Do you feel the NCLB act is helping or hurting your school district?

"No Child Left Behind" is hurting our district. My daughters go to a school with very high scores (97% reading, 100% for math) but if we don't show improvement, the school is "at risk". They identify kids w/ reading issues in first grade and help them become fluent readers by 3rd grade.

The stress on the kids was awful, because the teachers really can't do any more to help the scores - so they spent time teaching "how to take the test" (fill in the ovals completely, make sure you don't skip a line etc).

One school in the district is failing - and it's a school w/ a high turnover. So the scores compare last year's 3rd graders with this year's 3rd graders. But we don't have 3 years w/ this year's third graders because they just moved into the district this fall. So we can identify that they have reading problems in October - but only have 6 months to get them up to where they should have gotten in 3 years.

I would rather see this year's 3rd graders compared to themselves next year to see if the same group of kids are improving.

Our HS does a fantastic job w/ 97% of the students - it's the 3% that put it on the watch list because their scores aren't improving. Seriously NCLB wants to throw the baby out w/ the bathwater, sacrificing the education of almost all the students for the 3% who won't (or can't) learn.

Hurting. And it's unconstitutional. Health, safety, education and welfare are state obligations, not the federal governement, which taxes people and then gives them back their own money but with strings attached and bureaucratic hoops to jump through, skimming off substantial amounts for "administative costs."

Panda you are a idiot. Here is my equally as worthless response to your question. The message boards have a purpose and you chastising me is not it. Why don't you spend some time with your kids instead of jabbing other people.

wats nclb??????????????