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Author Topic:   Bush leaving children behind
LibraSparkle
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posted November 01, 2004 11:30 AM           Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
Here is what I see going on in our schools. My daughters are at the top of their classes, for whatever that's worth in 1st and 2nd grade. My kids are usually left to work independently because I did my job as a parent, Pre-K. The majority of the children in the classes are somewhere in the middle. Then there are the stragglers that still have trouble with simple addition and reading. The teachers are forced to spend a HUGE chunk of time on these kids (since their parents most-likely didn't bother before they came to school) teaching them the basics so they can get high scores on the WASL (Washington Assessment of Student Learning). The principal is breathing down their throats to get these kids' scores up. NOT because she wants them educated and to be doing as well as even the kids in the middle, BUT... because she doesn't want to lose her job because PARENTS aren't doing theres.

I firmly believe it is a teacher's job to help us with our children. It is NOT (only) their responsibility to teach them. 0-5 is on us, people. Teach your kids to add. Teach them to read. PREPARE them for school. Most of these kids (around here) start Kindergarten with out even knowing the sounds of the consonants. It's so sad. If parents don't feel it is important to educate our children, why the hell should the educators?! The US needs to stop trying to place blame on teachers for lousy and lazy parenting!!

OK... rant off... sorry

Suits to Target No Child Left Behind Act

1 hour, 55 minutes ago U.S. National - AP

By ANDREA ALMOND, Associated Press Writer

THERMAL, Calif. - The federal No Child Left Behind Act threatens costly penalties for schools deemed failing to meet academic standards. In response, many educators have a threat of their own: A flood of lawsuits aimed at avoiding the sanctions.

Since President Bush (news - web sites) signed the sweeping education reforms in 2002, the law has drawn criticism from educators debating its strict performance and test requirements. The act requires all students to be proficient in reading, writing and math by 2014.


Starting this academic year, parents of children in failing schools can demand transfers to better campuses. Over the next four years, schools must offer tutoring services, administrators and teachers can be fired, states can take over districts, and federal funds can be withheld.


Coachella Valley Unified School District — which includes Oasis Elementary School — could be among the nation's first to challenge the law. The school board is considering suing federal and state governments, claiming the district is being held to unreachable goals.


"Coachella is the tip of the iceberg," John Perez, president of United Teachers Los Angeles, said, adding that the law "doesn't take into account things it needs to."


According to the National Conference of State Legislatures, students at more than 27,500 schools nationwide — almost 31 percent of all U.S. public schools — are failing at math and reading.


Last December, Reading School District in Pennsylvania sued over its low performance rating, arguing its Spanish-speaking students couldn't read the tests. About two-thirds of the district's 16,000 students are Hispanic; 15 percent have limited English proficiency.


But, judges ruled that testing in a student's native language is not mandatory, only required "to the extent that it is practicable to do so." The district plans to appeal.


"It's a wonderful title, No Child Left Behind. Who could ever disagree with that?" said Richard Guida, a lawyer for the Reading district. "But kids are all different and, unfortunately, this calls for a cookie-cutter approach to education that doesn't take difference into account. Some kids will be left behind."


At Oasis Elementary, more than 90 percent of the school's students are Hispanic and come from families of migrant workers surviving on less than $10,000 a year, the principal says. They are taught in English — still a foreign language for many.


Christian Rocha, 8, looks down as he recalled last year's tests.


"Estaba trabajoso," he says quietly, or "I worked really hard."


But he didn't pass.


Though there are plans to create a Spanish-language test, development won't begin until at least 2006, said Linda Lownes, a consultant for the state Education Department. In California, students must take standardized tests in English.


Kathleen Leos, of the federal Education Department, noted that states have the option of excluding test scores of students who have been enrolled in a U.S. school less than one academic year. States also can decide whether to offer a student reading and math tests for up to three years in languages other than English.


That's little comfort for district officials struggling to keep up with mounting academic expectations.


"It's unfair to hold us accountable for something students can't possibly know," said Foch Pensis, Coachella Valley district superintendent. "How do you hold these children to the same standard that you would a child in Iowa who has never been exposed to another language? It's ludicrous."

Pensis plans to seek allies in a class action lawsuit if legislators don't try to ease the burden for schools with large numbers of English-language learners. Education Department officials, however, say the No Child Left Behind Act gives considerable leeway to such districts.

