Becky Rock
Gatchamaniac
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Registration Date: 16-04-2009
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| quote: | Originally posted by ElectricWhite
| quote: | Originally posted by Daniella T
What's the NCLB?  |
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Also, this set-up puts pressure on the schools to pass the tests to get the funds instead of actually teaching anything useful. (There's actually one teacher's resource company that sells instructional packages that focus on teaching kids how to pass standardized tests without ever learning the anything the tests are supposed tocover!) |
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That's how our school system works and the result has been Honors classes are now for everyone and there are no regular classes anymore, so the 'Honor' aspect has been thrown out the window. AP classes have taken the place of Honors classes.
I just had a knock-down with my son's counselor about it last week.
Kids learn in different ways. Some kids excel with little help, others need some help. Some kids need a textbook, others do just fine with hand-outs.
My son is a bottom-line kid. Give him the material, let him soak it in and then test him. He sees homework as a waste of his time, as he already knows the material and proves it by getting A's on his tests.
Our school system now grades all homework. My son decided to be pasive agressive by blowing off all the homework and aceing all the tests. The end result was F's in homework and A's on tests, with a C overall. The homework has just as much weight as the tests (which absolutely freaked me out and that's what drove me to have a chat with the counselor).
So far, he has scored 100% on the Standards of Learning Tests and scored into the 87 percentile of college bound Juniors on the PSAT (he took the test one month into his Freshman year), so he knows the material. As far as he and we are concerned, he's proved it again and again.
The counselor said they have to grade the homework and give more weight to ensure the kids who don't test as well as our son a chance to get good grades.
So he's bored to death in his Honors' classes and his grades are suffereing because he hates homework.
We've had to force him to do the homework tyo keep his overall grade up.
That showed me they're more worried about their numbers than they are about teaching the kids properly. They have kids in Honors classes that can't keep up and because they have lowered the class, they have bored true Honors students.
I will admit I have no experience with a child who has difficulty in school, so I hope my rant hasn't offended anyone.
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19-02-2012 18:48
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amethyst
Wanted: $1000 Reward
I am a Condor.
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Registration Date: 15-07-2009
Posts: 6248
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[quote]Originally posted by Becky Rock
Uh-oh, Ame. I'm a Reagan Republican.
We can agree to disagree. 
One of my best friends is a die-hard Democrate. We love to get into it about our beliefs and shake hands afterwards./[quote]
No worries, Becky. My DH is, too; and his family are all rednecks.
One of my best friends is a Green Party Liberal, and even though I always considered myself a moderate, she called me her conservative friend.
It's the likes of Rush Limbaugh, Newt Gingrich, and Sarah Palin that have pushed me away from the GoP. My beliefs are more inline with Lincoln and Roosevelt, except on women's reproductive rights where I hold more liberal views.
Maybe when common sense returns to the party, I may rejoin. Until then I remain unaffiliated with any party.
Although, if you have any views on Romney, I'd love to hear them in PM or email. I like what he did in Massachusetts, but I don't like the way he's been courting the more extreme branches and flip-flopping through the primary.
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19-02-2012 19:20
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amethyst
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| quote: | Originally posted by Becky Rock
Kids learn in different ways. Some kids excel with little help, others need some help. Some kids need a textbook, others do just fine with hand-outs. |
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Becky, that is exactly why NCLB will fail. In California, many schools had three "tracts" Honors/AP, College Prep, General. The system was abused and many districts dropped General and funneled the students into Prep. Guess what, class averages dropped.
NCLB expects everyone to be able to perform the same and improve, even when there is no more room to improve. It takes great tools (TJ's point on standardized tests) and makes them the end all for school funding. IMHO, it's just another form of abuse and doesn't recognize that people are different and that not all students are the same. This is more true for adolescent learners than adult learners, but that is not to say that adult learners will not have problems.
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This post has been edited 1 time(s), it was last edited by amethyst on 19-02-2012 at 19:28.
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19-02-2012 19:27
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