As a 21st century teacher, we are faced with many new obstacles - No Child Left behind is one of them. While I am glad the government is trying to get involved with education and encourage schools to increase their performance, is this really the way to go? I personally think there are way to many holes in the system. Sure teachers should be accountable for what they are teaching in a classroom, but not all children can be measured the same way to ensure the teachers are doing their job. Therefore, the measurement of success is completely off scale. Also, if a school doesn't reach AYP -shouldn't THEY be the ones receiving extra money instead of the high achieving schools that do make AYP? I believe the extra money going to successful schools is unnecessary if what they are doing is already succeeding, but it is needed to help the schools that are struggling. Also, many schools are making AYP by using loop holes and are not really improving like their numbers show. Other problems with NCLB is that it brings extra stress on teachers and removing creativity from the classroom by replacing projects with practice tests. Therefore, as obviously seen, I am completely against No Child Left Behind.

I have mixed feelings on NCLB as well. I agree that it takes away from valuable hands-on projects in the classroom. I also, like Jessica, do not agree that only the schools who have high scores should get money. I do believe they should be rewarded, but I believe that the schools who do not do as well should be given money and helped in more ways. If they aren't, how is the school or the children in it ever going to succeed? I do believe though that every student should have a chance to grow and succeed in their own way; I'm just not sure that NCLB has the correct way in which to do that. I'm not sure what a good solution would be either. ???

NCLB is very by the books for teachers and I agree that it leaves them with no flexibility in the classroom. They are too stressed by the amount of pressure put on them to excel on various mandated tests. To me there are better and more efficient ways to measure a student's growth and intelligence rather than forcing tests on them and spending the whole school year teaching to the tests. Some students are very intellegent and may not do well at all on tests.
As far as giving money to teachers in schools which excel and improve their growth; they should be rewarded for their hard work. If they improve the next year as well it shows that they have worked hard to improve after setting such high standards the year before. It seems to be an incentive for teachers to help in making there school a school of excellence, distinction...etc.

NCLB is more than a hindrance on teachers' and what they can accomplish, it is a hindrance on the advancement of American societal norms. I believe that if we keep "programming" our students , instead of teaching and guiding them to think outside of the box, our "nation" will reap the negative outcomes of NCLB within a quarter of a century. The plan needs to change and it needs to change quickly. I also believe that this change should involve adopting a more personal, case by case attitude about education. I believe that this would make a far greater impact that then old -and present - attitude that this country should consist of followers, not leaders.

I don't believe that NCLB is the answer for our school systems. I agree that there should be some form of an incentive to do well on tests as a school but why would schools that are doing better in the classroom receive the money instead of the schools that weren't meeting the standards? Obviously the schools that aren't meeting the goals need to change some things and for change to happen money is usually needed. So, to me, it would make more sense to reward the schools that are doing well in some other way and present the money to the schools that need improvement so they can have a good chance at bettering their performance for the next year.
Also, the pressure put on testing through NCLB flusters me because not all children are able to reflect their knowledge through a test. I realize that tests are important within our society, but they aren't always accurate.

I have somewhat mixed feelings about No Child Left Behind. I think it's a great concept, but we aren't taking the right steps to prevent children from being "left behind". The problem with which schools to reward - successful vs. nonsuccessful schools - is an issue. Yes, schools that are accomplishing their goals should be rewarded, but the schools that aren't accomplishing their goals shouldn't be punished - they should be helped. Also, standardized testing isn't always the best way to assess students, especially in my future field of education, special education. What do we do for the students in special education? We shouldn't hold them back year after year because they can't pass a standardized test, however, we shouldn't just pass them along and not educate them year after year.

Many people suggest we get away from standardized testing and implement a more "individualized" program for each student. The problem with that solution is for teachers with classrooms of students that number 25-35 students a class. Then in high schools, teachers may have 120 students each semester. Do you think it's possible for 1 teacher to come up with 120 individual education plans for students?

When I step back and look at NCLB, I don't think it's the best solution for the problems with our education system. However, I think it would be close to impossible, if not impossible, to come up with a solution that fits every single student receiving an education in the United States.

I think that no child left behind is a bad idea. All it does is make teachers want to push kids through instead of helping them learn. Teachers are so worried about the test scores that they put too much emphasis on just reading writing and math as well. All the other subjects do not get near enough attention then. I think that it also takes funding away from the schools that really need it too. If a school is not scoring the way they should be the government takes money away but that is stupid because obviously those schools are the ones that need it the most. I think I am a little bias about this subject too because I am a PE major and a lot of times subjects such as PE are the ones that get cut so that teachers can focus more on getting test scores up. I think that no child left behind is a very stupid idea.

In response to April's comment. Wouldn't it be wonderful if at least in special education we could have truly individualized education plans for students in without worrying so much about standardized testing? It would be really difficult to accomplished a more individualized education for students in general education classrooms because there are so many students but if we were able to do that in special education then we could actually teach life skills and information that would be applicable in their futures instead of teaching to the test so much. I think no child left behind may have had good intentions but we need to just wash it and start over.