Bush has touted the law in campaign stump speeches as a centerpiece of his domestic agenda, describing it as a way to hold schools accountable for children they might otherwise ignore.

The federal government allocated a total of $58.3 billion for the program in fiscal year 2005, but critics — including Democratic nominee Sen. John Kerry (news - web sites) — said that's far short of the money needed for schools.

In the meantime, at Oasis Elementary, where tests show most students know less than 15 words of English, educators are working to improve scores. They're also hiring outside consultants to better train teachers.

"We'll always have new children who don't speak the language, yet each year more and more students are required to pass," Principal Elizabeth Clipper said. "How do we ever catch up?"

___

On the Net:

Department of Education (news - web sites): http://www.ed.gov

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&e=4&u=/ap/20041101/ap_on_re_us/left_behind

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Eleanore
Moderator

Posts: 112
From: Okinawa, Japan
Registered: Apr 2009

posted November 01, 2004 04:12 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for Eleanore     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
I know what you mean about kids not being taught by their parents. My mother volunteers at my nephew's elementary school during the week, helping out one of the kindergarten teachers. In that class there are 27 kids. Perhaps five of them are attentive and obedient. It's gotten to the point where the school has introduced new "subjects" ... basically, manners. How to address adults, why you don't call people ugly names, why cussing is not appropriate, why listening to others when they speak is important ... I mean, these are basic things that kids should be learning at home from their parents. On top of trying to teach these kids the requirements of a kindergarten education, now teachers have to teach them how to be civilized? It's ridiculous ... and entirely unfair and unbelievable on top of the pressure of all these new tests that generally only prove that kids can swallow some facts and spit them back up later on a test. What happened to teaching kids how to think? Where are the parents? The kids in this class come back to school the next day with their homework untouched ... the teacher, at every grading period, hands a form out to all the kids, in english and spanish, to take to their parents stating clearly that they have homework everyday and to please check their schoolbags and help them with it. No doing, the parents expect the schools to do it all, apparantly. And, unfortunately, the schools have to accomodate parental irresponsibility ... if the school doesn't teach them manners, etc, then who will? How do you suppose you'll teach 27 children anything at all if they don't remain seated, if they talk/yell back at the teacher with vulgar words, and then run around smacking each other? The parents have been notified repeatedly ... apparantly they don't care.

Sorry for my rant. It just is a very disturbing thing to see happening.


***Edit

I agree to a certain extent with the article in regards to students who speak English as a second language. For those who come into the system later than kindergarten, say in third grade, it is going to be a considerably harder adjustment. But just because you don't speak English doesn't mean that you're stupid. Ask an average American, who speaks only English, to pass any test in French. It's not going to happen. However, they are still educated in their own language and presumably in other subjects such as math and science.
Still, English needs to be taught in our schools to all kids. I know when I was in elementary school we had programs designed for kids who spoke English as a second language ... part of their class time was spent learning English as well as the rest of the subjects. Most kids did well, considering their age when introduced to a new language.
I myself speak English as a second language. I didn't really learn to speak English until I was in kindergarten. My parents, though they speak English well enough to get by, are not English majors. We spoke Spanish at home. However, my kindergarten teacher didn't speak any Spanish. I basically had to force myself to learn the language by paying close attention. The only other English I was exposed to was on TV, and watching that was rare. So, I decided to start reading as much as I could in order to understand the language better ... and I fell in love with books!
So it can be done. It just won't be done overnight. This "No Child Left Behind" program stinks in its unreal expectations and intolerance. Many children have problems with things like reading comprehension or with the language itself ... in fact, kids are individuals and few are the children who can excel at every subject. These problems are not going to be overcome in a year, much less in overcrowded classrooms where teachers are dealing with undiscplined children and trying to teach the kids more on how to pass a test then the subjects that matter. A child deals with enough not being able to understand something and trying hard to do better without having the stress of extra failure thrown on their shoulders, and so do the teachers.
And the name ... I just can't help but associate Bush's Evangelicalism peeking out with "LEFT BEHIND", as in the series. It's like some kind of "end of the world" fanatic view of education. (I am not saying that was in any way the intention, just a not entirely unreasonably association.)


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"You must be the change you wish to see in the world." - Ghandi

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