School Ethics According to the Simpsons

http://www.tubearoo.com/articles/87164/The_Simpsons_Whacking_Day.html

I caught the first couple minutes of this last night and happened to find the episode online. I like the super intendents comment about the geography requirements. It made me think about the states developing standards to make themselves look good after NCLB. You only need to watch about the first five and a half minutes, but if you are a fan of the Simpsons feel free to watch the entire episode.

The White House responds to Kyle's blog...not really

http://cosmos.bcst.yahoo.com/up/player/popup/?rn=3906861&cl=7508248&ch=4226716&src=news



The link is a video of someone from the whitehouse staff commenting on NCLB. As Kyle pointed out earlier nothing is stated on what has really been achieved. The goals of NCLB are stated and some more problems are brought up. Looks like there is going to be a 60 day comment period that the White House administration will analyize and use to make adjustments to the policy. Kyle, hopefully they will come across your blog, but don't get your hopes up.

No Child Left Behind Update

http://www.fairtest.org/nclb-after-six-years

I came across this article about the six year update of the effects of NCLB. In the article it states that NCLB “relies on limited, one-size-fits-all tools that reduce education to little more than test prep.” I remember in one of the books we discussed this semester (sorry I can’t remember which one), we talked about how sometimes you have to change your teaching methods to meet the needs of certain students. With all the testing in schools right now, the districts want the scores on the tests to reflect well on their schools. As the article states, sometimes the curriculum is lessened just to teach what is going to be on the standardized tests. The students are not being fully prepared to what they may need to know to succeed at higher levels of schooling. Another interesting point in the article is that there are other factors that play into why children really are left behind such as the basic needs of living arrangements and health of the children. I know that we discussed with Dewey about knowing the children’s backgrounds to help us better teach what is best for them. I know that the idea of NCLB was to benefit the maximum amount, but sometimes it hurts those that are already succeeding. It may be good for the schools in the short run, but has it really done a lot of good for the students in the long run?

Time Magazine Article: How to Make Great Teachers

http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,1713174,00.html
I posted the link to this article that I think is pretty interesting. Its about the importance of hiring great teachers. The author goes into detail about how to hire teachers, how to motivate teachers, how to reward good teachers, how to attract teachers, and how to lower turnover. Many schools are using the business corporate ladder approach in which schools provide incentives, signing bonuses and housing allowances. Congress has considered adding merit pay to the No Child Left Behind Act but teacher unions are opposed to government involvement on how teachers are paid and evaluated. Due to the high emphasis of test scores, on school report cards and being competitive globally teachers have more pressure on them now than ever before. This article has some suggestions and even solutions on how to regain faith in the eduction system.

I think merit pay is a great way to reward teachers. I also think that it implies that teachers aren't trying hard enough or working hard enough currently. I think that teachers, whether their schools have merit pay or not are all trying hard to raise test scores. While merit pay will be a nice bonus it only emphasizes the importance of test scores and not on learning. Since only math and English are the only areas that are tested it does not offer teachers in other subject areas the opportunity to earn bonuses. If they were some sort of compromise on the requirements of merit pay then I think it would not only be fair but it would be welcomed by all parties involved. Other factors that should be included are grades, attendance and behavior. Test scores are only a small part of the education that takes place in schools.