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No Child Left Behind has left its mark on a generation of children and teachers new to the education profession. Below are the stories of some of the effects NCLB is having in Arizona's classrooms.
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I am a special education teacher and Department Chairperson for Special Education at Flowing Wells Junior High school in Tucson. I have 24 years of experience as a public school teacher. Our school currently has about a 15 percent population of students with special needs, which translates to 142 students. Many of these students perform significantly below the 7th and 8th grade level (about 35 of these students read at a 3.5 grade level or lower). The Individual Education Plans for these students state that they need Alternate Accommodations in the area of reading due to this significant disability. Well, due to the NCLB laws, any special education student that receives an alternate accommodation does not count as having taken the test, which means that less than 95 percent of our special education population will have taken the test (which is "just dumb" as one of my students would say, because they indeed take the test, but they received the alternate accommodations they are allowed under IDEA 2004). As a result, our school will not meet Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) because 95 percent of the subgroup of special education students did not "take the test." One federal law, NCLB, conflicts with another federal law, IDEA 2004. So, because we are following the law (administering a standardized test to special education students with their legal alternate accommodations) our school fails AYP! Try explaining that to parents and students! Which also means that in big, bold headlines, our local paper, The Arizona Daily Star, will state something along these lines, "Local School Fails to Meet AYP for Two Years in a Row." Help! Another issue is that we meet the statewide component, Arizona Learns, but "fail" the federal component, AYP. Now that's silly.
Carolyn Jacobsen, Flowing Wells Junior High School special education teacher
I am a special education teacher in the Scottsdale Schools. I work with students who have a learning disability. I do not like to test these students at a higher level than where they are performing. I would like to test what I am teaching.
Ellen Meltzer, Cochise special education teacher
As a high school English teacher, the effects of NCLB have been far reaching in my district, in my school, and in my career. First of all, it concerns me greatly that we have seen a huge shift from being student-centered to being data-centered. I know as a veteran teacher that the results of my teaching may not necessarily show up via a test or even by end of course. I have many students who come back to see me who tell me that they value what I taught them ONLY after they have left high school and realized how much they KNOW as compared to others they have encountered. Additionally, what also seems to be lacking is the realization that student growth does not happen on a charted course. Much like measuring the physical height of children, growth sometimes occurs in sporadic bursts and yet our constant measuring of students does not allow for that. I disagree with a high stakes test being used for graduation purposes. I know that many of our students simply leave high school prior to graduation because of a sense of hopelessness over this kind of test. Because they may be English language learners or special education students, it appears that we are leaving many students behind. We are abandoning the idea of a comprehensive high school where students may explore and refine their individual talents and that is a shame. We are very much caught up in attempting to have students fit into predetermined molds and that in effect, minimizes their opportunities.
Faith Risolo, Dobson High School english teacher
No Child Left Behind, is really what the name implies, except it actually seems to leave the child behind. Case in point: To begin with I hold three Arizona teaching certificates: a substitute, a Provisional Adult Ed (expires end of July 07), and a Provisional CTE/Business and Marketing (my second Provisional in fact). In October 2004, I was hired to teach math at a certain high school with my Provisional CTE and was never asked to or told to get an Emergency Secondary Math certificate. I taught Algebra 1 for the rest of the school year. What transpired beginning after winter break January 2005, was that I was informed that I would not teach math the next school year due to the NCLB. I fully understood that, except I was enrolled in a class (via a grant) with other math teachers in the same district and one other, where we were to attend a class entirely arranged around preparation to pass the subject matter exam. In January 2005, I was also informed that the grant program would not be continued the following school year, and hence I was basically out of the math area. My major happens to be Economics with a Business minor, and afer much run-around by the district the remainder of the school year (I had at least five different contracted positions "thrown" at me for the following school year) I ended up signing a contract where I was to be in the high school's media center as a "supervisor" over the "new" computer lab and also working in conjunction with the district's Success/Alternative Center. At the end of the school year I was informed (again) I was needed at the alternative school where I would teach in language arts and remedial reading. That also changed, and I finally started at the campus actually teaching in my highly qualified area of Economics and also Consumer/Business Math. After four weeks, the Friday before the regualar school year began, I was transferred without notice to teach an 8th grade Pre-Algebra class. This is an area I was not qualified to teach in. I had to obtain an Emergency Certificate, and when I became concerned about being able to obtain my standard certificate in CTE, I was informed that I would NOT be rehired the following year UNLESS I became highly qualifed in Math or Science. Of course there was no way this would happen. Anyway, to make a long story short, I feel that not only were the students "cheated" by moving me to an area I was not qualified in, but that also I had lost any chance of completing requirements for my standard certificate. I think there is too much pressure put on teachers to teach in areas that they are not qualifed in, unless the NCLB law is changed and allows these teachers to become highly qualified over a period of time, especially in math and science as you just cannot go out and be prepared enough in a very short period of time. This really hurts in the rural, fast growth areas outside of the major metro population centers. I basically have sat out the last year from teaching as I was trying to find out if I could reapply for a new Provisional CTE certification, and have already interviewed with at least one school district where they may be adding one or two teachers in my field. I have just decided to go back into the classroom on a long term substitute basis, but in World Literature at a Charter High School for at-risk students in the Phoenix area.
Michael Megee, teacher and retail manager in Chandler
I am a special education teacher in a middle school. The children I work with have a variety of disabilities. Some are learning disabled, emotionally disabled, mildly mentally retarded, visually or hearing impaired, or with some other health impairement. Most of these students are required by NCLB to take state testing at the grade level of their peers. None of these students function at grade level. When they are required to take tests that are two to five years above their ability level, they are placed in a very stressful situation. They are not allowed to use non-standardized accomodations because their scores would not be counted and would go against our school's AYP of 95 percent tested. Because we are a small school only 4 of our nearly 100 special needs students would put our school in a failing status. It is wrong to request that these students take this test to begin with. Each child has an Individualized Education Plan that is followed by the special education and regular education teachers. Each year special education teachers test every child for progress through the use of Standardized Nationally recognized tests; given without any special accomodations. To me this should be proof of Adequate Yearly Progress on the part of these students and it also includes teacher accountability.
