News Nuggets

This is like putting gas into a car that has the tires removed and is sitting on blocks. You can rev and race the engine, listen to the muffler growl; but you get zero miles per galleon and you arrive at exactly where you were, only your wallet is a bit lighter because the wasted gasoline was so expensive.

From this scenario, the choice is obvious, i.e., put some tires on the car before wasting any more gas. Why isn't the same obvious for the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB)?

In the car example, the car owner could say that they were testing the fuel injectors or the power train. They might say something like this, even though they know that the facts don't support their statement, to avoid their neighbors saying that they are "stupid."

Politicians seem to have the same motivation, plus an extra level of concern; e.g., that the voting public will become angry for the "stupid" decision of supporting the NCLB Act, and vote them out of office.

Voting NCLB "Out of Office:" The Time is NOW!

Finding a teacher who believes that the NCLB benefits children is a long standing challenge that Classroom Toolkit has issued. In over a year, we have yet to find such a person.

The teacher that believes that the NCLB does any good at all for students is probably a "mythical creature."

Sidebar

By the way, the "Find a Teacher that supports NCLB" challenge does not apply to the case study that politicians might dredge up; if the person that they find is, 1.) "off their meds." or, 2.) has not taught in a real classroom for the past decade.

Our Politicians Supported the NCLB "Stupidity": Now What?

What's a vote-hungry, do anything to stay in office political sot, (excuse me, I meant "sort") supposed to do?

The answer, of course, is to move to reauthorize the non-working legislation, then propose that the legislation be "improved and enhanced."

Of course, the "improvements and enhancements" amount to scrapping the legislation, but the important question of, "Why did you pass this albatross of a law in the first place?" can be deflected.

Sidebar

There is another strategy that politicians employ, but they won't be tempted to use this strategy because the next elections are only two years away. That strategy is to "blame the innocent."

In this cases, blaming children for the failure of the law will aggravate parents. Parents know better, and a politician who attempts this ploy would be "walking on political thin ice."

Blaming teachers, the other choice, would be like sawing a hole in the bottom of the "legislative party boat" and expecting to sail into the "Port of PorkBarell" with no wind in the sails. Teachers remember and teachers vote!

Teachers Need to do More than Vote

Now is the time to take action to eliminate the NCLB and its odious effects upon education.

• Contact your state's Senators


• Contact your representative


• Contact an influential "politico"

What to Communicate to Politicians (In Strong Terms)

The ideals that prompted the NCLB Act are noble, but, the focus was misdirected, and execution was flawed. Here are the reasons:

• The process was started by politicians, for politicians, to benefit politicians


• Those politicians had a political, rather than an educational agenda


• The politicians didn't...
• Understand teaching


• Understand children or the learning process


• Know that there is little or no connection between standardized tests and teacher improvement


• Know that there is little or no connection between standardized tests and improved student learning
• Understand the inefficient and wasteful bureaucratic process that manages our schools


• Understand the human nature and survival instincts of teachers

Besides, politicians wanted to create an instant cure for our schools, not realizing that it takes three years for a teacher to become proficient in a research-based, proven, and well-designed educational program.

Other "Dead on Arrival" NCLB Issues

The "Voyage of the NCLB Act" was jinxed and doomed, even before its ship left the dry dock.

And, the first years after the launch of the NCLB Act saw some of the most Draconian school district "budget hacking" in recent memory.

The NCLB Act is based upon unsound, now disproved, assumptions that…

• Bureaucracies provide streamlined support for education


• Bureaucracies are able to reward teachers with negative consequences and stressful demands


• Students' standardized tests are valid measures of teachers' skill improvement
  


• Programs forced upon schools by outsiders who know little about education have a snowball's chance

The NCLB Act diminishes education and creates obstacles and barriers rather than resolving the issues that plague our school systems operation and management.

Taking Credit for a Mirage

The politicians who point to NCLB successes are pointing to a mirage. What they are pointing to are schools where progress and improvement were happening (and would have happened) despite the NCLB Act.

What really occurred because of NCLB is that…

• Stress skyrockets in classrooms


• Principals launch "witch hunts" to rid campuses of teachers who don't build "test score improvement" equity


• Teachers bail out of schools where an oppressive administration tries to "put the screws to them" to make them work harder


• Great teachers transfer from "inner city" schools to middle class schools where the "low hanging testing fruit" makes life easier


• Testing "irregularities" abound


• Students' alienation magnifies because there is no intrinsic motivation in studying test-taking, and no compelling life interest (Test-taking skills hold little currency in the world of work or the arena of life)


• Crucial learning activities such as art, music, even physical activity such as recess, are eliminated to make more time for "teaching to the test"

The NCLB Act fails in the same ways that my attempts to fly by making wings of wax and feathers will fail every time.

The time to reject the reauthorization of NCLB is NOW!

Tell your representatives so, now.