For the video, focus on minutes 1-3 regarding assessment but the whole video is a great reference to understand the reality of “No Child Left Behind.”
Personally, I think the emphasis that is put on high stakes testing is ludicrous. Jay McClain explains it very well in my opinion when he says, “High stakes assessment has killed teachers learning and developing as assessors. It uses external tests and evaluates data…the most vital assessment is actually inside the classroom.” I think this is especially true regarding writing. In-class writing assessment is a valuable tool for students to develop their writing with the help of other students as well as with their teacher. Students must, first and foremost, learn that writing IS enjoyable. However, students are not going to have that joy for writing if emphasis is constantly put on standardized assessment of their writing. I think that giving students freedom to write, without receiving a grade is important for students to maintain that enjoyment in writing. This can be achieved through exercises such as journaling and free-writes, where they are given a choice about what they can write about and are free from the pressures of receiving a grade. Moreover, conferencing is a great way to evaluate the progress of children’s writing. Getting to know students and the power of their individual writing is a fundamental element in progressing student’s writing skills. Pat Johnson said, “Teachers want to know how they can help children”, and I feel like this should be the aim in everyday education. What are your thoughts on “No Child Left Behind” (especially pertaining to assessment)? What is your experience with this act? A goal of the act is to make all students reach the 100% proficiency level by 2014; do you think this is possible? Do you think that 100% proficiency is EVER going to be possible? What kind of pressure does this statistic put on children? Let me know what you think about the video too! :)
Testing is an issue that keeps getting brought up in our classrooms. I believe that being aware is very important. However, our the people outside of the classroom getting this information? Testing is not helping student's performances. It is in in fact a way to find out who is struggling. On the other hand we need to handle these issues in the classroom and see what we can do for the students.
ReplyDeleteI found it very interesting that when a school has been in the student failing range for a couple of years, the students who choose to leave end up being the ones who are not failing. So then what are these tests actually doing. They are not helping those in need, and pushing away those who are not struggling. I agree with Courtney when she says quotes that "Teachers want to know how they can help children." This is so true. Aren't we there to help children succeed? When I was younger I would want to do better in school just to impress my teacher. When they helped me understand I then succeeded. I was never a test taker but I did understand the material. So for me, I know how it feels to be judged on testing. It is never something I want my education to be based on.
The No Child Left Behind sounds like a good idea just from the title of it, but after seeing this video, it has convinced me even more that it isn’t very beneficial. There are so many categories that the schools should exceed 100% at and even if just one of those may categories is not met then the whole school is labeled as a failure. It seems unfair to require so much from a school and leave unreasonable amount of room for error. Personally, I have no experiences with Child Left Behind but as a student and a teacher I would not enjoy being under this type of assessment. Teaching should not just be focused on the performance of a student compared to other students. A child could have come into a class without knowing how to read and write, but by the end of the year is able to write stories. This student has made dramatic improvement but most likely when compared to other students his or her age, is still going to be slightly behind. There are many situations like these and therefore assessment needs to be made on some sort of personal level. Again, the focus is more on teaching to the test. Students will learn things for the test but then most likely forget it after. There should be a need for students to enjoy and at the same time excel on the things they are learning.
ReplyDeleteI think it is horrible that teachers are forced to teach to the tests. By doing this the students only learn what they need to know to pass the standardized tests with a good grade. I believe that students are supposed to be taught about everyday experiences in life and how to get by throughout the years. Just because students can pass a standardized tests how will the teachers know if they truly are ready to move onto the next grade? Real teaching is not being done amymore. I think assessment for students needs to be done in the classroom with the teacher himself/herself. It doesn’t matter what subject it is but the assessment for each should be done in an environment where the students are comfortable and on what they have really learned. I think NCLB is ridiculous because there is no way that all students will ever be able to reach a proficiency level of 100%, I think it is impossible. There will always be struggling students, and students who are bad test takers. Also, by putting this pressure on students from a young age it gives them anxiety and adapts them to only learning one way which does not include a free, creative way of thinking.
ReplyDeleteNo Child Left Behind is 100% based on scores. Our society does not need more numbers to compare our students. There are too many standardized testing including the SAT. Students are being compared to other students. Everyone learns differently, like for me, multiple choice testing, is more of a struggle. I am sure there are others out there who have the same feeling. Some students do really well with multiple choice testing, and those are the ones who do better on the assessments, no matter how much they study. Most of the time, the tests trick the students to see how they can understand the questions and not necessarily the content being learned.
ReplyDeleteJean Frey explains that the testing is not going to teach a child what it needs to learn. Especially with writing, students need to be able to enjoy reading and writing, not be forced to sit for hours and write about subjects that they are demanded to write about if they want to succeed. Pat Johnson says that we do not need another test. Children need to enjoy school, especially enjoy reading and writing because these are activities they will be doing for the rest of their life. Writing, especially with younger students who are just learning, need freedom, and need creativity when writing so they will want to continue writing into the future.
