No child left behind

Tony Kubik Clarksville, TN — Tue, 09 Sep 2008 23:03:04 GMT

The "No Child Left Behind" is the creaton of the communist party & addressed to congress in 1963 along with the other 45 goals of communism. It remains an active goal of the Communist Party USA (CPUSA). If you don't believe me visit their website. Why do you refuse to address this threat to America?

No child left behind

Jennifer Marella, Clinton Township, Michigan — Tue, 09 Sep 2008 23:05:32 GMT

As an educator in the State of Michigan, one vital fact that Brian Williams and other NBC reporters failed to mention is that one serious flaw in the NCLB act is lack of funding. Michigan law clearly states that the government may not impose school mandates without adequately funding them. NCLB clearly violates that law. Michigan, along with several other states, have filed a Class Action suit against the Federal Government to remedy this problem.

No child left behind

Bill Lembke, Boulder CO — Wed, 10 Sep 2008 00:14:01 GMT

NCLB is not a bad law/program at all. We will always have testing and we should. The problem with NCLB is twofold. One is that it is not funded, making school districts follow endless rules and regulations but providing no money to reach the goals. Not to mention the schools in poorer districts or with student populations that have traditionally struggled not having the resources they need to deliver a quality education.
Second is that NCLB leaves out one of the major components in education, the parents. It puts 100% of the responsibility of education on the schools. The home is where kids spend the vast majority of their time and the messages about education come directly from the parents.
Do the parents read to their small children? Do the parents hold education in high regard? Do the parents care about their students learning? They would all say yes, I'm sure, but the 'proof is in the pudding' so to speak. If the parent sends a negative message about schooling to their child, there is little the school systems can do to counteract that.
As a teacher for 17 years, I can say with experience that it is a shame that the government leaves this very important component out of the equation. One can make all the changes you want in school requirements, curriculum, and teacher training, but without parents sending positive messages about schooling and the government funding schools properly, especially with hard to reach populations, there will be little improvement in our educational system.

No child left behind

Kathy Harris, Columbia, MD — Wed, 10 Sep 2008 00:16:36 GMT

Dear Brian and Ms. Ellis,
I heard your report on No Child Left Behind on tonight's show and decided to take this opportunity to describe my experience with this law and ask for your further clarification. I will be as brief as possible.

One of my grandson's, now an 18 year old high school junior, was classified as mildly mentally retarded in first or second grade by an Individual Education Plan (IEP) evaluation and placed in a learning resource class. This is a correct evaluation and classification by my experience, personal and professional. I've attend his annual IEP meetings and visit his classes annually since kindergarten because his parents both work full time and more. By the way, one of my son's (not his father) was similarly classified in NYC and received the same educational plan which was appropriate then, as it is for my grandson. In spring 2008, while attending his annual IEP evaluation and educational planning for his junior year, I was dismayed to learn that he and all the other children with intelligence levels below the 70 IQ level are tested by the same standards as the regular students in his school district. While he has accommodations like extra time to take the test, etc., his educational goals cannot and should not be to achieve the same academic level of reading and math as non classified students. In my estimation this robs him of learning the skills he needs to earn a living and be capable in daily living activities and to graduate high school.

I live in Maryland, not the same state as my grandson, and recently read a newspaper report that Maryland is instituting this standard. It seems the legal beagles say that otherwise the students are not receiving an equal education.

For all who have special needs children and have fought long and hard for their education to be individualized, I am in awe that lawmakers are so out of touch with the reality of children who cannot learn in the same way or the same standard as most children.

I hope your staff can explore this conflict especially in view of the constant reports that schools are failing to adequately educate their students. The numbers cannot reflect the truth unless the children tested have the same ability to learn.

I could go on about how parents are not spoken to truthfully about the children's needs and diagnoses but that's another aspect of the conversation.

It is important for you to know that I have not sought my grandson's permission nor his parents to write this note and I trust you will respect what I've said on this matter.

