Here is a favorite quote of mine said by one of my students last year about NCLB.
"You can't fail me because no child is left behind."
That is the literal meaning he took from the righteous No Child Left Behind Law and he was right. Last year my colleague and I decided we had 3 6th grade students who needed to be retained. The one I quoted lived across the street from the school. On the days he attended he was late and refused to do his work. We had several meetings in regard to his defiance, his poor attendance, and his lack of progress. He was present at some of the meetings in addition to his mother and grandmother and whenever the discussion turned to retention he would let it be known that he couldn't be because "no child is allowed to be left behind". The frightening part of all this is the first week of school he and the other 2 students were placed in 7th grade classes even though it was decided they were to be retained at the end of the last school year. I gave up my time to meet about these students, compiled documentation of interventions, and filled out paperwork for their retentions for nothing. It's January now and all three students sit in 7th grade. What message does that send to them and their classmates? I feel it says regardless of whether I come to school and do the work I will be passed on because of NCLB. Now I know that's not what Bush had in mind when he devised this plan, and I sure wish someone would inform my administrator because apparently the message has not yet gotten out. Perhaps we could look into changing the name.
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2 comments:
My understanding of NCLB is that it there isn't a literal meaning, No child can be retained. My understanding is that it figurative means "no child will be forgotten, everyone MUST succeed". Succeeding means perfoming on grade level, not being promoted just because of federal law. I am new to the Pennsylvanian interpretation, but in Nevada that was the meaning. That is the meaning that I take.
And that is exactly what it means, but unfortunately with our uneducated students and their parents they take it literally. The same goes when I give a writing grade to the students on their report card. The parents of my students think it's a handwriting grade and not the actual writing itself. I was being a bit facetious.
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