The No Child Left behind Nightmare

[Kain99]

In theroy, this plan sounded so good! In it's inception it is a nightmare! One of the largest parts of this plan has been to integrate Special Education and LAP (Behaviorally challenged) students with the general student population. Gone are the days of classes for the slow kids.

I can only speak with knowledge on how this is panning out on the High School level. IT"S NOT!

Teachers are frustrated, students are frustrated and now not only are the slow kids struggling but the standard kids are falling behind.

The plan was to Leave No Child Behind.... I wonder how long it will be before the powers that be figure out that now every child's being left behind.

Federal Link

State Link

 

[crabcake]

I have many friends/family who are teachers and they all say the same thing. In the efforts to keep the "behind" kids up, the "regular" (FLOABW) kids are getting behind. The chain reaction then is that they do worse on the school tests which don't adjust for that "drifting" pattern.

I don't think any child should be left behind either, but I don't think the program should continue at the expense of keeping the kids who were doing just fine from moving forward to stay on track in their studies either. Personally, I'd feel like crap if my special needs child was holding up other non-special-needs children in school, but that's just me.

 

[Elle]

I agree that it's a bad plan. My son has an IEP for his speech problem. I hate the fact that he is a little behind now at 5 and that if he needs special help in the future it may not be there for him.