School officials in Illinois fear that funding won't be sufficient in 2004-2005 to comply with NCLB - so they're hoping for a break:
The Illinois State Board of Education released this week the scores from the standardized tests students took in the spring...The results showed that Illinois students failed in many of the testing areas. Almost 630 schools in the state’s 894 school districts failed to meet state testing standards...
Mike Gray, superintendent of the East Alton Elementary School District, said the implications could be "extremely detrimental" to many school districts. He said this is the result of the larger problem most administrators and teachers have with NCLB -- not every student is capable of meeting certain standards.
According to the bill, by the 2012-2013 school year, all students must meet or exceed state standards. Administrators have directed their ire at this portion of the bill, because they feel the expectations are unrealistic...
Challenges from lawmakers are starting to funnel down, as well. Even states are considering action against the bill...The National Education Association, the largest teachers union in the country, announced earlier this month that it is preparing a lawsuit to challenge the under-funded mandates required by NCLB.
Are those expectations unrealistic? Yes, they are. However, one could argue that setting the expectations any lower leaves states and schools too much wiggle room to write off problematic kids and slow learners, and lower expectations wouldn't put as much pressure on schools to change curriculums and practices that aren't working. It's hard to tell how much of the current frustration is because the expectations are truly impossible - or because the ed-school ideologies aren't flexible enough to allow for more effective teaching. NCLB was indeed intended to force schools to change - and it's not surprising that many people are unhappy with this.
One thing's for sure - it will be interesting to see how these lawsuits play out.
Posted by kswygert at July 28, 2003 04:03 PM