NCLB & its many issues

This last week was extremely busy for me as I attended two separate forums on Monday and Friday and the other three days I was in the office reading and summarizing some articles for my supervisor. Monday's event was held at Boalt Law School and the topic of discussion was on the No Child Left Behind Act (NLCB) and the parental involvement provisions. As some of you may or may not know, this 1,100 page document is up for reauthorization in Congress in the next few months. It's interesting to note that parental involvement is mentioned more than 100 times and is one of the main focus of the law. President Bush's philosophy was that if parents are directly involved at their children's school site, the parents will hold the schools and school districts accountable. Although schools and school districts are required/mandated by NCLB to create and implement policies that will involve parents, these policies are not really reinforced by the state or federal government.

It was really interesting to attend the roundtable at Berkeley since many researchers, community organizations, and educators were present to give their take of the law. Most people seemed to be in disfavor of how it has turned out and what its rhetoric has been. Supposedly, by the year 2014 all students across the US will be 100% proficient in both reading and math. How will this be possible if many students are no where close to making that much progress (lack of resources and qualified teachers, just to name two main issues)? John Rogers, a professor from UCLA, predicts that by 2008-2009 75% of schools in California that serve predominantly minority students will be labeled as "failing" based on the NCLB standards.

Others argue that since students are being tested on reading and math, teachers are being forced to narrow the curriculum and what is being taught. The instructional minutes for other core subjects like social studies and science are being reduced in order to concentrate on reading and math proficiency. Instead of being taught how to analyze texts, how to write lab reports, or how to critically think, students in the US are being taught how to take multiple choice exams. How can this type of assessment really test what students are learning, of if in fact they are learning anything? How will students from the US be able to compete with children from other countries who are learning two foreign languages and are being taught to conceptualize and apply what they are learning?

If we truly expect ALL students to be proficient by 2014, we ought to re-evaluate the way we teach, what we are teaching, who is teaching, how we are testing, and how much money we are willing to invest in the future generations (who more than ever will need to compete in a highly-advanced economy).