The idea of aiming for 100% proficiency in NCLB scores is a wonderful goal and works well in theory, but will never work in reality. In my opinion the main idea behind NCLB is "one size fits all" for students and any classroom teacher today knows that this is definitely not the case. All students have different needs, approaches, and intelligences when it comes to learning. All students should also reserve the right to get the assistance and time they need to learn the material that they are to be tested and evaluated on. Holding students accountable for such high standards places unnecessary pressure on them. It is would be prudent to explain to students that these tests are important and that they should do their absolute best, but any other explanation beyond that they may place pressure on them is completely unnecessary. It is absurd for students to have to carry the same burden that teachers and administrators do about these tests effecting their budgets and reputation within the nation. If students are instead relaxed about the tests than they can become carefree learners and are more likely to score higher on the exam. When they become engaged in learning they will learn to think critically instead of just focused on memorization and drilling.
ReplyDeleteNo Child Left Behind is not a proper title for this act. It is such a bold title for an act that seems to put more concentration on “scientifically proven” programs and pushes for money to be put towards teacher pay. I think the idea of not leaving a child behind is very important, but the way it is brought forth in this act is not the right way. I, like many other people, don’t enjoy tests. I don’t find them to be a proper way of assessment. By setting such a high goal of 100 percent proficiency, which is not possible, we are putting pressure from schools and teachers on the students to score high, when a standardized test doesn’t really test how well they understand concepts. We are giving them a negative view of tests at a very young age and making them feel like how well they score is the judge of how smart they are. For the act to even think 100 percent proficiency is possible, goes to show you that the people who created it have no understanding of the diversity of learning and no experience in the teaching field. Students learning abilities vary, each day a student comes to school can either be a good day or bad day. Even a very smart student can come to school the day of the test and score low because of an outside issue; such as, sickness, or situation at home, etc. Also students who don’t show up are still accounted for and students who have disabilities are accounted for, there are too many factors that will limit all chances of hitting that 100 percent mark. This is such a great video because I totally agree with it. It puts forth great arguments and points out how high stakes test are effecting learning and taking away from enjoyable learning! We want students to want to come to school and learn something new, testing is limiting teachers from having this impact on students!
ReplyDelete“No Child Left Behind” sounds great initially, but as soon as someone reads into it and understands the act it becomes very disenchanting. I also thought Jay McClain, an elementary school principle, summed up nicely what NCLB has done to teachers. He states, “High Stakes Assessment has killed teacher’s learning and developing as assessors, what really helps students learn is assessment based in the classroom.” I agree 100% with McClain’s statement and with many others featured in the video. NCLB was created to improve literacy, writing, math, and other test scores; however, it continues to impair students by labeling their proficiency with a test score. So far in my classes here at Chapman I have only heard of NCLB in a negative light. I do not think the tests adequately measure student ability or the success of the teacher’s teaching. I do not have much experience with this act besides what I have heard about in classes and from teachers, but I do know it is frowned upon. Many teachers complain of time and creativity being an issue in lessons now, because their time and lessons are focused on curriculum preparing students for testing. I believe the goal of 100% proficiency by 2014 is absurd, how is that possible? Not every student is going to reach 100% proficiency, each child develops and grasps information differently, and it can be argued some students might never really understand some concepts taught to them. NCLB should instead inspire each child to learn and succeed to the best of their ability, and be given the fair chance to do so. If school is about passing a test and constantly being pressured to do well on these tests, than educators and political figures of education are sending a very bad message to students who want to go to school because they enjoy it. There are other ways to obtain success in the classroom.
ReplyDeleteI think that the No Child Left Behind program is based solely on standardized testing and teachers teach based off the tests. I think that this creates teachers who do not know how to teach, teaching is more than being able to pass a standardized test. It is also about teaching students lifelong standards and learning through experiences. The way teachers are taught that the standardized testing is so important and how they focus on the kids that are really close to passing rather than taking the time to focus on kids who need the most help. Teaching should not be based on the comparison of students’ grades when each child is different and unique and has different strengths and weaknesses. I think that there will always be students who do not test well and by not testing well it ends up hurting the student. This should definitely not be the focus of teachers or students and there needs to be a better way to measure the progress a student makes throughout a school year and to see if a student is proficient.
ReplyDeleteNo Child Left Behind is really about only letting helping higher achievement students get more attention. Teachers have to teach to a test, so students can get higher scores. Students who are far behind don't get more attention because they won't be able to learn enough in time to make their scores count. Students with disabilities set test scores back, and don't help the class scores. It is really sad to see teachers only teaching to tests. I know that teachers want to help students learn and they also know that teaching to a test is not an effective way of learning. It really isn't. There are so many things that need to be re-evaluated with No Child Left behind, and the fact that they think that in 2014 there will be no student "left behind" because proficiency tests will be 100% or the school fails is ridiculous. Every school is going to fail, because every school has slower students, students with disabilities, and second-language learners. These are all students who give bad test scores and there in no changing who they are to fit the test. Teaching really needs to be what every teacher whats it to be, to help children learn.
