it's been said before, and often with greater eloquence, but i'll say it again: the american educational system is a mess. perhaps the easiest way to characterize this is to point out the schizophrenia engendered by the two most influential recent legislature governing public education: nclb and idea 2004. nclb is most well known for its call for standardized testing (and arming the test with teeth). one thing to note, fyi: the testing is far from standardized. each state has the discretion of choosing its own "norm-based standardized test." thus, some states mysteriously have "pass-rates" that are higher than we would expect... to compare "progress" of one state over another thus is like comparing apples and oranges, pineapples and silicon... there is no universal standard.
note that under nclb, all children with disabilities (special education children) are also accountable. only 2% (initially it was only 1%) are allowed to take "alternative assessment tests" (i am truly uncertain how this figure was pulled out of the hat). if sped kids do opt to take the test with accommodations, then much documentation is needed to justify those accommodations... furthermore, any accommodations for the test must have already been provided consistently for the student in the everyday class.
here's an example. to qualify to have test instructions and questions orally read to a student (something i would imagine would be reasonable, given that some students simply are not literate), the student must be classified as a NON-READER (NOT a poor reader, not a kid who reads below grade level, but a NON-READER, i.e. a kid who will NEVER read no matter how much you try to teach them-- itself a qualification requiring much documentation, etc.). thus, if you apply for this accommodation, you are basically saying your kid is hopelessly illiterate...
idea (individuals with disabilities in education act) 2004 is focused more on special education, as implied by the name. at its core is the iep, or individualized education plan, which is a document formed for each child qualifying for special education services. the iep serves as a blueprint of sorts for the strengths and needs of any given special education child; it outlines goals that can be reasonably expected for the child, as well as methods of assessment for fulfillment of those goals.
in addition, idea 2004 states that all children will receive fape (acronym for "free appropriate public education") in lre (acronym for "least restrictive environment"). the latter (lre) has been interpreted to imply what is called the inclusion model: that is, all children, to the greatest extent possible, are included in the general education classroom. the inclusion model has been pushed lately because it has been found that some sped students may benefit (primarily socially) from participating with the "norm" peers...
okay, so here's one level of the schizophrenia: on the one hand, you have idea 2004 which pushes for the centrality and importance of the iep, an INDIVIDUALIZED education plan that documents accommodations, etc. on the other hand, you have nclb, which pushes for a STANDARDIZED anti-accommodation testing, with dire consequences. what's the deal with this???
are sped teachers supposed to fulfill the requirements of the iep, or are they supposed to push for improvements on the standardized test? these goals are NOT compatible in most cases...
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i've tried to articulate the schizophrenic nature of the current educational crisis by noting that, at its fundamental roots, our expectations for what public education is supposed to accomplish are "two-faced." on the one hand, we expect public education to be democratic and egalitarian, accepting and serving all (including the disadvantaged and disabled). on the other hand, we expect the deliverance of QUALITY education. with regards to the latter, there is a hidden (unspoken) agenda to QUALIFY students, that is, to make the aggregate mass of students "settle out" into distinct layers, a heterogeneity, with some being "high end achievers", others the "average kids," and towards the bottom, the "manual labor types", "social deviants," etc. the problem with the public educational system is that it attempts to fulfill both agendas AT THE SAME TIME. it's something that realistically can't be done, because the two agendas are sometimes diametrically opposed to one another.
the imposition of a "standardized test" by its very nature is supposed to establish a standard, and the "norm" is determined (by definition) by a statistical bell curve. "standardized tests" are attempts to improve the QUALITY of the educational system, but again, by nature, such tests point out the (natural?) heterogeneity of the school populations. some kids STATISTICALLY will test high, a majority will test in the middle, and some kids, NO MATTER WHAT, will test low...
to "believe in the test," to "teach to the test," is a simple way of pushing the agenda of QUALITY down the gullets of teachers/students... it pretends to be blind to that other agenda of the public educational system, the demand to be inclusive, to take in all comers, to address the INDIVIDUALIZED needs of the diverse student body...
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ultimately, i believe teaching AND ALL WORTHWHILE AND EFFECTIVE INTERACTIONS occur at the ground level (ground being the simplest level, the one on one interactions, the PRACTICAL level). standards, norm-based testing, etc... all of that is a top-down attempt to impose uniformity and control over the "ground up" teaching interactions that occur in classrooms. sure, we need standards. but an emphasis on "top-down" approaches, when it is delivered too heavy handedly, accomplishes nothing on the "ground up" level where ACTUAL TEACHING OCCURS...
...well, i'm starting to really ramble. just wanted to get some thoughts down.
also thinking about this dilemma with regards to parenting... the dual nature of parenting, particularly when considerations of public schooling are taken into account. on the one hand, parents wish to "protect" and "nurture" their child, but there is also an awareness that at some point kids must learn to "find their way" by jumping into the fray of society... oh well, i think i really am rambling, just struggling to come to terms with a variety of issues...
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