No child left behind

Barbara A, Lakeland, FL — Wed, 10 Sep 2008 02:55:28 GMT

This is tyrannical micromanagement in the extreme. Twice a day teachers can expect administrative visits in the classroom, and they are required to be on track to the minute with grade level lesson plans. I am teaching trainable and educable handicapped children, not the skills they need to survive, but on grade level. Let me illustrate: I have a child that can not speak a complete sentence, can not form a complete thought. Yet, I am required to teach such a child to write an complex five paragraph essay because she is in the fourth grade. How is that appropriate? I can't yet turn water into wine or make a disabled child normal. Contrary to popular thinking, learning does not occur by osmosis. Realistically, these children are bored, they are angry and classroom management is a nightmare. It is all that I can do to teach a lesson to these children. I am not helping these children, I am damaging them and I am through teaching. This summer I will get some training. Perhaps I will work in a doctor's office, in a hospital. I don't know, but I do know, unless the system changes, I will never, ever teach in the public school system again. Many of my peers share this opinion.
Somewhere along the line, someone has legislated out the "appropriate" from the "free and appropriate education required Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, and virtually illuminated exceptional student education. I have heard that, in our district, even the profoundly handicapped are being required to sit (and drool) as they are "administered" the standardized tests. What is wrong with this picture?
Many of my peers concur: "NO CHILD LEFT BEHIND IS THE MOST HORRIBLE THING THAT HAS EVER HAPPENED TO PUBLIC EDUCATION." We will feel the reverberations from this fiasco for generations to come.

No child left behind

Barbara and Norman Wiegel — Wed, 10 Sep 2008 16:39:06 GMT

We recently read in the Chicago Tribune that NBC has decided to muzzle Chris Matthews and Keith Obermann as well as others of the panel members that you used during the political conventions because of a perceived bias toward Barack Obama. Well, as hard core Democrats and liberal thinkers, we certainly hope that is not the case. As long as the conservatives are spouting off elsewhere, we liberals hope to hear the sharp wits and the sharper tongues of both Matthews and Obermann discussing our side of the equation. And if they disappear or are curtailed in any way, it will appear that you have caved in to the conservative tantrums and no longer believe that the job of a journalist is to ask the hard questions on both sides of issues. Please keep up the GREAT JOB you all were doing throughout the campaigns and the conventions. You were were all terrrrrific!

By the way, Rachel is a great addition to the team!

And we, too, desperately miss the best, most trusted voice of all that you had -- the late, GREAT Tim Russert.

No child left behind

Cathy Case, Summerville, SC — Wed, 10 Sep 2008 19:22:45 GMT

After listening to the report on education in the U.S. and the high drop out rate, I have two simple solutions, the school system should go back to offering vocational training as an option to college preparation classes and parents need to become more involved in pushing for the classes their children need based on their abilities.

I feel that during the elementary and junior high years each child should become progressively proficient in the basic, then in high school, given the option of attending a vocational school or taking college preparation classes.

When my son was in high school, I had to fight to have an advanced basic math course offered in the next semester. Seventy five percent of the students had failed the class and the school was not offering the course again until the following school year. Some of the students needed the class for graduation.

Due to learning disabilities in my elementary years, I was encouraged by my family to attend vocational school. After high school, I joined the Navy as a Hospital Corpsman and my vocational training in health care immediately earned me additional rank. After I fulfilled my enlistment, I used my GI benefits to attend college. I was the first person in my family to obtain a college education. I attribute my success to my parent’s involvement in my disabilities in elementary school, my attending vocational school and my enlistment in the Navy. All of these experiences provided me with the confidence, abilities, and maturity to go on to obtain my degree.

I make a decent salary as a college grad, but electricians, plumbers and mechanics earn hourly wages that far exceed mine. Not every child has the ability or interest in obtaining a college education, so the schools should offer other choices.

No child left behind

anon — Wed, 10 Sep 2008 20:28:19 GMT

Nobody wants to hear this, but it's a fact...there are some teachers who just show up to collect the paycheck. (Dare I say that most people know of at least one.) These teachers are very vocal about "No Child Left Behind". They don't like it because it means they have to do more than show up for the paycheck.

No child left behind

Amy, Salem MA — Thu, 11 Sep 2008 05:54:42 GMT

My husband is a teacher and both my children go to public school.
There are two critical points about NCLB that are constantly overlooked;
First: NCLB is so focused on students who need to improve their math and reading skills that the children (like my own) who are proficient are being critically overlooked and ignored. I know many parents, teachers and kids who complain that they are not challenged at all. So much so that many kids loose interest in education and are bored out of their minds. The teachers must concentrate on the students who need extra help (fearing that they may be fired if they don't get those kids test scores raised) that the bright kids are left behind! In many countries such as England, China ect when a child is proficient in a particular area of academics, they are given all the tools and support necessary to allow them to exceed to their greatest potential.
In America, if a child is brilliant in Math or Science it doesn't have any value. NCLB does not value bright children.
Second; as a result of NCLB many schools have got rid of gym, recess, art, history, geography, computer labs, extra curricular classes, drama, and even library. My kids have two math classes each day, two reading classes, one writing class and a test taking class. No wonder America is no longer producing scientists, engineers ect. And no wonder kids are becoming obese. Most teachers I know are calling NCLB "no child allowed forward".
The law is the worst thing that has happened to education in this country.... and the children are paying the price. I hope that the new administration has the guts to create an education bill focused on students not tests!!!