John Pettenger, Altar Valley Middle School special education teacher
Of the many issues that have been created by NCLB, I think this is one of the silliest. NCLB wants the children to have healthy food, but in so mandating we can no longer have homemade cookies or cupcakes for birthdays. When I have my Thanksgiving tasting my kids were allowed to make butter because we shake cream which comes in a package, but I had to buy cornbread rather than make it. I could not bring in my cranberry sauce. During our multicultural holiday celebrations, we couldn't have gingerbread celebrating Germany, or donut holes on Saint Lucia's Day, or a quarter-sized piece of Dutch Chocolate to celebrate Holland, etc. I teach second grade and with so many other activities that were fun eliminated due to time and testing constraints, it seems such a shame the law had to impact here too.
Sally Farneth, Cottonwood Elementary second grade teacher
Kids are now left behind more than ever as we teach to the test and target those kids that might move from approching to meeting the standard. The kids who have met and the falls far below kids are left behind daily. We are also teaching kids that there is one right answer in four. No team work and no time to play leaves the kids behind when the global economy calls for team players and a bilingual work force. This NCLB is bad news.
Bev Fong, Synnyslope Elementary school teacher
My story is simple. I moved here in 1995 from South Dakota with several approved areas, one of which is Language Arts. I had Language Arts on my Arizona Certificate the first year as I was temporary. Again the next year, which remained on there until I renewed again in 2003 I believe at which time they removed the Language Arts stating it was a minor. I was not happy and all the people in the certification office would say is take the test, take the test. I could not believe this. I had an approved area, and the reason was they no longer accepted minors. Now that area was never a minor, I graduated college a few years ago, and then I went back to pursue an education program to teach. I let this go as I WAS able to continue teaching Language Arts as I was okay on the HOUSSE rubric. Now in 2006 this came up again and I was given wrong information stating if you had 24 hours in a area such as English go down to the certification office transcripts in hand and have the subject area stamped. I asked this question several times to the person who was stating this. I called the certification office to ask a question, and they looked up my record and said sorry you have a secondary certificate, you must take the test. This is a lie, I had this on two certificates from this state, I was never informed back in 1999-2002 that I could have been grandfathered in if I had taken my transcripts down. My district Sunnyside School District in Tucson did a very poor job of informing anyone of this change. All I hear from everyone up in the state Education Department is that I should have kept up with it. Well you tell me this? Why would I have if I had an approved area on my certificate why would I ever have thought it would be taken away? Does anyone realize that we in the teaching profession are the only profession where we work, and earn areas of approvals on certificates and at a whim it's taken away? Again we are the only profession to have certifiable areas removed. No one else who is a professional has areas that I know of taken away. I am very distraught over this. I have talked to my school district, the head of certification in the Phoenix area, my AEA Vice-President. No one is hearing my plight. I had an approved area, it was removed, and all I hear is take a test. Now funny how many people up in Phoenix passed the AIMS test a few years ago that we ask our students to pass. Well I am in the same catagory. College students are groomed to take those professional tests. People like myself who go back to take classes are not set up to pass those tests. Is this fair? No, and I want some justice. I want the exception I should have had, I want to have Language Arts or the English on my certificate, I want the grandfather rule given to me, as I never knew I had the opportunity until it was too late. I am frustrated, disgusted, and so angry that this is happening. Lastly I was told that if I could not pass the test I should not be teaching the subject that I have been teaching for 14 years. Well the answer to that question is I was certified to teach that area and this state removed that area. This is bogus, and we wonder why the younger generation coming into the teaching sector is wanting out. Can you blame them? It is not the teacher's fault our students are not perforiming. It's so easy to blame us. How about we look at society?
Jill Truslow, Chaparral Middle School teacher
This is my twenty-second year of teaching, and as I finish preparing my class for the AIMS testing April 9-13, I find myself reflecting on how much education has changed since I began in 1975. This is my reflection of how No Child Left Behind has changed my profession. I teach in a Title 1 elementary school in East Mesa. Mesa Unified District, my principal, all my colleagues, and I have been doggedly working on teaching every standard every year, but I am getting discouraged by what seems to be happening. We have cancelled "all the fluff" as it is sometimes called, and spend every day teaching curriculum directly aligned to the Arizona standards. However, our student population has changed drastically since I began teaching there in 1990. Our student population is now 48 percent Hispanic, and most of these students have either come directly from Mexico or have only been in the U.S. for one or two years. We have been designated to be an ESL school, which means that all the teachers have to have their ESL endorsements by 2010. I finished mine in 2006, but just knowing and using great teaching methods for English Language Learners and other students at risk does not turn our NCLB statistics around. Last year, we were recognized as a performing plus school by the Arizona Department of Education, but our No Child Left Behind grade was that of an underperforming school. Why? Because our Learning Disabled students were disqualified through a paperwork quirk. This is insane! The strategy to discredit public schools would not be working were it not for the hidden roadblocks in No Child Left Behind. We met our standards, but were punished for it anyway on the national level. Please help right this wrong. Career teachers who mentor beginning teachers as I do are having a difficult time explaining why new teachers should stay in the public school system. As much as I enjoy teaching, if I were a beginning teacher facing the testing nightmare that No Child Left Behind has become, I would not enter the profession. Teachers have been made the scapegoat for a political strategy to kill public funding of schools. We are no longer given the respect teachers in other countries receive. Public education is one of the success stories in how the United States became a world leader. Your vote to fix the NCLB fiasco is needed to help education for the masses survive in this nation.
