Jason Reed/Reuters
President Obama discussing the No Child Left Behind education policy at the White House on Friday.
Big changes are coming to No Child Left Behind law, an education relic of the Bush administration. During a speech at the White House today, President Obama announced his plan to change the way public schools are evaluated.
Instead of adhering to students passing a state-required test, he’s giving states the option to make up their own program to improve performances in the classroom, via a waiver. It also drops the requirement that kids must prove proficiency in reading and math by 2014 — under the condition states have a plan B to better prepare students.
Obama pointed out Bush had nothing but good intentions with this program, but, well, it’s just not working with the current set-up. Now, Obama's putting power in the states' hands to decide the best course of action for struggling students. This move makes states eligible for more flexibility in how they spend federal funds previously allotted for tutoring programs.
"Higher standards are the right goal. Accountability is the right goal," Obama told a room full of educators and students at the White House. "But experience has taught us that in its implementation, No Child Left Behind had some serious flaws that are hurting our children instead of helping them."
Critics of the program say the law placed too much emphasis on standardized tests and schools focused too much on teaching to the test. As in, kids weren't actually learning more. It was more about scraping by to avoiding getting penalized.
His team has been working with Congress for a few months to find a solution these problems. That went nowhere fast, so Obama's going it alone.
“Congress has not been able to fix these flaws so far,” Obama said, “so I will.”
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The video won't work and the Exxon commercial stops at 7 secs everytime. It's almost as if someone is trying to keep us from watching it.
The Exxon commercial keeps stopping at 7 secs for me. It's almost as if someone's trying to keep me from seeing this video. Anyway, it's about time something was done about NCLB. It's a dismal failure.
WHY is every commercial sponsoring these MSNBC segments propaganda for continued dirty energy development from one of the biggest corporate perpetrators of environmental disasters (Exxon)????? Can't you guys find a different sponsor?
Reality check. I worked in cable advertising for many years and the hosts and even the channels really have no say. Advertisers buy packages in blocks on an array of channels bought usually well in advance. You might be better off commenting directly to Exxon.
Additionally, Jenny- MSNBC has to make a profit to keep the lightsd on and to pay the salaries of the talking heads. They use Exxon, etc to that end.
WHY is every commercial for these MSNBC segments promoting dirty energy development, sponsored by one of the biggest corporate environmental polluters in the US (Exxon)??? Can't MSNBC find a clean energy sponsor? It would be a welcome change. Their propaganda campaigns for fracking & tar sands development isn't fooling/convincing anyone in the MSNBC audience, and it is both annoying and disappointing to see MSNBC let them advertise their lies on this network.
JT- the clean energy company that Obama threw his weight behind isn't exactly economically able to sponsor anything at this point...
Something needs to change. This cannot hurt.
I scored papers for this program in 2007. I worked on fifth and sixth grade science and math tests. The pool of tests came from New Mexico.
Teaching to the test is undeniable. That was apparent from the similarity of the rationales expressed on the good papers. Many of the good papers were phrased so closely that it could not have been coincidence. Papers from accomplished students who really understood glowed like neon signs.
I did not have a problem with that. It was minor by comparison to "The Big Problem".
My best guess is I scored 20% zero credit. I am not talking about failure to meet the minimum standard. That was close to 40%.
These kids tested out with 20% of them getting ZERO POINTS.
Roughly, 5% of the kids did not attempt to answer any of the questions.
I went home close to tears every night on that little job.
None of what I said was subject to a double-blind study. It is only what I observed.
FACTS REALITY AND COMMEND SENSE: quote, Critics of the program say the law placed too much emphasis on standardized tests and schools focused too much on teaching to the test. As in, kids weren't actually learning more. It was more about scraping by to avoiding getting penalized.
John, hopefully you spoke to the parents. That's usually where the problem lies. Along with feeding & clothing your kid, I think reading to them and with them goes a long way. My parents and grandparents were voracious readers, we always had books around (the library was one of my fav places as a kid since we didn't have a lot of money to spend) and I'll be forever grateful to them for instilling that value.
Of course the President can change any law just by signing an executive order. George the Bush establish that, and Obama is continuing a long tradition of the Imperial President. Bye, bye, American Republic.
So, what does that mean for the special ed kids? Just push them through. My son is 14, and reads at 2nd grade level. No child left behind, just push him through!
need to put back critical thinking in school learning! and quit teaching to a test, let the kids learn!
school is also a good place to learn social skills how to interact with more then just a few.
The valedictorian at a High School in Hillsdale county is a special education student. Special help, extra time, and help during tests. This student will of course not be able to compete in the real world but thank goodness they were not left behind.
Won't it be cool when they get the academic scholarship to college and then have to have special ed classes to pass. The end result then being that someone that deserved the scholarship won't be getting it.