Voices Question

I would like it to be law that services or busing to districts with service for the gifted are required. Do not handicap our best and brightest. One of the biggest flaws of NCLB is that it does not differentiate btw barely meeting the minimums and far exceeding them. Also, if there is a half day, school lunches should still be served. In my district (Washingtonville), they have a ridiculous amount of half days & the poorest suffer the most.

I would like to see NCLB eliminated.

First, stop piling on the teachers. they are exhausted! Take a look at what other nations are doing in their educational systems. look at that school in Harlem which has had such success with children living in poverty. Check out Montessori. Use these schools as role models and completely change the way the system works. Throw out the standardized testing. It's not a good measure of what kids are learning. We all know that kids learn in different ways. I went to a British school. We never had multiple choice questions. We had to write essays, which I think was a better indicator of what we'd learned. Be innovative!

We have to remove the notion of standardized education and testing as a means of assessment. Tests don't assess anything but ability to pass tests. My students all admit to cramming and forgetting the material almost immediately after the test. Students aren't robots. We want to teach them to think independently and develop their minds. Facts can always be accessed through many means, including the internet, but thinking is unique to each person. We also need to add creativity into the equation. All studies show that creative work enhances learning ability.

Stop letting the government dictate how we teach. One size does not fit everyone. We have to take children and their life experiences into consideration. Children of poverty are not concerned about testing. They want to know if they will be taken care of, have the basics of life. Before more rules are added to a useless Bill, all officials need to look at and read Maslows Hierarchy,they will then know why ESEA needs to be child friendly not government dictated.

Revise the use of standardized testing for students with identified mental illness or learning disabilities. Change the use of testing from summative to formative. Use test results to prescribe future educational objectives rather than to create an artificial barrier for low scoring individuals. Performance on the standardized tests mandated by NCLB is most significantly related to the socio-economic conditions of students and their families, to the extent that the tests are found to have little academic validity nor educational accountability validity.

It's simple to make NCLB more effective; give a lot more money, staff,coaching, experienced teachers, proper materials, etc. to schools with a high percentage of low economic, ESL students. The money distribution has Never matched the challenges. When these schools don't succeed, they're punished and shamed, with no accountability on the state's part for not supporting them.

We need to realize that each child is unique.There is too much importance given to testing. The need is to take each child at their level and not to have each child at the same place. I would like to see funds for smaller classes and well trained assistants-that is the answer.

There should be a streamlined dismissal protocol for incompetent teachers. under the present tenure system, it's extremely difficult to get rid of an incompetent teacher.

First, stop punishment of schools, principals, staff, and teachers. Lower performing schools are in areas of poverty; they need resources not punishment. Let's employ management accountability instead. In management accountability, those areas of an organization that are weakest or not meeting goals get attention and additional resources to rectify the problem. The goal is to get the system work. Second, let schools, districts, and parents decide the curriculum and determine its success. Monitoring at the State or Federal level can be done by sampling designed by educational researchers, not politicians. The goal is to educate for democracy.

One of the things I would like to see is fewer "joke" courses in high school and much more academic rigor. Education shouldn't be "fun." There are lessons to be learned. Math & science shouldn't be "guessing games," but places of severe questioning using solid principles and hard work. When something is incorrect, it's incorrect, and the student should be encouraged to discover where s/he made an error which resulted in an incorrect answer. In English and Language Arts, students should demonstrate proficiency in writing a simple declarative sentence with added emphasis on correct spelling. History should be taught as it was.

I would like to see the reauthorized version of ESEA include funding and services for Early Care and Education Programs that offer true quality care and education to children, 6 weeks to 12 years old, their families and the teachers who work with them. This would include expanding Educational Reform to children, birth - 5 years old, and considering public education in the broadest context possible. Make sure any mandates, regulations and accountability is tied to the funding necessary for a program to comply.

Too many of our children are already being left behind. We are asked to do more with less and our resources are being stretched to the brink. Families and communities have been pushed out of the decision making process guaranteeing the success of some and the failure of others.

I would like to see the funds used to support educating preschool teachers in inner city schools. The K-8 teachers in my building can attend conferences all over used NCLB money. Whenever,I try to attend they inform me that the money is earmarked for K-8 teachers.

Change the title. This title belongs to Marian Wright Edelman, founder of Children's Defense Fund in Washington, D.C. She appeared numerous times in front of Congress telling them and proving this slogan belongs to her foundation. It has been on her stationery long before this bill was created. Perhaps this is why the bill is not working. The title was stolen. MA Human Development Educational Leadership & Change

I know incompetent teachers exist, I've been "taught" by a few. Why not have teachers and others in the education field do the "Teacher Accountability" work? Evaluate efficacy? Why does it have to be someone who makes big dough in Standardized testing?

Please stop making mandates from either federal or state legislation that does not come with the funding in which to carry out the "mandates."

Stop relying exclusively on standardized tests to make decisions about teachers or students. Use additional critera that count at least as much as the tests when selecting individuals or schools for penalties, rewards, or funding.

I would like to see this program supported and continued

I would like to see more transparency and oversight on funds for schools and ellimination of waste and misappropriation of funds.Cut out the politics and get back to basics like educating our children..

If no child gets behind, no child will be left behind. When parenting of birth through three children is improved, even a small increment, there will be amelioration of formal education later on. Since we know that a child's brain system is 85% formatted in the first three years of life...why not ACT on it. Parents-to-be and new parents must learn about the value of proper parenting. When parents focus on the child together, their own relationships are engendered. Single moms can do a good parenting job if they have the preparation. The know-how. But...all new parents need prompting and parenting education, at least minimally.

Teaching to the test used to be a very negative thing. Teaching to a test narrows what is taught and belittles the teacher and the student. Good teaching in itself should always include a re-assessment of the teaching method, the material, the teacher and the student. It should always be part of joyful learning. The good teacher should know the developmental scope of the age taught and the full range of the subject taught and combine them without "teaching to the test" or "going page by page" in a textbook.

The only problem I had with NCLB was that, the federal government did not fund this program. Now let’s look at the big picture in Chicago. Mayor Daley has his hands around our necks. His is destroying our childern’s education by hiring people who have no background in Education. Our schools are failing miserably (What happen to the three R's) as soon as someone pulls a idea out of their hat we go for it. This is a shame. I look at so much money going out the window. Instead of closing school, we should cap high schools @ 500 students per school. You know Chicago is breaking the law by with these selective enrolment schools.

I would involve the parents, grandparents and anyone else who can help a teacher to educate students. I would not leave the education to just the teacher; it is a joint effort on everyone’s part to educate children.

We need a family component to help support schools in helping their children be successful. Also other means to gage success than test scores! These tests do not reflect student achievement.