The following article http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/10/education/10-states-given-waivers-from-no-child-left-behind-law.html?ref=education talks about the Obama administration’s new approach to NCLB. The Obama administration is now freeing 10 states, one being New Jersey, from the "No Child Left Behind Act" regulations in exchange for having that state embrace and encourage the administration’s perspective on the accountability and effectiveness of teachers. The federal Department of Education wants to discourage teachers from teaching to the test and avoid labeling students as failures. The Obama administration plans to do this by having schools set higher standards and then giving those schools the flexibility of choosing how they will reach those higher standards. New Jersey state officials (NJDOE) are in the process of determining what evaluation instrument will be used in order to evaluate school growth and teacher accountability. One possibility is to evaluate schools using an annual growth and progress criteria and then focusing time and money on the schools that fall into the lower percentage ratings in the growth area.
I would like to know everyone's feeling on the Obama administration’s recent policy change. What are your opinions? Is this the right thing to do? Should we continue to have strong federal oversight of schools or should the state departments of education take the lead on education reform? What do you think this means for teachers now and for us once we graduate? Do you think this change will benefit the school systems and teachers in New Jersey? Do you have any thoughts that you would like to share?
I believe that removing the No Child Left Behind is a good idea. Students who are in need of the extra help will still be identified. Each teacher will receive more responsibility in that they will be determining the evaluation methods that will best suit their students.
ReplyDeleteI feel that the federal government should have somewhat of an influence on education. I feel as though the state government should have more of an influence than the federal government in determining the standards for education.
This could have a positive impact on us as future teachers. With the common core standards now taking precedent over the New Jersey common core standards, this will make it easier for us to be able to teach in other states without having to be required to take some other classes and/or their state tests.
I agree with what Sara just said. I could not have said it better.
ReplyDeleteAlso, If I am not mistaken the new evaluation rubric they want to use is Danielson's. The school I am observing in started using it this year and it id pretty intense. There is a lot of accountability on the teacher and some things seem out of a teacher's control and they are getting rated on it. I will bring in a copy of it to class on Monday just so everyone can see it and become familiar with it. Again, I believe this might be the one from what I understand.
I think freeing NJ of NCLB is good and beneficial because the standards of that were ridiculous. I don't believe that the Federal Government should have a lot of say in each states education because how students learn depends where they are geographically to an extent, local people will understand the needs of their students better. I think for us it means that we always have to keep current with the standards and methods of evaluating our students because it seems that a permanent plan has not yet been determined, we have to be open and flexible.
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