No Child Left Behind

Posted by Commander Mommy

May 1, 2008 |

Apparently the No Child Left Behind law just grew some teeth. A Maryland school district is firing teachers of core subjects that fail to meet state requirements at 21 of their schools (read the whole article here). Now, I’m no expert on the field of education but I know a lot of teachers. I can’t imagine that this sets a precedent that makes them very happy. As a mother, though, I can’t say I’m upset.

I guess I look at the teachers I know and I understand how hard they worked to get there and how hard they still work to maintain their ‘edge’. They are constantly attending seminars, staying up late making new Powerpoint presentations to go with their lectures, grading papers, and trying to find some way (any way, really) to work Mythbusters into their curriculum. I know that these teachers are the good ones, they will not be affected. I’m hoping that this begins to weed out the ones who are not quite so dedicated. The ones who think that Africa is a country, for instance (I’m not kidding, it happens).

I understand why, undoubtedly, teachers unions around the country will be watching this with interest. It is easy to see where this can get abused –where teachers suddenly (or yet again?) become the scapegoats for lack of funding and ‘get the axe’. I hope that doesn’t happen, but realistically? We live in a less than perfect world. I’m certain that it will, at least once. Hopefully, the benefits outweigh the costs. After all, they are not ‘canning’ the teachers completely, they are still allowed to apply for subjects they are qualified to teach.

I am very interested to see what this ‘drastic’ measure does to our education system in terms of national literacy rates over the next decade or so. Here’s hoping something good comes from it all!

Comments

3 Comments so far

Josh Arends on May 2, 2008 8:34 am
What? Africa isn’t a country? Are you sure? No wonder my SAT scores were so low.
Stephen on May 2, 2008 9:23 am
I truly think it will make things worse. NCLB has merely forced education systems to teach to tests, rather than teaching children how to learn things. This lawsuit will just enforce that situation that much more.
Carolyn on May 5, 2008 2:50 pm
I for one am thrilled to hear that they are holding the teachers accountable for their actions. They do not do that everywhere. My son comes home with papers that are written on by the teachers and half the words are misspelled. Not to mention that the grammar on a lot of the memos that come home is absolutely awful. When I commented to one of the teachers about the spelling of the word, she told me that she is too busy and has too much to do to worry about the spelling of one little word. And we wonder why our children don’t “talk too good”.