March 17: Writing Prompt #76-Bone of Contention

Pick a contentious issue about which you care deeply — it could be the same-sex marriage debate, or just a disagreement you’re having with a friend. Write a post defending the opposite position, and then reflect on what it was like to do that. 

Topic: Teaching to the Test and No Child Left Behind

https://www.understood.org/en/school-learning/your-childs-rights/basics-about-childs-rights/how-no-child-left-behind-affects-your-child

Being an educator and one that has always enjoyed going to school and learning more than just about anything else in my life, I care deeply about education issues.  Teaching to the test and the No Child Left Behind law has always left me with a bad taste in my mouth, although it’s not necessarily something that I feel has directly affected me or my boys. And thankfully, the school I taught in overseas had some of the most caring teachers I’ve ever known who did what they needed to do to help their students not just move on to the next grade level but succeed in whatever their level was at the time and help them improve upon it.  My limited experience with this topic has come more through the idea of how it can affect the type of children that I worked with passionately for a short period of time (ESL and even some students with ESL and special education needs).  Again, I am limited enough on this topic, that in order to write a piece defending the opposite position, I had to look up what those who advocate FOR this law are fighting to keep in place because I just don’t see it, but I need to be able to take my own advice and consider the other person’s side of the issue. So, check out the article above before reading any further to get a basic idea of what No Child Left Behind is all about along with a list of pros and cons. 

Here’s what I see by looking at the opposite position (in italics): I honestly believe the premise of this law is based on very good intentions, but the conditions in the schools and with the teachers need to be almost IDEAL for it to work the way it is supposed to and our evaluations of these schools and particularly the students need to be based NOT just on test scores, but rather on scores plus portfolios of student work that SHOW what they can do when not under the pressure of the test. Tests do not always reveal what a child understands, particularly a second language or special education student.  I do see the other side and like the idea that the law was created to help ENSURE that special education students received the accommodations they need to succeed because I fully agree with making these accommodations and with having IEP’s that work to help the students and teachers both to succeed in their roles at school, but I don’t like that tests are used as the primary way to evaluate whether or not the school and students are succeeding.  So, I could try to defend their side of it, but I think the article does a pretty good job of giving an overview of both sides, and I would just be repeating what was already said in a blog format.  J 

In the end, I think our whole school and education model needs to be revamped, so in that way, I really do not take either side. I vote for a new start instead of continuing to put band aids on something that has gone beyond repair and gets worse with each new change put into place (i.e. Common Core). NCLB may have been an effort to move toward a positive change, and I’m sure some positives have arisen out of it for schools that have really put it into practice the way it was set up to be instead of just “teaching to the test,” but I’d rather our government consider how schools in Finland, Singapore, or Canada succeed and take the things that are working best for them along with the things that work best for us and put them together for a innovative, experiential based learning model that assists each class/teacher and each individual student to excel, not on a test per say, but in learning critical thinking and life skills that will help them become productive members of society.  To read more about some of the models of education outside the U.S. and see how they are different from ours, check out this website: http://www.edutopia.org/education-everywhere-international-global-resources.  

I think that’s enough of my soapbox for now. Not a successful attempt at doing exactly what the writing prompt asked, but maybe we are all a bit more “educated” on this topic than we were before. J  I know I am.