NCLB

NCLB is a very touchy subject. Personally I understand the reasoning behind the law that every child is to be on the same pace and every child should pass each subject. However, the practicalitiy of it is not possible. If you think we are essentially toning down lessons so our lowest students will not be left out but I think we are boring our high students. I know that we are supposed to differentiate lessons to meet the needs of every student in our class. However, the time crunch and SOLs make this tough. Teachers seem so worried that their low students will bring down their scores and make them look bad that this becomes the focus. In the school I work at most of our funding is to help bring low readers to a higher level. I feel this is very important and helpful but, we do not have much for gifted students. They meet maybe once a month for 30 minutes. Now, I think we are hold children back from their highest potential. Also, I do not think NCLB is fair to ESL students. Could you imagine going to another country and not only learning another language but being tested on it as well. I have been learning English for 22 years and sometimes it can still be troubling. I think it is good to push students to be successful and help them be the best they can be. I strongly feel that NCLB puts a huge emphasis on scores rather than actually teaching our students to understand and demonstrate their knowledge.