05-06-2010, 06:33 PM
davester wrote:
Exactly what Gutenberg said. This is why "No Child Left Behind", which is a punitive system based almost entirely on test scores has been a failure. NCLB assumes that low test scores = bad schools and teachers, an incredibly bad assumption. Another problem with NCLB and similar test-based programs is that they actually degrade the really excellent teaching/learning experiences by forcing all the teachers to stop what they're doing and instead "teach to the test".
I forgot to add above that Mrs. Poochie is not a fan of NCLB. All it has done is to create more expensive bureaucracy and takes teachers away from educating students and forces them to teach students how to score well on a standardized test.
cbelt3 wrote: I agree whole-heartedly. And a better measure would involve 'following' the student afterward to see which ones were successful in life and which ones were not.
This may be rather expensive and hard to do. Should we outfit every HS graduate with a GPS device so we can keep track of them? Can a successful academic career be measured simply by wealth? I agree with what you are saying but I think that implementation of your idea would be difficult given reality.