NCLB unrealistic measure of schools
Though well intended, the "No Child Left Behind" legislation and its counterproductive intimidation of our teachers, administrators and school support personnel falls short in its promise to improve learning. The current mandate of NCLB calls for 100 percent of public school students, including all those with unique needs, to meet or exceed reading and math content standards by 2014. Moreover, success or failure is determined by a small handful of assessments given within a specific time frame and setting. If we demanded the same from medical professionals, we would insist that all their patients would either be cured or kept healthy with medical interventions. Doctors and nurses would be blamed if even a single patient remained ill, regardless of age, physical condition, medical history or genetic background. Death would be unacceptable and prohibited. Obviously such a model is nonsense; having similar 100 percent expectations for schools is equally ludicrous and demoralizing.
Sadly, some area newspapers added to the confusion when they significantly underserved their readers with a simplistic analysis of learning and teaching in this high-stakes testing environment. Excellent teaching involves a complex mixture of content expertise, instructional competency, relational aptitude and even some artistry. Quality teaching cannot be measured by a single set of multiple choice tests. A newspaper's implication that test scores and salaries should be directly linked would be reasonable only if every student had the same set of skills, talents, attitudes and abilities. Students' educational histories, social-emotional backgrounds, cognitive strengths and home circumstances, however, blend with instructional strategies, administrative policies, community aspirations and countless other variables to form unique, extremely dynamic learning situations. All of these variables contribute to the final learning results.
Richard Perry
Retired teacher and principal
Burlington District 301
Hampshire