Marilyn Uhl, Stevenson Elementary School teacher
I am a first-year, high school biology teacher at an inner-city school. The overwhelming majority of our students are Mexican. Many are illegals, many have limited English skills, and their parents speak no English at all. Most of our students, no matter their ethnicity, are poor. Few come from families that value education, and some will be the first high school graduates in their families (if they graduate). Our student population is transient, dropping in and out of school as easily as most people change clothes. And I, as a brand-new teacher, deal with this without a mentor. My classes have no textbooks. We have no technology, except for a laptop + projector so that I can avoid having to write on a whiteboard. Oh, I am physically disabled and use a wheelchair. My students, according to NCLB, must perform at exactly the same level as the students who attend the rich white suburban schools in my district. This is ludicrous. I spent hundreds of dollars over the past 8 months on teaching books, to try to help myself become more effective. Wasted money, as I never have time to read them. I attend seminar after seminar, having to leave my classes with subs, and none of the tips ever address the real issues that I face daily: How can I educate students who live in a culture that places no value on education? And how can I try to sell students on the dominant culture when our Administration has shown repeatedly that "it" places no value on education, either - particular science education? Meanwhile my assistant principal has me on a remediation plan because he's not happy with my teaching. No one has shown me effective classroom management for this demographic. No one has ever educated me on how to reach this demographic. I have a few truly gifted students, but I have no time to meet their needs as I try desperately to engage the 110 others. I am thinking of leaving the teaching profession altogether. After eleven years teaching college and loving it, it took exactly seven months in high school for me to become utterly desperate and despondent. Thanks, NCLB.
Cheryl Stewart, Amphitheater High School biology teacher
I was formerly in the corporate world and moved into the public school system approximately seven years ago. I was shocked and appalled with what educators have been forced to deal with, both from the federal level and the local levels. Even though I am not a classroom educator, I do have direct contact with both the students and educators as a behavior intevention specilist and therapist. Nowhere in the corporate world would anyone put up with what educators are forced to deal with on a daily basis. Those who are dictating all the NCLB mandates must either be non-educators or have not been in the trenches teaching within the last three to five years. They are trying to force educators to mechanize human beings, (the old "trying to put a square peg into a round hole" approach). Due to environments and cultural beliefs, as well as the individuality and needs of humans, you cannot mechanize people! There can be standards but no absolutes, which has been the ignorant approach of NCLB and those involved with it. Also, teachers and schools are being forced to become full-time caretakers and raise the students for the parents, or to be the parents and families so many of the children don't have, (all schools might as well become boarding schools). Yet, when educators must do this, because children are basically raising themselves for the most part, the educators get chastised and belittled. Educators are also teaching under very different conditions, even as recent as in the past five years. Due to enormous classroom sizes, educators are basically doing crowd control rather than being able to actually teach. Their safety is at stake even in the best of schools. Many educators work in combat zones, both literally and metaphorically. They also have had all respect and empowerment stripped away from them. Administrations, both local and federal, don't even respect them, and only pay them lip service. Visiting a classroom or having been in education years ago, does not even remotely give anyone the right to make decisions regarding education. It is no wonder so few good people want to go into the teaching field any more. Who in their right mind would want to be chastised, put down, treated with little or no respect, be told in essence that educators don't know what they are doing, therefore those who have little to no experience know better than they do, and are going to tell them what to do?! Add to that low pay, as well as the everyone being lawsuit happy, and it doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out why there are fewer and fewer dedicated people even considering eductaion, let alone actually going into it. NCLB and those even remotely involved have stripped away all that was decent and noble about being in education and has turned it into shambles. This has the trickle effect and subsequently the rest of the public disrepects educators rather than respecting them. Yes, definite changes are in order for NCLB, and those changes should not be made by people who are clueless. Again, having moved from the corporate world into the public school forum, I greatly sympathize and empathize with the educators and am saddened for them.
S. LaVoy
After teaching for over 20 years and taking over 75 units of college credit beyond my B.A. I am demoralized that I must "prove" I am highly qualified. The state granted me a certificate, my district hired me and yet it was up to me to to produce the documentation that shows I have a B.A. The records are on file, yet I had to prove employment for five years by copying my contracts. I had to send for and copy transcripts of college courses from 20 years ago. My time would have been better spent preparing for my classroom. The trickle down effect lands on teachers, not the state or district administration. You want us to educate students, but NCLB adds layers of paperwork and hours of documentation.
Joyce Nolan
I would invite and welcome the lawmakers to come and spend a week in the classrooms of the mentally handicapped children. They would see why we love our jobs so much. It is about the children, and the laws do not fit all children the same. Full funding of special education is necessary. Thank you.
Wanda Pankratz, Townsend Middle School special education teacher
I teach 2nd grade in Arizona. The year before we became a Reading First school we were ranked as Highly Performing. So in my opinion we did not really need this grant. Anyway, we are now a Reading First school and the majority of teachers in our school are miserable! We must spend two hours each day on Reading. But it is a very narrow view of reading. We can not have the children doing any writing except in response to a story they have read. We have to deliver our lessons in an extremely scripted and controlled manner, making sure that at least 85 percent of our students are fully engaged at all times. We cannot bring in any supplemental materials for reading, even if they are better teaching tools and more interesting to the children. I have taught for over 20 years and loved what I've done until Reading First. The work load is unbelieveable and we get no more pay for it than we did before. I feel like I am in a strait jacket and I go home depressed every night. I have no political agenda here. I consider myself a social and fiscal conservative and supported George Bush in both elections. But, however good his intentions, NCLB has turned into a nightmare initiative. Please, please get us out of this horrible quagmire called NCLB. Teachers and kids deserve better than this.
