NCLB

After taking a look at No Child Left Behind, the act seems to good to be true on paper. When I am reading it and saying to myself, finally there is an organization that is doing something about education and making it policy. Its great to see an organization come in and take control, but do policy makers really know what goes on in the classroom? Do they even understand how a child learns and all the different modalities there are in learning? So it might look good on paper, but does not do anything in the classroom. I have some problems with this policy.
I feel that it is great for all students to learn reading, math, and writing skills and do it well. As, soon as, a child is not doing well, you have to push them along to the next level and hope next year he/she can catch up with the rest of there class. So you can push along a child through first and second grades but it they can’t pass the third grade you have to retain them. No lets see retain them. Isn’t that the same thing as being left back for another year. Instead of just pushing them through, we should look into early childhood intervention. If school can use money they get from the state and try to figure out way child are having a hard time comprehending math, reading, and writing skills at an early age. This will benefit both the child, teacher, and the school. This way the earlier we catch the problem the faster we can solve the problem, rather than just passing them onto the next grade and letting the next teacher worry about the problems.
The school has to do well on standardized testing. The results of these test will not only show the skill of the students, but also grade the school itself, the district, and the state as a whole. So , a lot is being placed on these test in classroom curriculum to do well. If a the children do well it will have a domino effect which will lead to the school doing well, the district and state. In result if you do well you get money for your school and district. If you don’t do well money is taken away from your school or district and trust me nobody wants money taken away from them. Having the stress of doing well leads me to the curriculum. So many teachers are worried about there students doing well on test that we don’t teach them the daily needs or skills in everyday life. We should teach students how to get ready for real world problems and issues they will face once leaving school. Not worrying about how well they did so we as a school can receive more money next year. Also, teacher need more time to do this work, teaching math, reading , and writing that schools are cutting other subject areas. The areas they are cutting are the arts programs and physical education.
To me I have a major problem with cutting of classes for students to sit is the desk for another hour to learn math, reading, or writing. Children need a break from subject areas and need to run around and get involved. There is an increase in childhood obesity and it is becoming a major social issue in the county. But we want our children to miss physical education. That 40mins might be the only 40mins of exercise the child receives all day. Physical education promotes a health body, teaches students how to eat right and how to exercise to decrease health problems in the future. But we think math, reading, and writing is more important then a child’s health. It is a fact that students will learn more when they are in physical shape and not sitting in a classroom all day long getting ready for some test.
So we should look into earlier intervention and try to catch a child’s problem early and work on that problem. Also cutting time out of other classes to make room for getting children ready for the test is completely wrong and should not happen.