Tutoring and No Child Left Behind
I didn't get around to writing about tutoring earlier...it was certainly an experience today...
Things started off fine and went normally, smoothly, well...until towards the end. We finished "Doug's Vampire Caper" and it was time to move on to something else. I had anticipated this fact on Friday, and her mom had told me that they had plenty of books in the house that we could start reading next. So I told Ashantee to get one of those books when we finished Doug, and she came back with a "Babysitter's Club Little Sisters" book that she really had no interest in reading. She said she didn't want to read it, but I said we had to read something. She usually gets books from the school library, but last week she got a cookbook out...we're not gonna read that! So we had to read what she had in the house. She got so upset...she started crying. She wouldn't even try reading this book. She was pretending that she didn't understand it. I KNOW she did. The language was below her level of understanding. I KNOW her. She was just being stubborn. So she was all upset and we didn't get anywhere. I talked to her mom about it afterwards. She understood. Ashantee's teacher told me that the girl is a bit spoiled sometimes (the baby of the family). She's used to getting her way. She had an idea that this book was going to be bad. She didn't even know what it was about. She had never read a babysitter's club book before! But she was prejudging it based on some criteria that is unknown to me...at any rate, it should be better next time. It wasn't pleasant, but we've had so many good tutoring sessions this fall that we were bound to have one that was a little rough :P
Anyway, time for my rant on No Child Left Behind (get ready Kristen, I know you've been waiting for this :P). Our speaker was very animated and interesting. I now feel much more knowledgeable about this ludacrice act.
OK rant number one: Part of No Child Left Behind is that schools have to live up to certain "accountability" standards. If a certain percentage of kids don't pass the state standardized tests, the school is put on a "failing school list." After 5 years in a row on said list, a school is completely closed down because it has "failed." The students are then to be sent to other schools in the district. SO this helps things HOW? When students from the so-called failing schools are sent to the so-called passing schools, the passing schools will become overcrowded, and will then end up becoming failing schools too! Then the rich people would send their kids to private schools and the poor kids would be left in the still failing public schools. This would mean the end of a quality public education system in this country. WHAT THE HECK?!!!
Rant two: "Accountability." First, standardized tests are crap. They are NOT the way to determine if schools are successful or not! Especially when ESL students are forced to take the same test as everyone else. Of COURSE they are going to fail. The test is rigged against them! Second, teacher accountability. According the act, teachers who haven't passed the state certification test are "not highly qualified." In CT, this test is the Praxis. So, teachers that have been teaching for 20 years but never took the praxis in a given subject area could be considered "not highly qualified" and have to send a letter home to parents informing them that their teacher is "not highly qualified." Cuz someone who has been teaching a subject for 20 years isn't qualified, but a first-year teacher who passes the Praxis DEFINITELY is...
Rant number three: The "failing schools" list. What crap. Some of the criteria for determining which schools end up on the list are so ridiculous. Take this example. This was the best part of class. So the speaker mentions that one school in WEST HARTFORD is on the failing schools list! WEST HARTFORD! My hometown! Rich city with one of the best school districts in the state! How could it have a failing school? I asked the speaker about this, saying I was from West Hartford. He explained that there is a clause in NCLB. There are 4 "special" groups: Minorities, Special needs students, ESL students, something else...at any rate. If a school has more than 40 members of a special group at the school failing the tests, then the school is failing. Well, King Philip Middle School, my alma mater, has 42 failing special education students. West HArtford has a high special ed population because of it's great facilities and resources because it's a great school system! The fact that a mentally challenged student can't pass a test designed for regularly developing students says nothing about the district! Furthermore, the second middle school in West Hartford, Sedgewick, has 38 failing special needs students. Given that this is under the magic number of 40, this school is NOT deemed failing...*rolls eyes a whole bunch of times* Futhermore, this part of the act is pitted against minority school districts. If more than 40 kids from a minority are failing (which is likely, unfortunately...), then the school is in trouble.