Margaret Robertson, Coronado Elementary 2nd grade teacher
The students at my school, all of them have a created a personal educational, academic and career plan guided by their school counselors. My district supports comprehensive guidance (school counselors working with all students in the classroom)and all students begin to see the relevancy of their studies to 21st century skills and demands. All students in the state of Arizona deserve to create a plan (tangible or electronic), created through informed decisions and explored resources. All student in our state do not get a chance to do this. The reason: school counselor student ratio for elementary is almost 800 to one and the ratio in the secondary level is 550 to one...higher in some districts. Cuts in Career Technical Education funding used to train school counselors and principals around our state have been cut this year. How can we prepare the profession that prepares students for the workforce and to see the relevancy of the coursework they choose to prepare for future careers and dreams. Listen to the children, not all of our students have "college graduate" parents who can guide them. Do everything in your power to allow school counselors in the state of Arizona to understand their role and the ethical responsibility we have in delivering to students a comprehensive curriculum, systems support, individualized planning and the response services within the National Model Framework. This model has been adopted nationally...authored by an Arizona school counselor and years of contributions of work in professional development opportunities by Az school counselors. This funding is no longer available to school counselors (CTE-cuts caused cuts to the Arizona School Counselors Summer Academies) This affects the students in Arizona...this is the school counselor NCLB story...Why should some children who have no school counselors be left behind? Teachers are not prepared to do the school counselor job but do enter into collaboration. They also do not need one more thing to be added to their plate. Provide funding to allow school counselors to work with all students. Thank you for reading my story. I am so glad you are there for our students.
Anna Cicero, Red Mountain High School counselor
I work in the office at an elementary school. It is a k-3 school in Arizona. Our school is in a low income area. We have a big turnover of students all year. A lot of our students come to us from Mexico. They do not speak english. For some students this is their 2nd or 3rd school this year. Our teachers work very hard with students. They want them to be sucessful. It makes it hard for them to do this with NCLB as it is now. There is not another profession that has so many mandates as education. If we as a school district do not meet all the mandates and policies, we get the lable of underproforming or failing. This is unfair. You have put policies telling us what we have to do. If you want us to meet all the mandates, give the schools the funding to do this. Students do want to learn. They are eager to learn. They feel good about themselves when they reach a new reading level. Please take the time to look at NCLB and make it a workable tool to help student and teachers be sucessful.
Lynda Hogan, Andalucia Primary Registrar Clerk
I am concerned about the "Appropriately Certified" and "highly Qualified" requirements that the state of Arizona has established for teachers. Here is my story. I have been teaching in Scottsdale since 1995. I have a bachelors degree in history, a masters degree in curriculum development and just recently obtained and ESL endorsement as required by the state. Earlier this year a letter was sent out to teachers who are not appropriatley certified in the content area. I was one of those teachers who is not considered appropriately certified because I teach Social Studies in middle school, which includes the areas of geography, history, government/civics and economics. We were told, however, if we had a minimum of 3 hours in the above content areas, totaling 24 hours we could in fact, pay $60.00 to have the required subjects added to our certificate. I have 24 hours and paid $60.00 which was returned to me with the explanation that I still needed to take the middle school social studies test, which would not be available until April 14, 2007. I believe this is wrong! My teaching certificate shows that I am qualified to teach history at grades level 7 through 12 at the secondary level. I teach 8th grade social studies. I have the required 24 hours and still the state of Arizona and Tom Horne in paraticular is requiring me to take the test and pay $120.00. If I did not have the 24 hours in the required social studies class as many teachers do not, I would have no problem taking this test, but I do have the hours. I feel that this is just another way the our state is making money on teachers who are already underpaid. I feel that I should be "grandfathered" in. How can they pass a law like this? I work very hard as a teacher and have complied with all of these new laws. It took three years for me to add the ESL endorsement to my certificate. When I attended San Jose State and obtained a degree in history, the counselors wanted to make sure that teachers who receved their degree in history would have the needed requirement for social studies. They required students to take government and civics, geography, history and economics. I think this law is unfair and I am hoping that you will take a close look at the requirements and you will see how many teahers have been negatively affected by it. It is disheartening for me. As a teacher, my class won the national "projet citizen" competition in 2002 for Arizona. How can I be a highly qulaified teacher for high school but not for middle school?
Paulette Smith, Desert Canyon Middle School teacher
I have been teaching for 23 years. In the past few years since No Child Left Behind was introduced, teaching has become a nightmare. Our children are pushed, pushed, pushed to pass a test. There is no provision made to adapt for different abilities of children. All are expected to progress at the same rate like robots. The time we used to be able to spend doing activities such as writing and performing plays, art activities that support a concept that is being taught, etc. are no longer able to be done because of time restraints. Our district requires monthly testing in reading and math to make sure students "are there". Now our district is even considering taking away recess for the intermediate grades so that we have 15 extra minutes to cram information done the students' throats. I think a huge inservice is being done by legislators who have no idea what effective teaching consists of.
Carolyn G. Sappington, Settlers Point Elementary School teacher
I am a 1st year teacher of 4th through 8th grade students who are mildly MIMD. In addition, I am at an SEI school and most of my students are SEI. I am also SEI For instance, the district is providing a program called Moving Into English for SEI students. However, we are not receiving the materials from this program. Earlier in the year, I was discouraged from pressing to have the students in the MIMD program from being included in data driven decisions. When I teach students skills above the kinder level, I am risking the student having to take the 4th or 5th grade AIMS test, which is completely inappropriate for them. I also have a 17 year old son who is severely SLD and has been in functional programs since 6th grade. Yet as of this year, the very fact that he is in an SLD class requires that he take an on level AIMS when up until now he has taken the AIMS A and is at about a 3rd grade level for reading. We need to insist that the funds for NCLB can and must be used for special education students, just as the IDEA funds may now be used for other students. Also, there is an absolute necessity for off-level testing for any student who is being taught academic standards at a lower grade level. I am quite willing to tell my story to a variety of audiences. However, I am leery of telling my story at my school level. At the beginning of the year, I tried to do this and found myself ostracized by administration and peers.
