Paul V. Norris for Congressman - Education—Are we comparing apples to apples?

xxxxLawmakers are not teachers, but they have an enormous role in how our children are being taught. Unfortunately, most American parents are so distracted, they don’t know what or how their kids are being taught in our South Carolina schools. Parents must educate themselves about National and State policies regarding education, and they need to be diligent when it comes to what is best for their children’s development. Parents need to be loud and they need to demand results. On January 8, 2002, the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) was signed into law. Intentions were good, but the results are not. So, what is NCLB?
NCLB is a law that requires all states to assess basic skills of students in certain grades if those states want to receive federal funding. The law does not set a national achievement standard—those are set by each individual state. Ideally, NCLB would meet the following criteria:

School Choice
Improved Test Scores
Statewide Standards
Increased Accountability
Attention to Minority Populations
Increased Quality of Education
Increased Funding
Improved Perception of Public Education
By the year 2014, all students are to reach the same high standards in Reading and Math.

Are we meeting these wonderful goals? NO, NO, NO, and NO! If we are not
accomplishing the specified goals, what is happening?

Moving your child to a better performing school takes no less than an act of God. You go from office to office with mounds of paperwork. If you are approved, and if there is room at the school, you can move your child. Only 1% of those students eligible did this for obvious reasons.
Students at private schools and who are home schooled are not included. Don’t they live in the state?
Schools get creative and change the names of items such as “dropout rates” to reduce negative statistics.
States make their tests easier to improve their test scores.
Teachers spend months “teaching the test.”
Not only do states lower their expectations, segregation by class and race is increased and some low performing kids just quit.
Gifted students are not provided with a challenging curriculum. They don’t seem to matter at all. In other words, they don’t earn the states money.
The focus is on Math and Reading because that is what is tested. Instruction time for the sciences and art is cut.
Less time in physical education has contributed to childhood obesity.
The NCLB requirement of all students attaining the same high standards by the year 2014, is unattainable. The only way to meet this goal will be if we “dumb down” education so that everyone can make the score.

xxxxxJust to recap, on the national level, we are creating a one-size fits all group of kids with low expectations, higher drop out and retention rates, and lower motivation who are being taught to “take a test.” Can it get any worse? You bet it can! Let’s look at South Carolina (SC). SC uses PACT to assess our students. It is not a nationally normed test. How can you compare the education of students in each of the 50 states if each state makes their own test and assessment criteria? Is it fair that a student with a score of 90% is considered proficient in one state but advanced in another? No, it is not. Parents and teachers want to know where their students stand nationally-- especially if their students attend an out of state college or will work in another state one day. It is a global economy, and nothing short of national testing standards will do anymore. The “dumbing down” of our future society is much worse in the long run than sacrificing a little state control.
xxxxxAnother problem with PACT is that it takes weeks to administer in May, and the results are not received until the following November of the next school year. How does the teacher help a child who is lagging behind when she is not even teaching him anymore?
xxxxxDo I have the answer? Maybe, maybe not, but I do know that there are already nationally normed tests out there that all states can administer with much better results. One example is MAP testing. It’s less expensive to the school district, takes only 45 minutes to administer on a computer, scores are immediate, and teachers find out RIGHT THEN what each student is capable of doing now, what he should have learned, and what he will be able to do shortly. As a bonus, the student sees the results, and in many cases is so SELF-MOTIVATED, he wants to try again and increase his score immediately.
xxxxxI am not an educator (but my wife was), but the majority of teachers seem quite dissatisfied with the current system for very good reasons. We need to consider what is best for our children, and then take a hard look at the present system knowing there are big changes that need to be made now.