What Can We Do to End NCLB?

[cathy davidson]

Below is an email I received from a private company offering me a subscription that would allow me to be alert, be informed, and "Stay in Compliance with NCLB Mandates." I misread it as "Madness." This is so depressing, as I don't have to tell teachers who deal with these "mad/nates" every day. Any ideas about what we can do? I know lots and lots of us feel NCLB is Madness. Here's the email I received. I am NOT endorsing but using it as an example of what we have come to.
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Thompson's NCLB Advisor
Stay in compliance with NCLB Mandates

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Dear Educator:
Every day you're expected to deliver high-yield, high-performance results to satisfy No Child Left Behind mandates - despite constant rule changes, revisions and restatements.
Every day you're expected to make it all happen with little support and even less wiggle room to improvise.
Ask yourself: if a state or federal auditor knocked on your door today, which side of the NCLB pass/fail line would you be on? And if you're on the wrong side, who can help you make it right?
Thompson's NCLB Advisor is designed to help keep your education programs on track by providing you with a superior "early-warning system" as well as strategies to help you make decisions with confidence.
The Newsletter - This monthly newsletter was developed to help school administrators, principals, and other education professionals like you stay in compliance with NCLB, minimize red tape, and get better results from your programs
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Thompson's NCLB Advisor is unlike any other newsletter you've seen before. We developed it expressly to help school administrators, principals and other education professionals like yourself stay in compliance with NCLB, minimize red tape and get better results from your programs.
It will help you:
avoid the most common pitfalls in implementing your school choice program
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work productively with supplemental service providers
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understand how to make the most of indirect cost reimbursement
With input by attorneys, administrators, and compliance auditors, Thompson's NCLB Advisor will help you understand NCLB requirements and put you miles ahead of the curve when ED issues new rules or offers new flexibility.
Thompson has more than 30 years of experience covering Title I, NCLB and related legislation. We know all the important players in ED and every state education agency - and they know us. Our experienced reporters and researchers cover NCLB from the inside out. We monitor state reports, call people "in the know" and we review every ED statement and guidance release.
Some Hot Topics covered in the May issue of Thompson's NCLB Advisor include:
Schoolwide Programs - Title I practitioners are still dubious of the benefits of consolidating funds in schoolwide programs, but praise ED's new guidance on the subject
The NCLB Advisor presents a table comparing key characteristics of ED's three new schoolwide scenarios and the traditional targeted assistance model
An ED fiscal expert presents various methods for tracking indirect costs in schoolwide programs
NCLB Q&A -- May Ed-Flex states waive the rule prohibiting districts in improvement from acting as supplemental educational service providers

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[Mechelle De Craene]

Wow, it is so sad that companies are making so much money off NCLB. Thank you for taking the time to post this.

[Mechelle De Craene]

I hope things in education will change soon. With NCLB, it seems like testing companies and private companies are sifting valuable education funds that could go into the classrooms directly. I noticed on their website that they had a book for Title 1 and IDEA as well. There is so much bureaucracy in public education.

Just today, I received this email:

"Due to budget cutbacks by the Florida Legislature, our District has determined that the number of instructional vacancies for the 2008-2009 school year does not warrant placing unnecessary burden or expense on our applicants. As a result, our annual Teacher Interview Day previously scheduled for June 5, 2008 HAS BEEN CANCELLED."

Many of my teacher friends are leaving the state of Florida to try and find teaching jobs elsewhere. Especially, many new college graduates are having a hard time finding teaching jobs. It's interesting when I visited DC over summer our educational leaders said that there was a teacher shortage. They asked us teachers suggestions regarding the shortage, etc. But last summer seems like a dream. It was another place and time. Fast forward to today and reading this email regarding Florida teachers, I was so surprised. It's a confusing time for public school teachers.

[Geoff Day]

How sad indeed! But not uncommon I fear. This U.K. article maybe adds to the discussion in a wider sense.

I particularly find this statement revealing: "Equally overlooked is the value of practical, hands-on learning or of creativity. Yes, we are about to get new Diplomas in vocation subjects such as engineering, IT, Creative and Media and Health and Beauty. But the government does not describe these as vocational qualifications but prefers to describe them as "academic" qualifications and to stress their A-level equivalence.

This may make practical sense in the face of British snobbery towards non-academic qualifications. But it also suggests a lack of confidence in the value of practical education. "

Many educational systems seem to be running on the inertia of "older models" of understanding perhaps? Are we at a "research impasse" or waiting for the next "big break" to show us the way? Are we in a state where equal sides create the impasse?
As so many examples appear world-wide that are polarized in equal amounts (U.S. has it's fair share!) one should perhaps not be shocked that education may well be in a similar situation. Access to opposing views via the Internet may be paralyzing us to "move on" or are we reaching a point that says ultimate definitives are now questionable - the ability to "convince us" is reducing?

Yes, it is a confusing time for teachers!

[Mechelle De Craene]

Hi Geoff,

Thank you! That was an excellent article and right on point. I really liked this part of the article:

'What is education for?'
Repeated phrases refer to "efficiency gains", "choice for customers", "the market", and "funding systems that respond to customer demand". The phraseology of "inputs" and "outputs" is more like the language of industrial production than of education. It implies there is an exact specification for the finished product. The Nuffield paper wonders whether we have lost sight of earlier descriptions of education such as "the conversation between the generations of mankind" (Michael Oakeshott)…"

Also, you ask excellent questions! Hmmm...I have to think on them a bit. Very interesting! Thanks again Geoff for sharing the great article!

Best Wishes,
Mechelle : )