No Child Left Behind: Friend or Foe?
A few weeks ago I found an interesting article on the renewed, and slightly altered, No Child Left Behind bill. The article looked promising. As the vote draws near, more and more is being written about it, and everywhere I look I find more stories, many from teachers, about the affects of the bill on technology and creativity, and therefore hands-on learning.
This morning I read an article concerning a tech teacher. When I was in school, we spent tech class drawing blueprints and building spice racks, but not these days! According to Bob McDaniels, a tech teacher in Pennsylvania, tech now ALWAYS means technology - even when building a spice rack, students start with the computer. This struck me for three reasons.
1. It’s immensely practical - a word all too seldom used in school. It combines the joy of building with research, and in Bob McDaniel’s case, scientific research (he says the students, for example, research birds in order to build the apropriate bird house for the species they select).
2. It’s an odd, and perhaps therefore GOOD, marriage of intelligences. Tech class (the old form) relied on being good with your hands, and being spatially able to visualize and create. Technology class (the new form) still holds onto that, but adds research and reading (for an authentic task) and categorizing the information.
3. McDaniels said that according to NCLB, technology education is mandatory - which means that NCLB is what is causing this practical, odd, and good combination of multiple intelligences. Since when does the NCLB inspire creative classrooms?!
The second article I saw today seemed to me cause for optimism, though wary. George Miller, a democratic representative in California, plans to propose “more rigorous standards that reflect the needs of 21st-century learners.”
The optimism? 21st-century-learners are hands-on learners, creative, analytical, collaborating learners, requiring multiple froms of assessment. Every school should be incorporating 21st-century skills in their lessons; FableVision’s North Star Inspiration for the Classroom is currently being revised to that end.
And yet, I’m wary. The term “more rigorous” is triggering this. What training are the teachers receiving to help them completely revamp their classrooms? When will the school districts be given enough government funding to buy new supplies, technology, software, and all the rest to support these advanced standards. I’m not sure we’re ready to change the standards yet. First the tools and strategies need to be put in place.
It will be a great day when schools have all the money they need, and the military has to hold a bake sale to buy a bomb. Not sure who said it, but it’s very true…
What have your experiences been with NCLB? How has it affected your school?
