Many Children Left BehindHow the No Child Left Behind Act is Damaging our

Children and our schools.

Authors Deborah Meier, Alfie Kohn, Linda Darling-Hammond, Theodore

R. Sizer, & George Wood

Presentation by: Kelly Lambert, Marty McKenzie, & Melissa Fulton

“Free public schooling has long been the primary engine for social and economic health and for individual social mobility.  America’s economic, social, and moral strength still depends on it.  As the culture changes, the shape of “public education” should change with it, but in a way that always keeps the public in “public education” secure.”  P. XVII – XVIII

Glog about Many Children Left Behind

Who are the authors?

Deborah Meier

•Education Reformer

•Writer

•Activist

www.deborahmeier.com

Alfie Kohn

Who are the authors?

"perhaps the country's most outspoken critic of education's fixation on grades [and] test scores.“Time Magazine

www.alfiekohn.org

Who are the authors?

Linda Darling-Hammond

http://tinyurl.com/5g9q6a

“Named one of the nation’s ten most influential people affecting educational policy over the last decade.”

The Authors

Theodore R. SizerBooks include:•Secondary Schools at the Turn of the Century (1964)•Places for Learning, Places for Joy (1973)•Horace's Compromise: The Dilemma of the American High School (1984)•Horace's School: Redesigning the American High School (1992)•Horace's Hope: What Works for the American High School (1997)•The Students Are Watching: Schools and the Moral Contract (1999, co-authored with Nancy Sizer)•The Red Pencil: Convictions From Experience in Education (2004)

The Authors

George Wood•Executive director of the Forum for Education and Democracy

•Principal of Federal Hocking High School

Part One: NCLB’s effects on Classrooms and

Schools

Part One: NCLB’s Effects on Classrooms and Schools

Chapter 1 overviewChapter 2 overview

•NCLB sets an unrealistic goal for school systems. It then sets out to punish those that can meet that goal by reducing or removing federal funding and making the school provide services that require funds they do not have.

•Low performing schools tend to be located in high poverty areas. These schools are typically underfunded. Therefore, they are at a big disadvantage.

•NCLB does not create an equitable system for these schools. Every school is expected to perform on a high level regardless of socio-economic status and the specific issues that accompany them.•Many states have abandoned critical thinking to be able to meet testing standards

Part Two: NCLB in a Larger Context

Part Two: NCLB in a Larger Context

Chapter 3 overviewChapter 4 overviewChapter 5 overview

•The more diverse a school is, the more AYP goals that school must meet.

•AYP does not take into account student growth. A student can make considerable growth and still fail in the eyes of this mandate.

•Now there are considerably less school districts. This means that a good majority of the ones that are in place are large and very corporate in nature. The public is not as active and prominent in these large organizer. This has lead to a disconnect from the public and the individuals that run the school systems.

•The lack of ability to meet the unreasonable standards of NCLB has lead to a push to privatize education. Many believe privatization of education might be the underlying motive of the NCLB supporters.

Part Three: Alternatives to NCLB

Part Three: Alternatives to NCLB

Chapter 6 overview

•NCLB needs to be transformed into a supportive law that truly promotes improvement and backs that up with the funds and support that is needed.

•The principles that accountability should rest upon:

•Shared vision and goals, adequate resources used well, participation and democracy, prioritizing goals, multiple forms of evidence, inclusion, improvement, equity, balance bottom-up and top-down, and interventions.

•Alternative Models:•Classroom-based information•Limited standardized testing•School quality reviews

Our ThoughtsThe book was a great look at the many flaws that the NCLB has some possible solutions to

the problems that the law creates. It was depressing to know that as of yet, there is not

a workable solution to remedy these flaws.This book is a great book to read to get a

better understanding of what many schools face and the hurdles we must overcome as

educators.

References:Many Children Left Behind by Meier, Kohn, Darling-Hammond, Sizer, and Wood.Authors:

Deborah Meier

Alfie KohnLinda Darling-Hammond

Glogs:Book Overview

Chapter 1Chapter 2Chapter 3Chapter 4Chapter 5Chapter 6