NCLB is modeled after the Texas’ standards-based accountability system. Rice University and University of Texas have published a study documenting one of the unintended consequences of this type of system, a greatly increased dropout rate.
Bror’s Blog presents a great summary of how rules that seem reasonable have produced some very sad results. It seems […]

I came across a couple columns today that discuss some of the objections to No Child Left Behind (NCLB) that have puzzled me. Those being the complaint that NCLB has ruined education with all its rigorous, boring standards and the tedious assessments that go with them. What do these complainers think education was like before […]

Linda Perlstein’s Tested is a chronicle of a year in the life of a Title I elementary school in Annapolis, Maryland. I’ve heard a lot of grumbling about No Child Left Behind (NCLB) from teacher friends. I admit it. I expected this book to be about grumpy teachers. But it isn’t. I came to […]

It seems that my post, No Child Left Behind Homeschool, has stirred up some controversy. So, I think I’ll revisit the subject and clarify what I was laboring, apparently unsuccessfully, to say.

We should be glad that kids today for the most part do not have to sit for norm-referenced testing every year. Criterion-based assessments […]

The New York Times highlighted a typical problem in the education establishment. Here’s some of the pertinent stuff:

A student needed a required course to graduate, did not pass the course and, thus, did not graduate.
She came back for a 5th year took the same course and failed again.
For the spring semester she enrolled in the […]

Continuing the theme of standards and testing I recommend that anyone homeschooling their kids who has a doubt or a curiosity over how well their kids are doing at home take a look at their own state’s standards. Use them as part of the planning process.
When we plan for the coming school year part of […]

What does No Child Left Behind (NCLB) have to do with homeschooling? Depends upon what state you live in. Some states nothing and others it has an effect. Here in Alaska it can be good for those of us who teach at home primarily because of standards.
I grew up as most did in the public […]