Angie Sullivan's Blog - May 2007
ESEA/No Child Left Behind directs that instruction be very focused. The goal is to pass the annual standardized tests. In Nevada the results are calculated using a complex rubric. If a school fails in any of the areas, then the school is determined to have not met AYP - Adequate Yearly Progress.
While the intent of ESEA/No Child Left Behind was to hold students, teachers, and adminstrators accountable - it has encouraged the exact opposite. Schools now determine which students are the targeted populations that will be published in the upcoming reports.
Every year the staff looks at the rubric. Every year the students are labeled by ethnicity, free- or reduced- lunch status, attendance, first language status, IEP/504/Speech/GATE eligibility, etc.
A school determines which students to target for remediation. NOT EVERY STUDENT COUNTS. In Nevada, if a school does not have a certain percentage of any particular group or label, then those students will not count in the final rubric. Each school has a different population and will determine which groups it needs to focus on to remediate or ensure they pass.
While ESEA/No Child Left Behind intends to force schools to be accountable for everyone, education is very difficult to measure fairly.
Whatever tool is applied to measure adequate yearly progress will be examined by the people who will be judged. Students, teachers and administrators will meet the goals set by the tool and focus mostly on students gathered in the data - those who count.
ESEA/No Child Left Behind has drastically changed education. Teachers do not have to teach for the future, they do have to teach to the test. AND they will teach the students who count first and foremost. Some students will be focused on by educators to improve the scores, meanwhile others will sit to the side.
The discrimination and labeling this legislation has forced on education is discouraging- just because the title sounds great doesn't mean this legislation was ever a good idea.
Angie Sullivan
2nd Grade Teacher
Hickey Elementary
Las Vegas, Nevada
While the intent of ESEA/No Child Left Behind was to hold students, teachers, and adminstrators accountable - it has encouraged the exact opposite. Schools now determine which students are the targeted populations that will be published in the upcoming reports.
Every year the staff looks at the rubric. Every year the students are labeled by ethnicity, free- or reduced- lunch status, attendance, first language status, IEP/504/Speech/GATE eligibility, etc.
A school determines which students to target for remediation. NOT EVERY STUDENT COUNTS. In Nevada, if a school does not have a certain percentage of any particular group or label, then those students will not count in the final rubric. Each school has a different population and will determine which groups it needs to focus on to remediate or ensure they pass.
While ESEA/No Child Left Behind intends to force schools to be accountable for everyone, education is very difficult to measure fairly.
Whatever tool is applied to measure adequate yearly progress will be examined by the people who will be judged. Students, teachers and administrators will meet the goals set by the tool and focus mostly on students gathered in the data - those who count.
ESEA/No Child Left Behind has drastically changed education. Teachers do not have to teach for the future, they do have to teach to the test. AND they will teach the students who count first and foremost. Some students will be focused on by educators to improve the scores, meanwhile others will sit to the side.
The discrimination and labeling this legislation has forced on education is discouraging- just because the title sounds great doesn't mean this legislation was ever a good idea.
Angie Sullivan
2nd Grade Teacher
Hickey Elementary
Las Vegas, Nevada
Nevada is sadly last in education in so many areas. We are 50th in the nation in per pupil spending. We are at the bottom in salaries/beneftis for teachers when compared to other states.
What little resources we had to educate members of the Nevada community in our public schools, are now being diverted to meet the requirements of ESEA/No Child Left Behind.
Our greatest resource - our public school teachers, do not plan to stay in Nevada and become invested in our community. In a recent survey done by the CCEA, Clark County Education Association, 45% of teachers currently employed in the state of the Nevada do not plan to be teaching here in the next 5 years. Most of our current teachers have less than 5 years of experience. AND all of our teachers make less than teachers with comparable experience and education in other places. When asked why they want to leave - at the top of the list was salary and benefits. Leaving teachers also are discouraged by working conditions, which are most probably brought on by increasing yearly requirements without additional compensation.
The cry from the public was to require more accountability from teachers and the legislators applied ESEA/No Child Left Behind. Teachers have labored under this unfunded mandate which has basically turned authentic instruction into a thing of the past and watered down the real curriculum to be focused on passing annual tests.
We teach to your mandated tests in Nevada, we are more accountable than ever in Nevada, we are paid less in Nevada than other teachers in other states, we have less money to spend per pupil than almost every other state. . .
How much more can the teachers in Nevada take? While I love my job and realize there are many intangible rewards, why am I required so often to work for free? I have skills and education and experience - no one asked me what I thought of ESEA/No Child Left Behind.
You raised the requirements and continue to do so at an almost impossible rate, now you need to show teachers and schools the money.
Angie Sullivan
2nd Grade Teacher
Hickey Elementary
Clark County School District
Las Vegas, Nevada
What little resources we had to educate members of the Nevada community in our public schools, are now being diverted to meet the requirements of ESEA/No Child Left Behind.
Our greatest resource - our public school teachers, do not plan to stay in Nevada and become invested in our community. In a recent survey done by the CCEA, Clark County Education Association, 45% of teachers currently employed in the state of the Nevada do not plan to be teaching here in the next 5 years. Most of our current teachers have less than 5 years of experience. AND all of our teachers make less than teachers with comparable experience and education in other places. When asked why they want to leave - at the top of the list was salary and benefits. Leaving teachers also are discouraged by working conditions, which are most probably brought on by increasing yearly requirements without additional compensation.
The cry from the public was to require more accountability from teachers and the legislators applied ESEA/No Child Left Behind. Teachers have labored under this unfunded mandate which has basically turned authentic instruction into a thing of the past and watered down the real curriculum to be focused on passing annual tests.
We teach to your mandated tests in Nevada, we are more accountable than ever in Nevada, we are paid less in Nevada than other teachers in other states, we have less money to spend per pupil than almost every other state. . .
How much more can the teachers in Nevada take? While I love my job and realize there are many intangible rewards, why am I required so often to work for free? I have skills and education and experience - no one asked me what I thought of ESEA/No Child Left Behind.
You raised the requirements and continue to do so at an almost impossible rate, now you need to show teachers and schools the money.
Angie Sullivan
2nd Grade Teacher
Hickey Elementary
Clark County School District
Las Vegas, Nevada
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