Sandy Williams, Lincoln Elementary special education teacher
The last few years, I taught a group of students who needed to learn vocabulary in fifth grade. I spent about $300 of my own money, and many hours of time to get supplies to teach my students. Teachers are expected to teach content at the same time as English to many different levels of learners. I had pre-kindergarden to 9th grade readers in my class of 28. This is situtation is repeated in every school with high English Learners. I feel teachers are being left behind.
Margery Webb, Washington Elementary School teacher
I am a successful Exceptional Education Teacher who has been writing Individualized Education Plans(IEP) for 9 years. During that time I worked closely with the Department of Education and set up a successful special education program at a charter school. Then I went to work at a public elementary school where I had to do many amendments to IEP's. Students who were previously excepted from testing had to take standardized testing. Next, students on an IEP had to take grade level state and district testing which they are not capable of doing at this time. I am now being told that my Exceptional Education students cannot have nonstandard accommodations because if they have a nonstandard accommodation it is like the student didn't even take the test. Therefore, the school would not meet AYP. Adequate Yearly Progress should not be the only measure of whether a school is successful or not.
Ruth Parsil, Myers/Ganoung Elementary School teacher
I had been teaching for 25 years in Wisconsin, 20 of which had been at an affluent mostly all-white school. I made up my mind at 50 years old to move to Phoenix, AZ. I wanted to do something different and meaningful. I spent 20 years teaching well-to-do children whom I loved dearly. My students all ranked in the 50 to 75th percentile on standardized tests. Now, in my middle years, I wanted to help kids who didn't have much. I wanted to work in an inner city school before I retired. What a culture shock I had! I began in south Phoenix where third graders were barely reading. I took extra classes after work so I could learn to reach these students and help them overcome the many obstacles and challenges they had to becoming a literate human being. After five years of working at an underperforming school, I decided to move closer to my North Phoenix home. Fortunately, I found a wonderful Title One school where I could still work with inner city children. Sometimes, I get very discouraged by the demands of bureaucratic minutiae and politicians who do not know what we are going through. It is then that I stop and ask myself,"What are you here for?" I can honestly respond that I am in this for the children. My principal, program coach, and colleagues are the greatest. We give each other laughs and encouragement. But if we did not care and keep on pushing, these children would simply fail and fall into the hands of street gangs. So, Congress and Mr. President, stop judging us by test scores. Look at the whole human beings we are trying to lead to becoming good citizens when they become adults! We promise to give our tax-payers the biggest bang for their bucks that we can give them.
Donna Talbot, Desert View Elementary School teacher
NCLB is a checklist. If only one area on the checklist does not show improvemnt, a school will not meet AYP. The high school in our district is fine on attendance, but the elementary/middle school has not met the defined percentage goal for NCLB. This means that the school will not meet AYP no matter hwo well students achive on AIMS testing or grade level improvments in reading and math.
Kristi Fredrickson, Williams High School teacher
In the classroom, it seems that the bright students are not challenged becuase I am spending my time on students who are not passing so that they can get the help they need to pass. The bright student, who really doesn't need my help much, since they are not having to work hard start feeling that they can be absent and then easily "catch up." Also with the NCLB in place, trying to grow as a profession is already a difficult process and now it is even more difficult. As teachers, we are expected to go above and beyond what our contract says. As a professional -- I may be looking into a different profession. I have risen to these challenges, but I am tired.
Jana Maclellan, Phoenix Union High School District teacher
I have taught high school English in the Scottsdale school district for four years; prior to teaching, I was a magazine editor and writer for 15 years. In my experience, the language skills that were most necessary in the “real world” were creativity, critical thinking, interpreting meanings on multiple levels, understanding cause-and-effect relationships, and possessing the ability to see the “big picture”. I believe these skills apply to most fields today. However, none of them can be measured significantly with generic, one-right-answer, multiple-choice tests. I have observed a noticeable decline in the critical thinking skills of my students in the past few years, and believe that the AIMS-as-graduation-requirement, and increase in benchmark testing at all grade levels, have contributed to this. My students have a very difficult time understanding symbolism, underlying meanings, themes, and other non-objective concepts. They are far more concerned with getting the “right” answer than in improving their thinking skills. It is difficult to reach the skills in the upper levels of Bloom’s taxonomy, or, even to “connect each lesson to real life” (the cornerstone of education, according to state teacher standards) when preparing for cut-and-dried tests. While I agree that grade-level standards are important, English is by nature an organic and holistic subject that is not regimented and orderly. Nor do students grasp each concept at the same time or in the same way. In high school English, the standards and concepts are often integrated into several different lesson plans, and repeated throughout the year, so that hopefully those who are struggling will be able to understand them better when taught again in a different context. The English standards are also revisited at higher grade levels, to reinforce understanding. Unfortunately, the AIMS, and the benchmarks tests, adhere to a lock-step timeline, so if a child does not grasp a concept by the time the test is given, she will be penalized. How do we English teachers compensate for the time it takes to administer the new battery of tests? All testing combined (including the AIMS) takes away nine instructional days from the school year, days that could be used to teach critical analyisis and other higher-level thinking skills. My district has devoted a huge amount of money, and required a great deal of staff training, to implement four quarterly benchmark tests in reading, and three in writing. Writing tests are given to 11th graders as well, although over 95% of those students in my school have already passed the AIMS. These online benchmarks, created by ATI (Galileo), have been problematic, since there have been computer malfunctions and issues with length and time constraints. In addition, several questions on the tests are poorly written, flawed, or unrelated to the quarterly standards. After each test, additional time must be spent answering student questions and reteaching the correct information. The frustration with these tests, especially in my Sped students, is enormous and fuels even greater test anxiety in my classroom. To add to the overall stress-level, high school English teachers are required to grade these benchmark essays themselves each quarter. I had to grade approximately 400 additional essays, in addition to my own written assignments this year, which took away precious time that could have been spent planning substantive, in-depth lessons. If standardized tests are to continue, they would better assess progress if they were far less frequent, and used meaningful, teacher-created extended answer questions to judge depth, rather than quantity, of understanding. My own students score on average 20-30% higher on tests I have created or adapted from other teachers, though both myself and my students judge them to be more difficult. Finally, the funding used for the time-consuming and questionable testing that currently exists needs to be put into reducing class sizes. Currently, I have a class of 34 students whose overall gradepoint average is 73%, and I must devote a significant amount of time to handling management and discipline issues. In contrast, I have another class with 16 students, which has virtually no management or discipline issues, so spends more time on in-depth discussions and activities involving critical thinking. Their gradepoint average is 86% and has not fallen below 83% this year.
