Years ago my state initiated something called “open enrollment” in our public school system. Families and kids can choose which district they would like their kids to attend. If they opt out of their home district, they can request another district allow their kids to go there. The home district must approve the transfer, the new non-home district can choose whether or not to accept the kid. Once a kid is enrolled in the new district, they cannot force them to leave if they are failing or being a twit. On the other hand, the home district has to allow them to come back at any time.
Over the years, various bugs have been worked out of the system. For instance, the state doesn’t want kids hopping from one district to another for sports. They addressed that with very rigid eligibility rules that seem to be working quite well. Even so there are still some problems. One of them is funding. Parents continue to pay school taxes in their home district while their kids attend class in a different district. Those parents have nothing vested in the home district and tend to vote down additional funding the home district may need. It can be frustrating.
All of those problems seem inconsequential when I sit back and look at what Bush’s “NCLB” (No Child Left Behind) program is doing to a number of kids. I understand that he was hoping to fix problems in education. I know there were some problems. I know some kids were struggling. However, I’m seeing more kids being left behind in a rather ugly game that’s happening.
Kids are tested, retested, and tested again. The plan is all kids – even special learners – will be at high performing levels by 2014. Everywhere the pressure is on for districts to make sure as many kids as possible do well on these tests. To meet this goal, some things are being left out of curriculums altogether so teachers can focus on teaching to the test. Perhaps one can argue those things are not “necessary”, but I argue that higher level thinking requires more than the rote memory type things that is needed on these tests.
Within each district students are divided into all kinds of categories – males, females, Native American males and females, African American males and females, free and reduced lunch eligibility kids, special education kids, etc. etc. etc. If any of those groups doesn’t make the grade, the school has failed to meet AYP (annual yearly progress). If too many kids are absent and don’t take the tests, the school fails to meet AYP. Currently, my school is failing to meet AYP. Both our elementary and secondary schools as a whole flew through the testing, yet we needed one more special education student to pass the tests in order to meet – it didn’t happened.
While each year, the bar for passing the tests gets higher more and more school districts fail to meet AYP. Currently, over half the districts in my state are failing for one reason or another. If a district continues to fail, their funding can be cut – along with other penalties. All of this puts school and students into a pretty sad situation.
I never truly realized how much until this year. I don’t know how I missed this or why I didn’t pay closer attention to what is happening. Whatever the reason, I am saddened by what I am seeing.
Several of my co-workers and I were looking at the “list” of kids that are cross-registering out of our district this year. Each of them were kids that were struggling students; a number of them were “my” kids – the ones I’ve blogged about – the ones that I have poured my heart into – the ones that are kids in trouble that need extra help. I sighed as I mentally said good-bye to them. It didn’t hit me until someone said “This is going to help with AYP.”
It’s true.
In an tragic sense, it’s a cause for celebration among districts when their “kids in trouble” bail out and head to other districts. Along with their problems, they take their failing test scores with them. Those scores become another district’s problem; it puts another district at risk. It saves your own.
I hate this.
The very kids that we should be helping most become liabilities to school districts. No district wants to risk the loss of funding. The kids are becoming casualties. In essence, we are leaving more children behind now that we’ve adopted “no child left behind”. Districts are better off without them.
I’m angry.
One neighboring district with a large student population has come right out and said – they crunch the numbers to find out how many absent kids they can have before being cited. After that number has been determined, they tell their slowest kids to stay home the day the test is being administered. As of yet, my district doesn’t play that game – we test 100% of our kids.
Newspapers report the results. People see failing districts and mutter about how bad our schools are. They don’t realize what’s happening behind those doors. They don’t know some districts are failing because two of their kids with Down’s Syndrome weren’t able to pass reading and math tests at the 8th grade level. They don’t realize that some are failing because too many kids failed to show up the day the test was given. They don’t realize how many variables are.
All that aside – my heart is breaking for those lost kids – the ones no district wants to claim.
Fuck the whole thing – THOSE kids have always been my very favorites. While I enjoy teaching and working with the higher achievers too, I utterly love the challenge of the troubled kids. To many many districts and administrators those kids are simply liabilities.
It sucks – welcome to NCLB.
Peace
August 26th, 2009 at 12:46 am
I find it strange that a test says how much funding your district, school gets.
Here in Belgium one has tests, exams, aswell but the funding isn’t attached to it. Heck, every student, kid, has to make those test (and pass)otherwise passing to the next year is not allowed.
But then again, i guess, conserning education, Belgium has a good system. The only problem might be the drop-outs without diploma at age 18 since the law says children only have to go to school until they are 18 years old.
August 26th, 2009 at 3:53 am
Here in Australia, you take what school you are nearest to unless you can afford private education. This being the case, I went to good ol’ Orange High. Say no more, really.
My question to you as a teacher is: do you think that the school really makes a difference or is it the student who will find their way regardless?
For me, it wasn’t the school (indeed I had many), but the few memorable teachers. That’s where you are most definitely included, my friend. Such is the passion of your post. But it is hard to get into politics. In this way I also find myself adrift in the world. What to do, what to do? :/
August 31st, 2009 at 12:33 pm
Education starts in the home.
NCLB in it’s raw form is something I would think you Deej, as a teacher would want and accept. I definitely agree with the funding part but when that started it was because the districts in question had poor teaching performance, poor districts in general, and kids from broken homes, and kids who chose drugs over learning. Yes it seems like a penalty but up to that point nothing else was working, and it’s real sad to see the horrible level of smarts some of the kids have.
Bush may have began NCLB when he was governor of Texas. But when he brought it to Washington as president there were many, many others working on that bill, from both sides of the aisle.
I just wonder how much of that “open district” policy business hurts your area. I’d never heard of such a thing until reading your post. At first glance it seems like something I’d oppose.
September 27th, 2009 at 7:02 pm
I’m so sorry for your troubles. Do you think there’s any chance that the insanity will be stopped and that a new system will be put in place, or is the NCLB too big to stop for now?
On a completely non-serious note (please don’t hit me!) these “problem children” being sent from district to district remind me of sending uncurable patients to other hospitals in the old game Sim Hospital! You would deliberately send them to damage their reputation and thus increase your own.
I find it horrifying to imagine it happening in real life, especially with children.