So, No Child Left Behind is CRAP CRAP CRAP! DOWN WITH BUSH!!!
Things started off fine and went normally, smoothly, well...until towards the end. We finished "Doug's Vampire Caper" and it was time to move on to something else. I had anticipated this fact on Friday, and her mom had told me that they had plenty of books in the house that we could start reading next. So I told Ashantee to get one of those books when we finished Doug, and she came back with a "Babysitter's Club Little Sisters" book that she really had no interest in reading. She said she didn't want to read it, but I said we had to read something. She usually gets books from the school library, but last week she got a cookbook out...we're not gonna read that! So we had to read what she had in the house. She got so upset...she started crying. She wouldn't even try reading this book. She was pretending that she didn't understand it. I KNOW she did. The language was below her level of understanding. I KNOW her. She was just being stubborn. So she was all upset and we didn't get anywhere. I talked to her mom about it afterwards. She understood. Ashantee's teacher told me that the girl is a bit spoiled sometimes (the baby of the family). She's used to getting her way. She had an idea that this book was going to be bad. She didn't even know what it was about. She had never read a babysitter's club book before! But she was prejudging it based on some criteria that is unknown to me...at any rate, it should be better next time. It wasn't pleasant, but we've had so many good tutoring sessions this fall that we were bound to have one that was a little rough :P
Anyway, time for my rant on No Child Left Behind (get ready Kristen, I know you've been waiting for this :P). Our speaker was very animated and interesting. I now feel much more knowledgeable about this ludacrice act.
OK rant number one: Part of No Child Left Behind is that schools have to live up to certain "accountability" standards. If a certain percentage of kids don't pass the state standardized tests, the school is put on a "failing school list." After 5 years in a row on said list, a school is completely closed down because it has "failed." The students are then to be sent to other schools in the district. SO this helps things HOW? When students from the so-called failing schools are sent to the so-called passing schools, the passing schools will become overcrowded, and will then end up becoming failing schools too! Then the rich people would send their kids to private schools and the poor kids would be left in the still failing public schools. This would mean the end of a quality public education system in this country. WHAT THE HECK?!!!
Rant two: "Accountability." First, standardized tests are crap. They are NOT the way to determine if schools are successful or not! Especially when ESL students are forced to take the same test as everyone else. Of COURSE they are going to fail. The test is rigged against them! Second, teacher accountability. According the act, teachers who haven't passed the state certification test are "not highly qualified." In CT, this test is the Praxis. So, teachers that have been teaching for 20 years but never took the praxis in a given subject area could be considered "not highly qualified" and have to send a letter home to parents informing them that their teacher is "not highly qualified." Cuz someone who has been teaching a subject for 20 years isn't qualified, but a first-year teacher who passes the Praxis DEFINITELY is...
Rant number three: The "failing schools" list. What crap. Some of the criteria for determining which schools end up on the list are so ridiculous. Take this example. This was the best part of class. So the speaker mentions that one school in WEST HARTFORD is on the failing schools list! WEST HARTFORD! My hometown! Rich city with one of the best school districts in the state! How could it have a failing school? I asked the speaker about this, saying I was from West Hartford. He explained that there is a clause in NCLB. There are 4 "special" groups: Minorities, Special needs students, ESL students, something else...at any rate. If a school has more than 40 members of a special group at the school failing the tests, then the school is failing. Well, King Philip Middle School, my alma mater, has 42 failing special education students. West HArtford has a high special ed population because of it's great facilities and resources because it's a great school system! The fact that a mentally challenged student can't pass a test designed for regularly developing students says nothing about the district! Furthermore, the second middle school in West Hartford, Sedgewick, has 38 failing special needs students. Given that this is under the magic number of 40, this school is NOT deemed failing...*rolls eyes a whole bunch of times* Futhermore, this part of the act is pitted against minority school districts. If more than 40 kids from a minority are failing (which is likely, unfortunately...), then the school is in trouble.
So, No Child Left Behind is CRAP CRAP CRAP! DOWN WITH BUSH!!!