Anita Walters, Desert Mountain High School English teacher
LABELED Underperforming. The label sticks like duct tape; easy to apply, near impossible to remove. Humanity and empathy are not measurable standards or my students would all exceed expectations on the AIMS. Underperforming. The word scrapes like wire brush attempting to remove graffiti from the girls bathroom wall. My students arrive daily from unimaginable circumstances. Witness to drive bys, drugs, incarceration and death. Sometimes appearing on Monday hungry, their last meal Friday’s free lunch. Underperforming. The word stings like an angry bee hidden in the peach tree outside my classroom window. My students hold bake sales for goats for the Heifer Project Trick or Treat for UNICEF, returning Those bright familiar orange boxes heavy with change for the “poor kids”. Underperforming. The word harsh and ugly, Amidst the beauty of our South Mountain view. My students give up Saturdays Special Olympic coaches, pushing wheelchairs, Racing with their buddies to the finish line. My students give up Saturdays to fold a thousand cranes for peace. Sadako’s story still lingers in their hearts. Instructing grownups on the evils of war, the innocent victims vaporized in Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Underperforming. The word burns like a brand, the scarlet U. My students are empowered. They write letters for unheard voices. Free Reza Baluchi, Iranian cyclist for peace. To our principal for picnic tables, to our learning community, to be stewards of our garden. Underperforming. The word shatters like window. What the hell does that word mean? Seals perform. Clowns perform. Children learn.
Lise Spangenthal, Valley View Elementary School teacher
I'm an ESL Teacher. But practices theory underscores the need for authentic learning experiences that foster language acquisition. It's steady growth related. Never-the- less the No Child Left Behind agenda pushes so much material in a scattered with a superficial test-oriented target approach, many kids are varnish coated with no real depth. It takes working in depth for many topics for real development to occur. Several exposures in different contexts make language development happen. Between AZ Learns and No Child Left Behind many students trip and fall trying to run before they can walk.
Karen Ruiz, Phoenix Union High School District ESL teacher
All children are stressed out about being tested. Teachers are even more stressed out about testing, test results and ultimately worry about their jobs. As teachers, we are required to do a lot more tasks in the same amount of time (more paperwork), more responsibilities, etc. Our schools are being labeled and threatened to be taken away if test scores do not improve that it becomes a vicious cycle.
Delia Greth, Phoenix Elementary School teacher
Teachers feel that school accountability is looked at in a very narrow focus. That focus being a single high stakes state assessment. We shouldn't be judged strictly based upon one test. We develop children in many ways. Even academically, we teach children many things that are not tested on the aims. We have to spend too much time and resources on testing, tests that don't take into consideration the outside factors that our schools and families come to school with.
Jack Day, Phoenix Elementary School teacher
My feelings are that the staff creating more work for us and they do not know what is going on in the classroom. If they do know they have forgotten. The bureaucracy the paperwork is overwhelming. How can one catch up NCLB is faulty it needs some drastic repair. It has become close to impossible to have schools reach AYP with the existing requirements. The district or government need to provide us with asistance in preparing the documentation required.
Rosalinda Ramirez, Phoenix Elementary School teacher
I see my school becoming increasingly hysterical in the pursuit of test scores all for the sake of NCLB. One student who was weakened by cancer was virtually hounded by the school/district personnel to take our state test, sending an embarrasingly obvious message that some administrators are more apparently concerned with test scores than with the health and well-being of our students. In another instance, our school was deemed to have failed NCLB standards because two SpEd students - whose scores in the state test would not matter as far as they graduation is concerned because they are SpEd! - were unable to complete enough of the test questions in order for their tests to count. Since they're two out of 2400 students, dropped our response quota below the requisite 95% (and through no fault of their own) our entire campus was considered to have failed.
Paul Lowes, Phoenix Union High School teacher
It has set unrealistic standards for students without taking into consideration their special needs i.e. SpEd, ELL, etc. It leaves districts little options on handling students that have been long-term suspended for weapons & repeated violent behavior.
Dawn Arnold, Phoenix Union High School employee
NCLB contradicts IDEA- Highly qualified Spec Ed Teachers should be able to teach self-contained classes. Special Ed students should be able to have opportunities for small class sizes & vocational, fine-arts training. Regular Ed Teachers need smaller class sizes especially when they have at-risk, special ed & ELL students. We are losing so many fabulous teachers!
