A discussion board and a blog don't allow enough time and space to really dig into the problems created by NCLB -- or as it's called in education, No Child Left Untested.
In a nutshell, the basic premise of NCLB is defective. Any education researcher, education administrator, and educator worth their snuff will tell you that testing is the easiest method of evaluating a student's abilities, and the most inaccurate. The present system, as it is designed, is extremely flawed. A test only captures one moment in time; a test only evaluates what the test writer has chosen as true and does not take into account subtle nuances; a test, particularly the NCLB paper-and-pencil test, does not take into account dyslexic students; and the list will go on for longer than anybody wants to read.
Mr. Ryan also plays upon the old adage of paying teachers more, and giving them more prestige. It should be noted that most teaching contracts only run for 185 days or roughly six months. Most teachers will argue that they put in time outside of the classroom but if you give them those hours as well they work maybe eight months or approximately 2/3 of a year. With an average teaching salary right around $40,000 per year that means if they really worked full time they would be earning, on average, $60,000 per year, or roughly 50% higher than the average American salary.
The real barrier to getting quality teachers is the draconian College of Education coursework required to obtain a teaching license for every single subject or grade segment in most states. If a particular teacher has a K-12 Art Certificate does that allow them to teach elementary school? No. Yet they've done the same basic elementary coursework as the others.
Revamping education is way more than what can be handled on a discussion board. Our system for selecting teachers is flawed, or system for educating and evaluating students is flawed. These are problems that can't be handled on the federal level but must be addressed locally.
In the meantime idiotic and imbecilic federal mandates, like NCLB should be unequivocally dumped.
