At the work session of the Tyrone Area School Board, Assistant Superintendent Joann Lang spoke to the board about the ‘No Child Left Behind’ iniative put forth by President Bush.
Lang spoke to the board about the current levels that Tyrone students are at and the levels that the students need to be at. All students by the year 2014 need to be profecient or there are consequences the school district could face.
The Daily Herald spoke with English Chair Steve Everhart and Math Chair Francis Bloom and got their thoughts on the iniative.
In the recent PSSA test scores, Tyrone has shown that they are leaving very few students behind.
“We set very high expectations for both teachers and students,” said Everhart. “No student gets a diploma from Tyrone High unless they have passed state exams. Our teachers try to reach and motivate as many students as they can in as many ways as they can. We search for materials that students can connect with, we vary activities and we re-teach skills until most students have mastered them.”
Why most students, not all students? Isn’t that the goal of No Child Left Behind?
“Let’s talk sports,” said Everhart. “Wouldn’t it be irresponsible for lawmakers to expect 100 percent succes for all Pennsylvania sports franchises — you know, the ones for whom taxpayers have been doling out millions of dollars in deluxe stadiums? Not even Las Vegas odds makers would bet on 100 percent sports success in our state, as Steeler and Pirate fans can attest. The beleaguered Porates would be elated with 50 percent success and I can’t recall the last Super Bowl winner to go undefeated. That is because 100 percent success is not probable let alone possible in any field of himan endeavor — including education. It’s great to set idealistic goals, but teachers are not the only variable in the success equation. Your dentist will never be 100 percent successful in preventing cavities because, ultimately, you decide to brush and floss — not him — and your genetics and your enviornment, over which your dentist has no control, have enormous impact on how cavity-prone you are. If your family doctor teaches, advises and motivates his smoking patients not to smoke and only one percent of them contact lung cancer, then he is an amazing doctor indeed. But, under the most stringent, idealistic guidelines of No Child left behind, that doctor would be branded a failure and would have his medical practice seized by the state if his cancer prevention rate did not improve within a specified time frame. Obviously, the patient must bear some responsibility for his own health, and if he doesn’t, he’ll get cancer, despite the efforts of his doctor. Educators can try their hardest to leave no child left behind, but some children will still miss the bus.”
In what way do you mean the kids will miss the bus?
“Some may fail to get on the bus regularly (poor attendance),” said Everhart. “Some may challenge the authority of the driver and conspire to run its wheels off the road (suspensions and expulsions). Some may do drugs (inattentive or zoned out in class and negligent in doing assigned homework), and some may get on and behave well enough during the ride but won’t have what it takes once they arrive — the concentration, the responsibility, the organization, the commitment and especially the values that must be instilled first in the home.”
For this law to go into effect, most would think the lawmakers have considered these factors.
“I’m sure that they have, but the slogan “A Few Children Left Behind” doesn’t have much curb appeal, does it? Everhart added. “To complicate matters, some states like Pennsylvania have set their testing profeciency standards exceptionally high. In Massachusetts, students rallied outside the governor’s mansion with a copy of the state’s MCAC exam to request that he take it, sure that he would see how improbable it was for every child to pass. The Governor not only refused to take the test but responded to students in the most cowardly way possible. He ducked out of his office through a back door. To my knowledge, neither Tom Ridge nor Mark Schweiker have taken the PSSA’s. I’d love to see how well they can do calculus or critically evaluate the effectiveness of a satirical writer, as te PSSA standards expect of all high school students.
If the students don’t reach the 100 percent profeciency level, what happens to the schools?
“In Pennsylvania 99.5 percent of all students in every school must be profecient on all PSSA exams by the year 2014 or else,” said Bloom. “That means within 12 years the worst of our schools must do better than our best schools are doing right now — because few if any or our best schools are making the mark. Schools that miss the 99.5 percent mark will face the loss of federal funding, will lose money through vouchers to other schools, and will endure resource and energy draining review and paperwork processes to justify their existence before states fire their staff and seize control.”
Editor’s Note: Part II of this series will appear in Monday’s edition.
