I am so concerned that the federal government has made many rules with NCLB due to the inadequate schools in large cities. The schools that I am familiar with do not have the same problems. The one size does not fit all.
I am very concerned with the fear factor of NCLB. There are so many subgroups that it is a guarantee that the public schools will all become a failing school. It is not possible to have all subgroups at the 100%. I felt NCLB was developed by Pres. Bush to privatize schools and do away with public education. I have supported President Obama with many policies other than his stand on education. Does he want the same as President Bush? Does he want to privatize public education so he would not have the funding issues?
I really liked the assessment process that Nebraska had before the feds did not accept our procedures. Nebraska was doing it right! Making all teachers accountable for developing a regional/state assessment and being part of the scoring. This really made a huge difference in classroom instruction. The state test does not have the same teacher involvement.
I urge that the federal government look at some small successful schools throughout the nation, see what is working well and have the large schools try to adapt to those core values and beliefs.
The graduation rate also concerns me. Our school works very hard to try and figure out each at risk student and then try to accommodate for their need. Sometimes due to outside school factors; the student chooses to leave school.
I realize the President and Sec. Duncan have been connected with large school systems and have only that to reference. There is another story out in our nation schools that the President and Sec. Duncan need to visit and become familiar.
Again, one size does not fit all. Good leaders understand that you build on the success and try to emulate what works...not using threats and severe consequences..this type of thinking does not open for a growth mindset. We need people in education that are ready to try and take risks, under the NCLB, that will not occur.
I would love to be at the table to discuss these issues at the federal level. Let's use some common sense, understand best practices, finance to ensure that best practices are occurring PreK-12+, and develop policies to assist this process.
