No Child Left Behind Debate: Teachers In Low-Income Areas Hope For Less Testing, More Understanding
Shanna Mills can tell what kind of day her students are having by the way they walk into the room at 7:45 a.m. At Carlisle County Middle School in rural Bardwell, Kentucky, they come in late, hungry and wearing the same clothes for days on end. Then they tell her stories: The police were at their houses all night, a parent's car was stolen, or they woke up early to look after a sibling.
"There are so many things going on in their lives that school just isn't a priority after the bell rings at 3 o'clock," she said. "Sometimes we're just proud they're there that day."
But the tests -- the annual, year-end standardized exams that determine everything from promotions to teacher raises -- don't know what Mills knows. They can't tell whose father has cancer or how many cousins they share a bedroom with. And that's what she said worries her about the government's growing emphasis on high-stakes tests: They provide a one-day snapshot of a kid, not the whole picture, so it's not fair the results are used so widely.
She and other teachers, especially those who work in low-income areas, are concerned about the growing focus on high-stakes standardized tests for not only students but also themselves. As Congress starts to debate an overhaul of the No Child Left Behind education law, discussing how many tests kids should take and what the results should be used for, teachers say they're hoping lawmakers remember how many factors affecting academic performance are outside of their control.
"You actually have real students sitting there, not just numbers," said Mills, who teaches sixth- and eighth-grade social studies. "It just seems like students are tested all the time, and that doesn't leave a lot of time for teaching."
The Senate and House each took up rewritten versions of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, the most recent iteration of the law known as No Child Left Behind, this week. Both bills would transfer No Child Left Behind Debate: Teachers In Low-Income Areas Hope For Less Testing, More Understanding:
