found a very well written opinion piece from Joe Monninger’s Journalism class at Plymouth State University.   The class correctly cited the need to “teach to the test” to make the grade as a major problem of NCLB.  According to the class,

 Students in those inner cities are not getting the education they deserve because since their test scores are so low, they have to focus daily on how to take and pass this test. They are not receiving full educations, but are being pushed through the school system so long as their test taking skills are top notch.

Teachers are forced to teach only material that would be found on the exam, without taking time to explore topics that would benefit the students or to use alternative methods to really ingage their students.

 However, this is only one part of the problem with No Child Left Behind.  Another part is that it does not take into account other factors in students’ lives that make it difficult to perform well on standardized exams.  Issues such as broken homes, poverty, unemployment, and violence are not addressed through NCLB.  The legislation completely ignores these factors, yet still demands that students perform at a certain level in school.  For many students in impoverished areas, their performance in school is often that last thing on their minds, and teachers’ hands become tied by the need to meet Annual Yearly Progress (AYP) reports to truly help the students in need.

No Child Left Behind treats only the surface problems without attacking the actual causes of poor school performance, at least in impoverished or urban areas.  However, that is just one of the multitude of problems concerning the legislation.

The many children left behind act

Joe Monninger’s Journalism Class, Plymouth State University, October 20, 2007

The Clock Student Newspaper

Michigan is setting its students up for failure. The score eighth-graders must reach to be considered “proficient” is far harder than the score third-graders need to achieve. That is, Michigan’s tests are not well-calibrated across grades.

His solution to the state’s education problems is to create a national exam and standards to measure students’ progess, and to not allow individual states to set their own assessments anymore.  Also, education standards and tests should be relevant to real-world situations, preparing students to join the American workforce and improve the economy.

I don’t know where Mr. Julian has been all these years or what schools he’s been visiting, but I’m pretty sure that Michigan schools are already trying to prepare their students for life beyond high school, that is, for college and their careers beyond that.  Schools are not just trying to bore the students or stuff them full of useless facts, but are trying to make well-functioning, good members of society.  If you look at any school’s mission statement, it will say something to that effect.  However, in Julian’s mind, Michigan schools are really just trying to deceive innocent, trusting parents, and are lying about their progress.

Another issue I have with Mr. Julian is his solution to improving Michigan schools.  Rather than place on emphasis on true learning in the classroom and authentic assessment methods, he feels that a national standardized exam will fix all our problems.  It does seem that making a national standard would solve everything, but isn’t that what NCLB is already supposed to be doing?  And failing miserably?

Michigan’s tests leave some students behind

Liam Julian, October 10, 2007

Detroit News

“The No Child Left Behind law was not well designed for the two groups of students.  They are not going to meet the same standards at the same pace as other students.”

This is what educators have been saying since the very beginning of No Child Left Behind, way back in 2002.  However, the legislation was put into effect anyway, even though it didn’t meet the needs of two significant groups of students, and possibly even harmed them.  But now, nearly five years later, lawmakers are going back and fixing their mistakes and injecting common sense into what they do.  Shouldn’t common sense have been a major player in the original version of the law?

According to the Times Dailyarticle from October 21st, lawmakers hope to have the revised NCLB put into effect by the end of 2007.  However, other sources find that doubtful, as huge changes must be made to correct the problems.  Currently, students with an IQ above 56 are required to take the standard exam from the general curriculum, regardless of any modifications they might have.  One example the article cites is 7th-grader Addison Holt, who is Autistic and has and individualized lesson plan (IEP) in her middle school.  Quoted in the article, Addison’s mother, Karen Holt, critized NCLB, saying

“Working a two- or three-step math problem won’t help her. She needs to know how to pay a cashier and expect change back. We’ve asked for alternate assessment for her but they can’t legally do it, so she just has to sit there, not having a clue what she’s doing on tests. It’s frustrating for all of us.”

The bill does allow for some students to take an alternate exam, which is a shorter, easier version of the standard curriculum exam.  However, only one percent of the school population is allowed to do so, and the student must have an IQ of 55 or below.  Because it is nearly impossible to get an IQ reading on an Autistic child, Addison has to take the standard exam.

 I find it absolutely ridiculous that Autistic children, no matter how- or low-functioning they are, are forced to take a standard assessment, even though they might not even be able to comprehend the directions, let alone the tasks, just because a quota has been filled.  I knew that special education students were required to take the same tests as those in a normal classroom, but I never expected that an Autistic child, or her older sister, who as Asperger’s Syndrome, would be included in that number.

 It’s about time that No Child Left Behind was modified–or done away with altogether–but shouldn’t these factors have been taken into consideration the first time around?

No Child Left Behind?

Lawmakers aim to infuse common sense into law regarding special education students

Lisa Singelton-Rickman, October 21, 2007

Times Daily

I was a bit surprised that Mr. Shapiro mainly read from what seemed like a chapter from his book rather than actually lecturing, but it was informative nonetheless. It is amazing how much he was able to find out about Shakespeare’s every day life and then apply that to his writing career. I find that the context and history surrounding a piece of literature is often the most entertaining aspect of reading a famous text, and I cannot wait until I have time to read my new copy of Mr. Shapiro’s book to find out all about Shakespeare’s back story.

Later on in the evening I attended Grand Valley’s production of Cymbeline, which I highly enjoyed. At first I was a bit upset at having to devot my entire Friday evening to school functions, but the performance was very good, so I didn’t feel like I had wasted my night. I had read the play for my ENG 313 class and was expected to report on the play for that class also, so I paid close attention to the actors’ performances, sets, and costumes. I found the performances of Christopher Weaver (Jachimo), Josh King (Cloten), and Lauren Gregory (Abigail Bell) to be the most entertaining. It seemed as though Weaver thoroughly enjoyed playing the conniving Jachimo, and seemed to enjoy the audience’s hatred of him. King also played up his character’s faults, most notably his insatiable pride and confidence in his abilities to woo Imogen. He played Cloten to the hilt, filling in the role very well but also making him somewhat more likeable than in my inital read of the play. And although Gregory’s part was included for the GV production, I believe she stole the show whenever she appeared on stage. She was so lively in front of the audience, and played into the comedic role of one of the Queen’s ladies so well, that I found myself looking forward to her appearance on stage more so than any other actor.

I’m not quite sure if taking Cymbelineout of the ancient British court and transplanting it to Civil War-era Kansas helped the play at all. I understand that it would help the audience connect to the characters and conflict more easily, but there were too many inconsistencies and changes that had to be made to make it work. It was a bit unbelieveable that the battle between the North and South in Kansas decided the fate of the entire war, or that the day was one by the help of just three men. However, the situation did lend itself well when Posthumus changed sides multiple times throughout the fighting.

Overall, I greatly enjoyed both the play performance and the lecture, and both have inspired me to read more Shakespeare and to appreciate the complexity of the plays.

At Clintondale, the middle school was cited due to inadequate test scores by two subgroups: special education students and the economically disadvantaged. Those two categories account for about 100 of the school’s 500 sixth-, seventh- and eighth-graders.

Clintondale is ranked as a “phase six” school, which means its subgroup MEAP scores have failed to show adequate progress for several years.

This article really hit home with me because the Clintondale district is literally minutes away from my home and neighbors my own successful school district. Clintondale encompasses an area of lower socioeconomic standing, with many immigrants who have varying levels of English. I find that it is very counter-productive to expect students who are still learning the language to test on par with native speakers, and even worse that those test scores are included in a school’s overall grade. It’s no wonder that schools are still struggling to meet federal mandates six years later – students with obvious disadvantages, such as the language barrier or learning disabilities – are expected to perform just as well as every other student.

Also surprising to learn was that Clintondale Middle School has been deemed a “failing” school since No Child Left Behind came into use in 2002. Because of it’s failure to meet federal guidelines, steps have been taken to restructure the format of the school and provide better support to students through continued staff education, more resources for teachers, and auxiliary teachers in the special education department. According to the district’s superintendent George Sassin:

“The goal is for students to show improvement. I believe that, with the staff we have in place, by the time we see scores this coming school year, I think the subgroups will be up.”

While I can understand how adding more special education teachers will help bring those students back on track, I fail to see how having more teacher materials and seminars will help increase test scores the necessary amount to appease the state and federal testing boards. To do so, teachers have to actually attend these meetings, thus taking them out of the classroom and using up valuable time they could either be preparing for lessons or working with students. Or, the district could not hold classes on certain days for “teacher enrichment” days like I had in high school, again taking the students out of the learning environment. Instead, I believe that schools should be provided with the necessary aid to help improve, such as more teachers to decrease class sizes, and a good network of administrative and auxiliary support to help facilitate learning. Also, not demanding such unrealistic goals for all students would go a long way in “improving” test scores.

6 Schools Fail to Make Grade

Chad Selweski, September 9, 2007

The Macomb Daily