Local educators share concerns, ideas about NCLB

PALMER -- While the concept of accountability in schools has merit, the type of accountability required by No Child Left Behind is not reasonable or a true snapshot of how students are doing in schools, said a group of local teachers and principals who met last week to discuss the ramifications of NCLB and Adequate Yearly Progress.

"It's like we have a garden and we plant carrot seeds but, instead of watering and cultivating them, we are pulling them up each day to see how they are doing," said Joe Nolting, who teaches math at Teeland Middle School.

Those in attendance at the NCLB discussion Wednesday at Colony Inn in Palmer agreed that some sort of accountability is necessary, but the level of accountability posed by NCLB is unreasonable and ineffective.

"NCLB is a seriously flawed piece of education legislation," Nolting said. "It's not really workable the way it is set up."

Kathy Summers, who teaches at the Matanuska-Susitna Borough School District's correspondence school, said one of the problems with NCLB is the exact testing dates.

"Exact testing dates for our students is difficult, it's hard to get them (our students) all in to get the required percentage rate," Summers said.

Local educators are also concerned with the possible discrimination against students with disabilities. Because each subgroup of students must pass the required benchmark exams in order for a school to make AYP, students with disabilities or students limited in English proficiency may not pass these exams, therefore causing the school as a whole to not meet AYP. Mark Okeson, vice-principal at Wasilla High School, said requiring uniform testing with no regard to students' special needs and talents is a "one-size-constricts-all" approach.

"The name of the game in education is to figure out ways to bring out what people can do," Okeson said. "NCLB points out what we can't do, most educators spend the better part of our lives focusing on what schools can do."

Wednesday night's group didn't only list problems with NCLB, they also had ideas on how to better the accountability system in American schools.

"We need to give accountability back to the people who are closest, we need to give it back to the state," said Lucy Hope, a district-wide special education teacher. "This layer of accountability is from the wrong place."

Individualizing tests for students with special needs, putting more money in schools that are scoring poorly instead of taking funding away, and allowing for more leniency in testing days were just some of the ideas brought forward in the meeting. Placing more responsibility on parents was also discussed.

"There is a problem with the issue of responsibility," Nolting said. "Before, it was the teacher's responsibility to teach, and the student's and parent's responsibility to learn. This legislation says we must not only teach, we must make the kids learn."

The idea is not to get rid of accountability, but to make the accountability fit into the real classroom setting. Accountability, the group said, needs to focus on the individual student's needs, otherwise changes in funds, students and teachers will not move education forward.

"We are going to shuffle all the deck chairs and not change the direction of the ship," Okeson said.

Contact Jen Ransom at jen.ransom@frontiersman.com.