No Child Left Behind: Many struggling schools skirt major makeover

[cal04]

Most take the mildest path under Bush’s No Child Left Behind law

Falling short of requirements under President Bush’s education law, about 1,750 U.S. schools have been ordered into radical “restructuring,” subject to mass firings, closure, state takeover or other moves aimed at wiping their slates clean. Many are finding resolutions short of such drastic measures. But there is growing concern that the number of schools in serious trouble under the No Child Left Behind law is rising sharply — up 44 percent over the past year alone — and is expected to swell by thousands in the next few years. Schools make the list by falling short in math or reading for at least five straight years.

In perspective, the total amounts to 3 percent of roughly 53,000 schools that get federal poverty aid and face penalties under the No Child Left Behind law. “It’s just a matter of time before we see upwards of 10,000 schools in restructuring,” said Michael Petrilli, a former enforcement official at the Education Department.

“Unless all of these schools suddenly turn themselves around, or the states continue to find ways to finagle the system, you’re going to see the numbers accelerate,” said Petrilli, now vice president for policy at the Thomas B. Fordham Foundation, a school change advocate.

Selective progress
The Associated Press reported last month that schools were deliberately not counting the test scores of nearly 2 million students, mostly minorities, when they measure progress by racial groups. Those exclusions have made it easier for schools to meet their yearly goals. Still, more than a quarter of the nation’s schools have failed to make adequate yearly progress for at least one year. Many will keep moving along the law’s penalty timeline. A district must choose an overhaul plan for a school by year five, then act on it in year six.

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http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/12707995/

[uppityperson]

1. So, if your students do poorly on tests, your school loses funding?

OK, that doesn't make sense.

[Karmadillo]

2. Should take care of those Army enlistment shortfalls.

nt

[azurnoir]

3. But it gets better

what develops is that within a school district especially city districts you have some schools doing well and some not so well (I'll let you guess about economic/racial make-up) so schools that are doing well will try to ah discourage students that will bring down their test averages from attending. An example of this was brought home by my son (3rd grade) he is going to one of the best rated schools in the city, but I have noticed growing attitude, this is a city wide magnet school so it draws kids from every neighborhood in the city, The 3rd grade end of the year party is going to be a roller-blading party at a local roller garden. The fee for this trip is $14.00 now if you can't afford that they'll let your kid go but they can't get skates unless they bring their own and there is a concession stand at the rink, if your kid has payed you can give him/her acouple of bucks and they can get treats, however if you haven't payed you kid will not be allowed to use the concession stand ie if can't afford $14 for the trip but you can afford $2 or $3 forget it your kid goes without. There have been a few other instances like this recently but these were after school activities, we payed the $14 burt are not allowing our son to attend. I find this punish the child offensive beyond words.

[azurnoir]

4. I cited an example

with a class trip but, it goes alot further some schools are structured (the better ones in my city) so that if you don't or can't attend parent-teacher conferences or parent participation groups you will literally be unable to help your child with homework or even know what that homework is (the printed sheets passed out at these meetings are not sent home with children) so you have a school located at one end of the if you live at the other end and if you don't have a car or your work hours conflict your child is SOL. These are somewhat subtle methods but effective in the past 2 years the ratio of children from "undesirable" areas of the city has fallen by almost half along with a change in racial make-up of the school. There is also the late bus game if you live in the "hood" but want your child to go a school other then in that area be prepared for your kid to walk 4-6 blocks to the bus stop compared with the average of 2 blocks and then wait 45 minutes or so sometimes in below zero weather and BTW if you decide to keep them home be prepared to get a visit from social services about why your child has an "unexcused absence" even if you've called the school weather is not an excuse, but being on a winter vacation in the Bahamas is. No you won't get charged with anything but it is intimidating none the less.

[proud2BlibKansan]

7. It's even worse than that

If your SUBGROUPS do poorly, you lose FEDERAL funding.

Subgroups are:
minorities
special ed
ESL
low income

So if you are in a school that is predominantly white, middle class and English speaking with a small percentage of special ed kids, there is no consequence for doing poorly on annual tests. You lose no money.

If your school does not have at least 80% low income kids, you don't get any federal funding anyway, so again it doesn't make any difference how your kids score, since you have nothing to lose.

If, however, you are a school in an urban or rural area, with a large majority of low income kids, you have a lot to lose if even ONE of your subgroups doesn't make adequate yearly progress.

This law sucks so bad it is disgraceful.

[ulysses]

5. my school is in restructuring.

Mass firings? And replace us with the hoardes beating a path to the school's door?

Closure? Where are the kids going to go?

State takeover? Hell, the state doesn't want my school. They don't have the staff for it and can't fix it for us, either.

