Re: nclb as vicious circle

[Peter Campbell <campbellp@mail.montclair.edu>]

Many of the civil rights organizations that protested H.R. 6239, the  
legislation which would have suspended NCLB sanctions on schools and  
school districts for a year, are desperate for some indication of  
change and some mechanism for achieving it. Who can blame them for  
their desperation? Drop-out rates for low-income minorities is  
increasing, not decreasing. NAEP scores are flat. There is clearly no  
sign that anything is working. Yet, curiously and agonizingly, many  
still believe that NCLB is the only way to accomplish change. They  
see the situation in a very binary fashion: either take NCLB or go  
back to the way things were. And for low-income students and/or  
students of color, going back to the way things were is (obviously)  
not an option.

So what choice do they have?

Their position is perfectly understandable, given the circumstances  
and given the socio-political history of the country.

But they are starting to awaken to the fact that they have been sold  
a bill of goods. Susan Neuman's "revelation" came as no surprise to  
those who have seen NCLB for what it is since its inception.

Peter Campbell

On Jul 10, 2008, at 8:40 AM, GERALD BRACEY wrote:

> Well, that's very much the picture Linda Perlstein paints in  
> "Tested."  You might read it some day.
>
> Jerry
>
> ----- Original Message ----- From: <aburke5054@aol.com>
> To: <arn-l@interversity.org>
> Sent: Thursday, July 10, 2008 10:42 AM
> Subject: Re: [arn-l] nclb as vicious circle
>
>
> Do you really believe that, for example, the nation's civil rights
> establishment would unite behind a measure that is reducing schools to
> institutions "where children are viewed as objects," instruction is
> becoming an assembly line, and kids and teachers are cracking under  
> the
> horrible strain of reading and math tests?  That is just too much to
> swallow.
>
> There are legitimate concerns about NLCB, why continue to come out  
> with
> these banana-wacky ones? Maybe you're just overwhelmed by the  
> authority
> of a "senior fellow" with the Vermont Society for the Study of
> Education.
>
> Art
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: pwmjoy@earthlink.net <pwmjoy@earthlink.net>
> To: arn-l <arn-l@interversity.org>
> Sent: Thu, 10 Jul 2008 12:36 am
> Subject: [arn-l] nclb as vicious circle
>
> “The problem isn’t that schools aren’t improving test scores and
> meeting their
> annual yearly improvement as defined by NCLB. The bigger concern  
> should
> be that
> schools have been reduced to institutions where children are viewed as
> objects
> and instruction is relegated to a production-line state of mind. The
> result is
> that schools, teachers and children are becoming more and more  
> stressed
> out as
> the testing demands increase. Instead of motivating a more humanistic
> approach
> to instruction, which would actually encourage learning, schools are
> forced to
> teach to improve test scores. This has a boomerang effect of creating
> an
> environment where learning is=2
> 0more difficult and students are less
> successful.”
> (from “NCLB and Education Today: Fighting an Uphill Battle” in The
> Rutland
> Herald of May 7, 2008 by Alis Headlan, a senior fellow with the  
> Vermont
> Society
> for the Study of Education)
>
>
> pwmjoy@earthlink.net
> EarthLink Revolves Around You.