As anyone who discusses education policy with me for more than a few minutes is well aware, I positively loathe No Child Left Behind. There are a number of ways in which this law as harmful, but Susan Goodkin disucsses one that's not often enough discussed - it may very well be harming the education we are giving to our best and brightest. Read her whole piece here, but these excerpts will give you a sense of her argument - and why we should all be concerned.
Posted by armand at December 27, 2005 02:22 PM | TrackBack | Posted to PoliticsConspicuously missing from the debate over the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act is a discussion of how it has hurt many of our most capable children. By forcing schools to focus their time and funding almost entirely on bringing low-achieving students up to proficiency, NCLB sacrifices the education of the gifted students who will become our future biomedical researchers, computer engineers and other scientific leaders.
The drafters of this legislation didn't have to be rocket scientists to foresee that it would harm high-performing students. The act's laudable goal was to bring every child up to "proficiency" in language arts and math, as measured by standardized tests, by 2014. But to reach this goal, the act imposes increasingly draconian penalties on schools that fail to make "adequate yearly progress" toward bringing low-scoring students up to proficiency. While administrators and teachers can lose their jobs for failing to improve the test scores of low-performing students, they face no penalties for failing to meet the needs of high-scoring students.
Given the act's incentives, teachers must contend with constant pressure to focus their attention simply on bringing all students to proficiency on grade-level standards. My district's elementary school report card vividly illustrates the overriding interest in mere proficiency. The highest "grade" a child can receive indicates only that he or she "meets/exceeds the standard." The unmistakable message to teachers -- and to students -- is that it makes no difference whether a child barely meets the proficiency standard or far exceeds it ...
Surely we can find a way to help low-achieving children reach proficiency without neglecting the needs of our gifted learners. If we continue to ignore gifted children, the NCLB may end up producing an entire generation of merely proficient students -- a generation that will end up working for the science leaders produced by other countries.
Policies like this are part of the reason we homeschool our boys. Almost all the homeschoolers I know personally (I don't run with the superreligious hs'ers) have kids who are 'different' in some way, whether the difference is ADHD, autism or, very frequently, giftedness. Even before NCLB, many public schools didn't have the money or the motivation to provide good choices for these kids, at least here in Texas.
Of course, these are all parents who can afford the time and expense of homeschooling. I have a friend for whom public school is the only option, and her gifted son (reading Harry Potter books to himself at age 4) was earmarked as trouble by his teachers and referred out in hopes of getting him on some kind of meds to make him more tractable. He is 8, he is bored, and the school system will not bend to meet his needs. It's heartbreaking.
You may be familiar with the Hoagie's Gifted site. Carolyn K there has put together lots of information being an advocate for gifted kids in public schools.
Posted by: kcb at December 27, 2005 03:02 PM | PERMALINKI was placed in gifted classes partially because I was disruptive. Most of the kids in the class - I learned later - were also "disruptive." It turns out that most of us were extremely bored and without challenges found other things to do. I was lucky that while my school had no gifted program, it did have a teacher who helped my folks get me transferred.
It didn't fix it totally, as in high school I still would get in trouble after finishing my work long before my peers, and getting bored and becoming a distraction. I cant imagine how I would have fared in a NCLB school.
Posted by: binky at December 28, 2005 01:47 PM | PERMALINK"I can't imagine how I would have fared in a NCLB school."
Sure you can, Binky: "meets/exceeds the standard"
Alas, I, too, was a rather disruptive child. I like to think that I still am.
Posted by: moon at December 29, 2005 03:15 PM | PERMALINKWell, I was thinking more along the lines of developing a bad attitude the size of Eurasia and then getting involved with things that were more fun than shitty classes. Then I'm not so sure that I would have met or exceeded anyone's standards. Smart kids have the potential to be real assholes.
As for your disruptiveness, yeah, well... I'd back you up on that, at least on an occasional basis.
p.s. loved your post about the bus conversation.
Posted by: binky at December 29, 2005 03:19 PM | PERMALINK'Disruptive' must be one of the red flags for giftedness. I was referred for g/t classes for the very same reason -- after being sent to the principal and receiving a "c" in conduct on my very first letter-grade report card. While I enjoyed the g/t classes, I can't say that my behavior improved.
Posted by: kcb at December 29, 2005 06:46 PM | PERMALINK
Yeah, in my high school we receieved letter grades for classes, and also numbered (1 bad 4 good) ranks for "behavior." I got straight As, but was no stranger to the 1 in conduct. Several of my teachers made me sit at my very own table, or their desk, for the benefit of the other students. I'd get done in ten minutes and then start being annoying for the next 40.
Posted by: binky at December 29, 2005 06:49 PM | PERMALINKah, see, the numbered behavioral grade would have been a great help to me. my goal in high school (i had issues) was to be see how much i could make the teachers dislike me while still giving them no choice but to give me an A. but without a behavioral grade, i had no way to gauge my success.
as for the bus post, i'm glad you liked it, and thank you.
Posted by: moon at December 30, 2005 10:24 AM | PERMALINK"how much i could make the teachers dislike me"
As I said, smart kids can be real assholes. ;)
And for the record, that was not my m.o. at all.
Posted by: binky at December 30, 2005 10:40 AM | PERMALINKand look at us now, teachers and would-be teachrs, all.
Posted by: moon at December 30, 2005 12:07 PM | PERMALINK