What Can We Do?

It is easy to be critical of NCLB. The challenging part is addressing the question of what can we do to change things?

1. We need to unite and get politically active locally and nationally to eliminate NCLB. We must go back in time and start over again when the Bush Kingdom took over the Elementary and Secondary Education Act and changed it to NCLB. The problem is that political change is slow. We as a nation have been taking steps backward in the education of our children for five years now. We will continue going backwards on a daily basis as long as NCLB exists as it is today.

2. It is critical for Wisconsin to change the way our public schools are funded. The elimination of revenue caps and the use of property taxes as a major way to fund public schools has got to change.

3. We need to educate many of our co-workers, parents, and the voting public as to the truth about how our schools are being deliberately set up for failure and how our schools are presently failing on a daily basis to meet even the basic needs of all our children.

There are also at least three things we can do immediately as a progressive and accountable school district.

1. Stop the one dimensional focus on academic learning and teach to the whole child. We need to teach and give every child the opportunity to grow socially, emotionally, physically, and creatively as well as academically.

In March 2003 I addressed a Madison school board committee suggesting that our school districts emphasis on testing and academic learning at the expense of social, emotional, physical and creative learning was developmentally inappropriate. Since then our approach to teaching to the whole child has become even more one dimensional with the developmentally inappropriate mandates of NCLB.

2. Change the focus of the Madison summer school program. Instead of using behavioral issues as a deterrent to getting into the program, children with behavioral issues should be the first to be enrolled. The public needs to know that when a classroom has just one socially inappropriate child, that child takes educational opportunities away from every child in the classroom. Social development is similar to reading and math development. Social skills need to be taught every day, in every classroom, at every grade level.

3. We need to remember Rosa Parks and say no to NCLB. Our school district should be commended for having the courage to say no to the Reading First program. Lets have the courage to say no to NCLB. As a community lets find ways to fund our schools without having the George Orwell effect tied to federal dollars.

NCLB; A Time for Civil Disobedience.

Recently David Wasserman, a Madison Sennett Middle School teacher,refused to administer a No Child Left Behind (NCLB) mandated test. I share David Wasserman’s frustration with the punitive mandates of NCLB. He has touched on just one of the many flaws of this legislation. Most teachers see high stakes testing for what it really is. It is a legislated way to spread the inequities of our society that exist in our country today.

It is necessary that we look at the big picture. The big picture is that our public schools are struggling for survival because of NCLB. This legislation affects everything in public education, everyday, in every classroom, at every grade level.

NCLB is Not New

NCLB was first implemented in the 60’s. What is new is the increasing control the federal government has on our local schools. The original intent of NCLB was noble. The present administration’s agenda is far less than noble. It’s main objective is to insure that our public schools fail in order to attain privatization of public education.

This bill was in development for a number of years under a number of different presidential administrations. The bills name was changed from the Elementary and Secondary Education Act to NCLB and, even though politicians from both sides of the aisle recognized its many flaws, NCLB was reluctantly passed after 9/11 because of its name and because of widespread Nationalism – not because it was good for our children.

Prescription For Failure

The failings of the punitive NCLB are many. Volumes have been written about the devastating affects of NCLB. Madison Superintendent of Schools Art Rainwater wrote in February 2006 an article titled “No Child Sanctions Doom All To Failure”. Madison school board member Maya Cole wrote in March 2005 saying that “NCLB is punishing our children”, and that the type of accountability dictated by NCLB “is designed to end public education as we know it”. Many educators and parents have written to the local
newspapers about how destructive and inappropriate NCLB is.

NCLB with its focus on standardized tests sets teachers up to teach to the test. It also forces students to memorize facts and to fill in the one correct bubble at the expense of true learning which involves listening, gathering information, discussion, sharing of ideas, thinking, problem solving, getting along with others, and many other process oriented steps and strategies.

I recently watched an interview with Madison school board member Beth Moss. When Moss was asked, “What are three requirements we should be looking for when hiring our new superintendent?”, She, in my opinion, spoke to the issues of testing and the misguided direction of NCLB. Moss’s response reflects the requirements we shoud expect from all of our graduating students not just our new superintendent.

Moss’s first requirement was that the new superintendent be able to communicate effectively. This of course would be a valuable requirement for any high school graduate. Her second requirement was that the new superintendent have an understanding of the budget mechanism. This could translate into a requirement that all high school graduates be independent thinkers and problem solvers. Moss’s third requirement was that the new
superintendent work well with the administration. Which would translate into expecting that a high school graduate could get along with co-workers. She didn’t say anything about regurgitating facts and figures or suggest that the superintendent take mandatory quarterly bubble tests.