Sharon Makhoul, Scottsdale Education Association member
We just completed AIMS Testing Week. I am a special education teacher in the Scottsdale Unified School District. I teach students who are diagnosed emotionally disabled. Due to their disability many of my students come to my program with deficits in their learning; in other words, below expected grade level achievement. One such student is an extremely ADHD child performing on a first grade level across the curriculum. He came to my program refusing to complete any kind of work, arguing about just any topic, and throwing tantrums on a daily basis. After a couple of months of his enrollment he was working in a compliant manner, getting along with others, and maintaining self-control. He started to really make educational progress to a solid 1st grade level. This week he HAD to complete AIMS testing with 4th grade tests. He and I already know what he can't do- taking a test way above level accomplishes nothing but frustration.
Kris Picard, Scottsdale Education Association member
It is not left to the schools. NCLB is currently a catch 22. If we test our special needs students with no non-standard accommodations it is unfair to the students - and will lower scores - AZ Learns. If we do use non-standard accommodations - (used in the classrooms) - we miss the 95% - miss AYP- How can we win? - forced to speak about "moving bubble students" Specific vocabulary to the test- younger students learn a term that is not the AIMS term. I always thought each legislator- locally & in DC- should take a grade level AIMS like test in French, Hungarian- or any other language they've had limited exposure to.
V. Sinsabaugh, Scottsdale Education Association member
I am spending valuable time (daily/weekly) beginning in January taking my students through Scoring High which is a preparatory workbook for the Terra Nova Test in April. With the increasing expectations of preparing students for success in the real world, it becomes more & more difficult to have time for meting benchmark objectives let alone providing remediation & enrichment. To measure a child, let alone an entire school, by several days out of the year is the equivalent of judging the success of our Congressman by 1 week of work at the Capitol (success to be determined by the voters). I spend 60-70 hours a week preparing appropriate lessons & materials & grading student work. I sacrifice much because I love my students & set the bar high as if they were my own. We've lost many good teachers who can't give anymore due to the stress level & resulting impaired health. NCLB is not concerned with doing what's best for kids.
Merrill Bauer, Scottsdale Education Association member
I have been an educator in the Scottsdale School District for over 30 years. Although I applaud the development of high standards and accountability brought on by NCLB, my biggest concern is the loss of creativity and flexibility in educating our students for the global world they are living in. We spend an inordinate amount of time assessing our students on "Essential Performance Objectives" that relate to the AIMS & teachers are spending an inordinate amount of time teaching to those limited objectives. What is fun and exciting and relevant to kids lives is going by the wayside. We need to find a balance with NCLB to keep the intent of the law while allowing educators to use their creativity and skill to make education come alive again. We need to address the needs of the whole child, not just academic proficiency.
Kate Petersen, Scottsdale Education Association member
I learned early in my career that I need to ask one question before planning a lesson: What's best for the student? After 21 years of teaching, the fun has been driven out of my career - the lessons are becoming more scripted and the art of teaching is being lost - We no longer attract and retain Quality educators as NCLB has left us all behind.
Kirk Hinsey, Mesa Education Association member
NCLB has left my Special Education students further behind than ever before. I'm forced to use materials that are not appropriate for their needs and teach at such a fast pace, (these kiddos need more time to process & learn) in order to hit all standards, that they get very little of what is being taught. But, I can tell my district "Yes I covered all standards I am in compliance with NCLB" We will always have the "low & slow" with us. Let us prepare them for their future by teaching them basic skills in order to perform valuable services to society rather than teaching them algebra, chemistry and higher academic studies they cannot possibly master.
Cathy Robinette, Mesa Education Association member
1-Not all struggling students are getting the extra help they need. 2-It takes up to 7 years to develop Cognitive Academic Language Proficiency in a second language. 3-Testing should be used to evaluate schools or districts, but NOT be a requirement for graduation. 4-Testing is geared toward those who will go on to college, not toward the majority of students. 5-Schools and districts need flexible plans to better their students' learning.
David Golden, Balsz Elementary School teacher
I work for a Native American community. I would not want to see the proverbial bar lowered; I would like to see some accountability for parents. Schools can only do so much -- without parent support, it's an uphill battle. More & more schools are found "performing" -- this is because of NCLB. Most areas where schools fall short are directly connected to parents: attendance, students not being made to participate in after school tutoring. Additionally, enact the law, but provide the resources (training, equipment , facilities, etc.) needed for schools to ensure student success. It's not the law -- it's our over all society. Media, drugs, gangs, poverty, all play huge parts in student success. *if you make provisions for spec. ed students more & more students will become labeled spec. ed -- guaranteed!
Dr. Vanessa Girard, Assistant Director of Education for the Gila River Indian Community
I work with children who have learning disabilities. They are elementary students who are in regular classrooms and are pulled out for reading/math in learning resource rooms (LRC). Recently I held an IEP meeting with a parent whose son had learning problems. The mother could not understand why her son was going to take the AIMS test at a grade level that he was not performing. The answer was given was that it was required by NCLB. We as an IEP team were all frustrated.
Ellen Meltzer, Scottsdale Education Association member
High stakes testing has caused 3 year olds to learn letters and their sounds, kindergarten to learn reading, and eight year olds to try abstract thinking when they are not cognitively ready. Children are being pushed to academics in lieu of child appropriate activities- like playing and exploring their world. When young children play, they learn the valuable skills of getting along with each other, negotiating with peers in areas of time and material sharing. They learn to communicate needs, wants, and desires in appropriate ways. NCLB is driving away the personal skills young children should be learning in the early grades.
