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I have only a vague sense of what this program was (is?), so if anyone could explain what it was supposed to do, what it actually did, problems, etc. that would be great.

By Northwestlover (Northwestlover) on Saturday, October 09, 2004 - 11:25 pm: Edit

http://www.edweek.org/context/topics/issuespage.cfm?id=59

You can just find the information by googling it. There's one I found so I hope you can have an idea what it is.

By this act, all schools have to test their student with some sort of benchmark exam. And the school get some sort of result that would tell whether your school "passed" or "failed" the test, consulting on students' performance. Categories are devided into like race, disability, low income, so the schools be able to know what part of their student body are doing poorly or better on the test. Then schools need to work on improve the test, so "no child left behind" academically, or schools' funds get cut.

The problem with this act is that, if one category fails, the whole school fails. The rule of test is every student has to take the test. This includes a immigrant who just came from non-English speaking country 3 monthes ago, and he/she is going to be tested with the reading level. If your school has like good ESL and/or special education program, more students would likely to come to your school, and take the test which is hard to pass for those students. I've heard some schools had improved with this act, but schools like mine (1200 students, has good ESL and special education curriculum) would always have hard time to pass it.

By Joev (Joev) on Monday, October 11, 2004 - 04:40 pm: Edit

This Act finally provides overpaid teachers with tenure with accountibility. ITS ABOUT TIME.

By Glamourbaby19 (Glamourbaby19) on Monday, October 11, 2004 - 06:28 pm: Edit

I'm from Texas, where this Act has been in place longer than it has been nationally, and while it sounds fabulous to make teachers accountable for educating students, that's not how I've witnessed it working. The teachers teach the students to pass these tests - not to learn the material. For example- on the 9th grade test, students are required to know how to solve sets of equations. Many teachers just show students how to put the numbers into a matrix in the calculator to get their answer. So, yes, the student gets the answer to the question right, but they don't really know how to do the math. These tests have essentially changed the curriculum of public schools. Students no longer learn about subjects and topics that are educational yet still intersting, they now learn the material on these achievement tests - and they only learn it well enough to make it through the three hours it takes to administer the test.