Sarah's Entry 2/12

I have learned a lot about No Child Left Behind in my CEP classes and i definitely think some changes need to be made to its policies.  First of all every school is supposed to be at 100% proficiency by the year 2013-2014.  Is it really possible to reach 100% proficiency? And even if 100% proficiency is met, what happens next?  Also the schools are required to report the test scores for subgroups, like special needs students, ELL students, and so on.  These subgroups are also expected to meet 100% proficiency but the problem is once a child meets 100% proficiency they are usually no longer counted as part of that subgroup.  For example, if an ELL student meets 100% proficiency they are probably pretty good at english and will no longer be considered an ELL student.  NCLB also forces teachers to teach for the tests.  Since school funding and success is based on their test scores and proficiency percentages, teachers must make sure their students do well on these tests.  This prevents teachers from being creative, and teaching what they feel is important.  It can also cause learning to be more shallow and based on memorization, when teachers do not have the time or capabilities to build deeper understandings.  I also think it is a problem that teachers have no input or say in NCLB and those making decisions on NCLB policies often have little or no experience working with students and educators.  It seems like if anyone should design policies for our schools it should be educators, school administration, and students in the schools.