NCLB (hurts my subject) :-(

Hmm..I'm not really sure how I feel about No Child Left Behind. I do realize that teachers are now teaching to the test, like is mentioned in the Wikipedia article. In doing so they are teaching just enough to get students to do well on standardized tests. They are not teaching new innovative lessons, that have more to do with what we do when we get out of school, and in the end enable us to do well on these tests. I feel that is so much more beneficial to a student. Learning life skills, and real life situations, that they will encounter one day seems more realistic than simple math out of a book or reading out of a book. Yes you need to know the basics but we should also be taught to think outside the box.

There is actually something I don't like about NCLB. It messes with My Job as a PE teacher. In order to add more time to the core subjects in order to get scores higher on standardized tests, schools are cutting out time in the arts and PE. I am currently writing a research paper on something similar and am coming across so much literature on this. Cutting into time for PE is not smart in my opinion. The benefits that Physical Activity and Physical Education have on a child is amazing. It helps prevent so many diseases and things like obesity which are becoming more and more prevalent today. These diseases that people are dying from due to sedentary behaviors don't show as much in the early ages, but are caused by inactivity in the early ages and come on later in life. For so many kids not that late though. Therefore, we need to keep our kids informed, educated, and MOVING. This is all hard to do when our time with the students is being cut. Most studies show that students actually do better on standardized tests when they are active and fit. And the small increase in time with core subjects, after the added time is divided between them, does not help much in rasing scores.

Anyway...I think it is good to tighten the gap between different racial groups, but if we retain a kid for not passing the test, we are still leaving them behind, aren't we? Also the fact that each state can make their own tests doesn't prove much. If one state can make their test really easy and one makes it harder, what does that show us when they get the results and the state with the easy test does amazing and the harder test does average. NOTHING. Unless there is a country wide exam and all states need to teach the same curriculum, how can you really measure and compare?