Re: nclb as vicious circle

[aburke5054@aol.com]

Tina McKnight, the principal of Tyler, the "Tested" school, said that 
"There wasn't anybody pushing Tyler Heights to be anything more than 
what it was."  NCLB (and principal McKnight) provided that push and now 
Tyler kids are doing lots, lots better than they did before.  So much 
better that on one measure at least, the state test, they're beating 
out kids in more well-off schools.  I'm supposed to chuck that all 
because of Linda Perlstein's downer vision about the regime at Tyler 
and because Crofton, the school that serves well-off children offers 
its kids more middle-class educational goodies?  No, thanks.

Consider a school that offers even more than Crofton.  A school that 
serves children even better off than Crofton kids.  Maybe rich science 
labs, trips abroad, close involvement with the rich and powerful, and 
other very advanced opportunities are part of the curriculum.  Am I now 
supposed to dis Crofton because of that?  That's kind of what you want 
to do to Tyler.

Art

-----Original Message-----
From: GERALD BRACEY <gbracey1@verizon.net>
To: arn-l@interversity.org
Sent: Thu, 10 Jul 2008 8:40 am
Subject: Re: [arn-l] nclb as vicious circle


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, Ju
ly 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=2
0and 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.