ReplyDeleteAt first, No Child Left Behind sounds that it would be a good idea, and I believe that there were good intentions behind it, however this focus on standardized testing is horrible. I do not think it actually helps students nor does it measure any useful information. It may be argued that it can be helpful in determining whether the students are inproving or actually learning, but usually that is not the case. The teachers are using a lot, if not all of their time to "teach to the test" and the students are placed under so much pressure to do well. I believe that these tests do not actually measure what they are intended to measure. The standardized test has become more of a edurance test. The tests are too lengthy and the material studied and tested on is not actually practical. Students will learn more from hands-on instruction rather than taught to memorize countless facts, which a majority of them will probably forget long before they take another standardized test. Most tests cater towards a specific group, and thus it is unfair for many people and should not be used as a standard of academic acheivement. The standardized test has taken the fun out of teaching and learning.
ReplyDeleteI love what pat says “we should be asking what do we need to do to help the students”. The creation of this plan to increase the standards for all children is not the problem but rather the execution of the plan. The intentions were there but we have people who are deciding students futures who are so far removed from the classroom. There is stress on the teacher to make sure to cover the standards in the test and the children are stressed because the emphasis on the tests determines a category they are put in. The students who need the help are not getting it by just teaching to this test. The statistic of everybody being proficient by 2014 is a goal but the plan of execution is failing. This is saying that all students in the class of 2014 will be proficient and yet our dropout rates are the same, there are still students who do not have access to books, and are not prepared to immerse into a progressing society. As teachers we need to advocate for our students because the demand of assessment is not going away and the ones who really need to be making the decisions are the ones who are in the class 9 months of year, 5 days a week, and 6 hours a day.
ReplyDeleteBeing the twelth student to comment on this, I believe I will be summarizing a few previous responses. Regardless, I think that Courtney hit this topic dead on when she quoted Jay McClain's assessment on high stakes testing. It is wrong to force educators to commit their class time towards preparing students for the single answer, single response questions that they are required to answer in high stakes tests. It is also difficult to keep students motivated and excited about their education while sending them through the repetitive preparations for standardized testing. From the view point of an educator, it is demoralizing to think that the students that you teach have their performance evaluated through testing alone. How is it possible to do understand a students intellectual capabilities without considering the diversity amongst students maturity, ethnicity, and learning process? Considering this, it is "ludricrous" to set such high standards (100% proficiency) without recognizing the differences amongst students.
ReplyDeleteI believe that No Child Left Behind seems good in theory in that it is holding teachers accountable for teaching what needs to be taught, but the implementation of this program falls somewhat short. There is too much emphasis placed on standardized testing instead of actual learning. Many teachers are “teaching to the test” which is not helpful to the students. This method of teaching only aids the students in passing the standardized tests; it does not really help them to learn material that they should be responsible for knowing. I am not sure if it is possible to have 100% proficiency, but I do think that this will put tremendous pressure on students and teachers. Students will be pressured to do well on the tests and teachers will be pressured into making sure that their students are well-prepared and perform well on the examinations. Too much emphasis is placed on standardized testing and not enough is placed on the joy of learning. Concerning writing, if teachers were more concerned with making sure their students learn the joy of writing and how to become better writers, they would be more successful and proficient instead of being concerned with teaching how to test.
ReplyDeleteNo Child Left behind is something that works in theory but does not work so well in the classroom.
ReplyDeleteTeachers are being held to make sure that their students pass the standardized tests that they are taking. This has pushed some teachers to teach to the test. When this is happening the students are not learning anything thing that they will retain because they are learning to recite and spit out answers that are meaningless to them. All they want to to do is pass the test so that they can move on in life. It is also so strange with how many people bring up issues with NCLB and how it doesnt work very well but they are still predicting that studenst will be 100% proficent by the school year 2013-2014. This is absolutely nuts to think that every student will be passing at this rate. Something needs to be done to revamp the NCLB and it needs to be done fast. Let teachers teach how they want to and things will run more smoothly in the classroom and students wont be so scared.
By: WILLIAM BURNS
This is a great video describing and discussing the ups and downs of No Child Left Behind. I believe this program is a great idea but not realistic. Teachers obviously want their students to succeed but they are forced to teach to the test and not have any room for anything not in the curriculum or on those tests. Teachers are forced to limit the imagination of their teaching scope. Looking back at my experience growing up and taking those test and being part of the No Child Left Behind, teachers seemed incredibly stressed and I felt I missed out on a lot of learning that wasn’t on those test. I also think this is another reason the joy of learning has been lost. As a teacher, I believe it’s incredibly hard to keep students motivated and to live up to the standards of No Child Left Behind.
ReplyDeleteThe NCLB act has been failing our schools for years now. Teachers are being forced to teach to a test and lose all sense of originality, creativity, or passion in their classrooms. Their jobs and funding are dependent on whether or not their students achieve a passing score on the standardized tests. Therefore, they are forced to spend the majority of their time making sure their students know what is on the test and how to pass. This stifles learning in all aspects.
ReplyDeleteA 100% proficiency level is a completely insane goal. Each and every child learns differently and at different rates, we can not expect every child to be able to test well or grasp every concept by a deadline. Learning is not a linear activity and should not be assessed in that manner.
NCLB needs to be revised, and reconsidered. Those in charge of writing education bills need to spend more time in our classrooms around the nation determining what really needs to be done to implement change. We need to find a way to reach all students and help every child feel successful.