"The 21st century presents educators with shrinking resources and demands for increased accountability through No Child Left Behind (NCLB). The pressure of meeting adequate yearly progress has schools racing to make academic progress. Times dictate tough choices (p. 141)."
NCLB has been a thorn in the side of education since it was implemented. I have never heard anyone say that they were thrilled that our government passed such a policy, especially people that are in education. This We Believe, This We Believe in Action, and all of middle school philosophy is about being developmentally appropriate for the students we serve. NCLB has not taken this research into account.
Although my school has its faults, one thing it does well is have small academic teams. By having these small focused teams, we make sure that each student feels like a valuable member of the team where their teachers know them and their interests. I am sure that larger schools are struggling more and more with student:teacher ratios and are finding it harder and harder to maintain that intimacy that adolescents need.
"The hallmark of an effective middle level school rests in its capacity to personalize learning (p. 142)."
My school also utilizes small teams with common planning time. I was really interested in the suggestions that TWBIA gives for common planning time. Reflecting back, common planning time was spent more on discussing behavioral issues than the 4 tasks discussed on page 143 this year. I think the biggest suggestion I will take away is weekly curriculum coordination and using student work samples to discuss it. When things started to get busy during the year, we lost sight of using common planning time for things other than grading and independent planning.
ReplyDeleteYour blog made me think that I don't think I have ever heard anything positive about NCLB from educators either. The odd thing is, when questioning it, we all have to preface our thoughts with, "While no one wants to leave a child behind..." Is that because of the PC nature of our modern society? And if no one has anything positive to say about it, why is it the driving force in education? I know one thing...Race to the Top has a much more fun sounding name.
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