NCLB is a joke, but a dangerous joke. If they wanted to actually make a difference for us, they'd quit taking away funding.

[proud2BlibKansan]

8. Isn't it sad how poorly thought out this law was?

[kineneb]

6. was talking to a school board member today

He said that by 2014 most schools will be labeled "failures"...this is nothing mor or less then a way to destroy the public schools...

[MadHound]

9. And that's exactly the goal with this POS law

To destroy the public school system in America, and replace it with either private schools or homeschooling children. Both such options are only guaranteed to set back this and future generations in terms of knowledge, compared with other countries.

This will also allow many faith based schools to get public funding and support, and indoctrinate the future generations in such subjects as intelligent design and abstinence only. Also under this system expect to see many of the great classics of literature go by the wayside, since they in no way conform to the fundie educational agenda.

Frankly I find this assault on our educational system criminal, and I'm hoping that with Bushco out of power the worst of these excesses are reversed. Teachers have always had a hard time at their job, overworked and underpaid. Now it is on their shoulders to save future generations from this mad horde that is willfully dumbing down our children.

[Dinger]

10. Great Book: "Many Children Left Behind"

http://www.essentialschools.org/cs/resources/view/ces_res/351

"Linda Darling-Hammond documents NCLB’s “unmeetable requirements” that guarantee that most public schools inevitably will be labeled as failures. Concluding with suggestions to remake NCLB, Darling-Hammond’s contribution documents other NCLB shortfalls, among them its lack of accountability for financial inequity among schools, its punishment of schools with a wide demographic variety, and its push-out of struggling students. Later on, Stan Karp builds on the notion of the impossibility of Adequate Yearly Progress; Karp also details the dire financial impact of NCLB.

George Wood reports on NCLB-caused trends, such as the Houston’s “miracle,” the sham that underlies much of NCLB. From Ohio, Wood describes how those schools that met NCLB standards were wealthy, white and stable, with well-paid teachers and few special-ed students. Describing how NCLB seems to be “narrowing the school experience,” Wood’s demonstration of the potential for joylessness that schools face is truly depressing.

Spotlighting the fundamental mistrust of schools and their local communities that underlies NCLB, Deborah Meier suggests steps for rebuilding confidence and respect. And Alfie Kohn concludes with a fiery essay on the possibility that a push for school privatization motivates NCLB."

[MadHound]

11. Thanks for the reading tip

I'll put it on my list:hi:

[Breeze54]

12. You should read the online 'book' below!!

...For most schools, there are some 37 groups to report and ... any one of them fails,
the whole school fails (the ... to the mirage-ical 100 percent proficient by 2014.
http://scholar.google.com/url?sa=U&q=http://college.heinemann.com/shared/onlineresources/E00594/chapter6.pdf

and this....

What Happens When Good Schools Are Labeled Failures?
http://www.qualityednow.org/media/newsrel/release.php?rel=25

New study finds 77% of PA schools to get federal "failing" labels under flawed "No Child Left Behind" law;
local leaders call for change

Three out of four Pennsylvania schools (77%)"including many of the best schools
in Bucks, Chester and Montgomery counties" will receive "failing" labels under
the so-called "No Child Left Behind" federal law over the next decade, according
to a study released on Monday at the Montgomery County Courthouse.

The findings indicate the vast majority of schools in Montgomery (76%), Bucks (75%) and Chester (77%) counties
will receive failing labels by 2014 - the year by which federal regulations demand schools
reach 100 percent proficiency in standardized testing.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

You're absoutely correct!! The fundies HATE public ANYTHING!!!!!!
They are trying to kill social security, medicare, public schools and hospitals, etc. etc.
The list goes on and on!!
This is going on in every school district across the USA!!

We need to make sure that EVERYONE is registered to vote so that, this November, we can take our country back!!

:grr: :grr:

[kineneb]

13. I work as a volunteer with some students

in an alternative/continuation high school. They are very bright, but don't fit with the regular high school, due to learning issues, psychiatric issues, disipline problems, and/or troubled home lives. I am sure some of them do well on the tests, but others will never be able to deal with them. The school gives them a place that they can learn at their own pace, rather than by school year. When they finish sufficent units and a portfolio, then they are allowed to graduate and leave.

The group I work with are in the Interact Club, a junior version of Rotary for high school students. They are a very motivated, bright bunch, but just not "average" students.

[callous taoboy]

14. Pub. Ed.: The one-legged man in the ass-kicking contest.

Fine. Let them close my school down. Let them pack it with teachers who'll really whip it into shape. And then watch them get the same students we've been unsuccessful with, and let these new teachers get ulcers trying to figure their way out of this mess. Idjits.