Re: NCLB Drives Good Teachers Out of Classrooms

[aburke5054@aol.com]

There may be people who believe that simply raising standards is 
sufficient to work reform of schools, but I don't know of any.

NCLB requires more than standards and tests. NCLB requires states to 
improve their schools by investing in proven teaching methods and 
materials, by providing high quality professional development for 
teachers and administrators, by getting parents more involved, by 
focusing on children whose needs are greatest, and lots more.  NCLB 
would work better if more people were working to make the changes that 
schools need rather than running around saying "Bad NCLB - too many 
tests, too much phonics, too top-down, too much work, too much Business 
Roundtable and Ed Trust, and too much this and too much that." They do 
more harm than good and if they are leaving public education good 
riddance to them.

Art

-----Original Message-----
From: Kenneth Bernstein <kber@earthlink.net>
To: arn-l@interversity.org
Sent: Fri, 17 Aug 2007 9:24 am
Subject: Re: [arn-l] NCLB Drives Good Teachers Out of Classrooms


I had a long talk with Merrow last spring, arranged by Gerald Bracey.  
Merrow
was looking for good or better teachers who might leave teaching early 
because
of NCLB.  I am in that category, as I can take a pension after this 
year.  At
least one other national board certified teacher is definitely packing 
it in
after this coming year, and there are at least 4 more outstanding 
teachers who
are considering it.  Merrow wanted to come into our building to film, 
but he
would have been doing so in  May, and between AP testing and Maryland's 
High
School Assessments, May is a blackout month - no interruptions at all 
allowed.
So we could not put it together.

I teach in Prince George's County MD, where over 2/3 of the middle 
schools are
on the clock because of failure to make AYP.    I don't know how you
reconstitute a school in a system that starts with an inability to 
fully staff
with "highly qualified" teachers to begin with, which has trouble 
getting
qualified principles.  The entire process is destructive to public 
education,
which perhaps was the intent.

But hey, the beatings will continue until morale improves.  And if we 
can only
reach 90% of the way towards the old standards, of course the solution 
is to
raise the standards even higher, right?

Ken Bernstein

Kenneth J. Bernstein






________________________________________________________________________
AOL now offers free email to everyone.  Find out more about what's free 
from AOL at AOL.com.