If members of our school board, our superintendent, parents, and many teachers and teacher organizations have spoken out against NCLB and all know that NCLB is inappropriate for our children, then why aren’t we saying stop? Why aren’t we saying enough is enough? Why are we so afraid to say no?

How is it that distant politicians, with approval and accountability ratings at 30% are mandating accountability in our local schools? The only sense it makes is dollars and cents.

Do As You Are Told

We have been deliberately misled and misinformed by many politicians from both sides of the isle. Some appear to have ignorance or greed as an excuse. What excuse do most knowledgeable teachers, school administrators, and school board members have? What is worse, a politician that dictates poor legislation, or educational professionals that sit by and “do as they are told” when they know it is harmful and unproductive for our children?

Most educational professionals know what is best for our children but are stifled because of our fear of monetary repercussions or losing our jobs. We need to stand up and be the voice of our children like Mr. Wasserman did. I applaud his courage and I question the courage of the knowledgeable educational professionals that stand silent.

On November 12, 2007 the Wisconsin State Journal wrote an editorial in response to David Wasserman’s stand against NCLB mandates. The editorial stated that “His action in refusing to give the mandated federal test set a bad example for his peers and especially his students”.

I am curious as to the “correct action” the Wisconsin State Journal would have suggested to Rosa Parks. Should she have sat in the back of the bus because that is what was required? The stand that David Wasserman took is just as important as the one Rosa Parks took years ago.

Rosa Parks was a voice for blacks that lived in a time of unfair and racist laws. David Wasserman isn’t against being held accountable or isn’t against giving tests to his students. Wasserman is a voice for our children that are presently living in a time of inappropriate testing mandated by NCLB.

The Bully and The Bystander

When my students enter kindergarten I am always amazed at how familiar they are with what a bully is. Their descriptions of what a bully does are accurate for the most part. They also know what a victim is even though they usually haven’t heard the word victim before.

What they aren’t aware of is the role the bystander plays. By the end of the year they all know the bystander is a critical character in the act of bullying.

If the bystander supports the victim, there is a good chance the bullying might stop. If the bystander supports and encourages the bully, the bullying will continue.

In the school setting there is usually more than one neutral bystander. If the bystander is neutral the bullying will most likely continue. When a bystander is silent the bully thinks he/she is getting support and encouragement.

NCLB is the bully. Our children are the victims. And every adult is a bystander. Our children don’t have a voice in this bullying act. We, the bystanders, need to have the courage to speak up for our children like David Wasserman did and like Rosa Parks would.

Developmentally Appropriate Practices

If a person is truly knowledgeable about what constitutes Developmentally Appropriate Practices (DAP) for our school age children it is inconceivable that they support NCLB.

The concept of Developmentally Appropriate Practices are the cornerstone of what is good for our children in all schools. You will never, ever see the two phrases NCLB and DAP in the same sentence in any credible professional educational journal, never, ever. The more a person studies and works in teaching the more a person sees how developmentally inappropriate NCLB really is.

NCLB is the most destructive, vindictive piece of federal legislation ever passed. It is a deliberate assault on public education. It is a disease that is presently in every classroom, every day. It starts in kindergarten classrooms by undermining all aspects of Developmentally Appropriate Practices. It continues on through the grades and stops in High School when it lures, misleads, misinforms, and recruits our students into the all too real prospects of death or maiming. It is a tribute to the existing presidential administration
and their success at destruction and manipulation. NCLB is an all encompassing cancer that needs to be stopped.

If I were in charge we would explore an alternative to “No Child Left Behind”. The new legislation would be called “No Child Left Unsafe”. This law would mandate that in five years every child in the U.S. would have adequate food, clothing, and shelter. Then maybe we would have a public school system where all children would have an equitable, nurturing, and safe place to live, grow, and learn.

Tomorrow Is Too Late To Say NO

By being silent bystanders in supporting NCLB, we have built a foundation for failure. If we don’t stop today, right now, we will continue to fail our children on a daily basis. We cannot improve our schools with fear, manipulation, misinformation, and misrepresentation. Schools are complex and do not operate in a vacuum. Any school reform is impossible without much needed changes in political, social, and economic policy. We as bystanders need to have the courage to be the voice of our children and say no to NCLB today.

January 4, 2008