Kristine Filz, Mesa Education Association member
I plan to graduate in May with two Bachelor's Degrees: Elementary Education and Communication. I was a Rodel Exemplary student and scholarship recipient. I want to teach to the students who need the most help and I want to use creative teaching methods to encourage children do use their curiosity and own voice. The problem is that because of the pressures of High Stakes Testing, teachers usually have to give up their creativeness. It is because of these reasons I am considering not becoming a teacher even though I love to teach.
Denice Darling-Diab, student teacher
The fact exists that there is a shortage of special education teachers. Many of the current teachers are appropriately certified but considered not highly qualified under NCLB. Therefore, they cannot meet the needs of the students as designed by IDEA. How will this clash between NCLB and IDEA be addressed? Scottsdale Unified Council for Ex. Children
Lois Healey, Scottsdale Education Association member
Best teaching practices are being pushed aside in order to allow time for test preparation. No Child Left Behind is leaving behind what is best for children. I feel children are being pressured to think "inside the box" and find that one right answer. The amazing things that happen in our world have not happened because an individual does what everyone else has done. Educators need to encourage creativity and divergent thinking. However, the testing pressure "for students to perform" supersedes what is truly important. I am thrilled that AIMS testing is behind me now. On Monday, I will return to my classroom and teach Literature Circles where children can express their opinions and respond on a personal level to what they have read. Real learning will take place because divergent thinking can occur without me stressing about my students having to worry about the one right answer.
Pert Beck, Scottsdale Education Association member
I have been teaching for 23 years. I have always strived to use best practice strategies and sound knowledge of cognitive human development as a teacher. I feel unable, however, with the pressure to raise test scores to use best practice strategies in the classroom. We are systematically pigeon-holing all children to show a whole year's worth of growth in bubbles. It's wrong to put this expectation on teachers and parents, but most of all, children. True story: a child entered my school as a new student on the 3rd day of testing (4th grade student). As a first day, she was required to sit for the 3rd day of AIMS. For additional punishment, she was required to sit for the previous 2 days of make-ups for the 2 sessions of AIMS she had missed by not being enrolled in the school. What kind of welcome could she have possible received!? intolerable!
Suzanne Cahill, Scottsdale Education Association member
Students who are ELL are suffering - It is ridiculous to give students 1 year to learn English & expect them to take content tests on grade level. Our teacher's association rights are being taken away. Our district team is justifying this by saying that emergency measures must be taken to meet the requirements of No Child Left Behind!
Sarah Newcomer, Roosevelt Education Association member
As a Special Education teacher, I am responsible for ensuring that my students are successful on a test that does not measure appropriately HOW or WHAT they learn. In addition, I serve as a Data Coach for my very large high school. Both children and teachers are extremely frustrated. Please change how we measure academic success for the benefit of all.
Ann Ling, Scottsdale Education Association member
I have spent a lot of money and time to improve my teaching so that my ELL students could feel confident in their abilities to learn their new second language. NCLB has made it a feeding frenzy for assessment and no time to teach the necessary items for these students. Prior to NCLB, the ELL children would not be expected to be accurately measured by an English test. Prior to NCLB, the teachers could use a variety of measurements to include authentic assessment to show that these students have grown in their academics and comprehension. Prior to NCLB, I was able to teach Science and Social Studies. Those subjects were not considered as important because I needed to teach phonetic awareness and decoding. Prior to NCLB, teachers would be less likely to teach to a test. NCLB has created a group of robots that are unable to analytically think about the lessons of the past and how they affect us today. Why? The children are not given the prior knowledge and opportunity to explore topics that warrant, research, processing, and application. They are too busy trying to reach a magic number of fluency that determines whether they fail or not. Their inability to reach the golden number has kept them from extra-curricular activities because they're in the beginning stages of their learning language. NCLB has made those of us who are ELL ashamed because we know another language better than we know English. My students are giving up!
Joselli Carbajal-Mohn, Glendale American teacher
My son has been in Resource class for reading and writing since 2nd grade. He has slight cerebral palsy and has a hard time writing, as well. He is now in the 6th grade and still has an IEP. In fifth grade he was able to have accommodations in the AIMS reading test, like clarifying directions, having passages read, and having story problems in the math section read (after all, the math AIMS test is nothing more than another reading comprehension test!). This year, in 6th grade, I called the school after Greg came home and told me no one had read the test to him or clarified directions. I called and called, and no one returned my call. Finally, I had my husband call the principal. As I was leaving for school (I am also a teacher in the district), my husband called me and said he had called four people with no luck, and finally called the district special ed coordinator. He was frustrated, just like me. In the mean time, we were facing another day of AIMS. My husband called me at school and said that the district special ed coordinator had my son's IEP in front of her, and that accommodations were not marked for the AIMS. She explained that if the accommodations are marked, then the test is negated. What!? This was supposed to be in the IEP. However, if Greg did not have accommodations, his score would be included in the overall school average, which needed to go up or it was underperforming. My son is at 4th grade level taking a 6th grade level test without accommodations, even with his Resource status. Either way he takes the test, he's left behind. Left Behind? How can this be? The NCLB law is a cookie-cutter solution. It does not take into consideration learning levels, learning styles, and reasonable test scores. A school should not be penalized because there are special ed kids. Since everyone is required to take the test, then having help should not negate a test or push the school average down so it affects funding. Helping a student be successful in a standardized test is helping the school, the district, and the country. Our school is so uptight about test scores, that is has taken away recesses and an extra PE class. Our day will be 15 minutes longer next year, for a total of 30 minutes added on in 2 years. All for the sake of test scores and funding. The law isn't about children, it's about money. Special ed students should be tested at their ability level, then there would be no need for special accommodations, and no need for pressure to have high scores to secure funding.
Carrie Barros, Coyote Springs Elementary Humboldt Unified teacher
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