The problems with the new educational trend are brought forward in the article “In a Standardized Era, a Creative School Is Forced to Be More So” by Michael Winerip.[1] Oyster River Middle school is located in New Hampshire. In this state 69 percent of the public schools didn’t make high enough scores after the demands the new law “No Children Left behind” brought forward. Because of this the schools were labeled as failing. This year the total is expected to be 90 percent. Oyster River middle school is one of these, even if the school previously has had a high score on standardized tests. On this school the average on the SAT is 1,670 for the students. In other words, they are scoring 111 points more than the average in the state, and 170 points above the national level of school children. Now they have created a committee to overlook the situation and make changes to the school.
One teacher didn’t need to do more 45 minutes of preparation a year specific for tests because the students were doing a good job. The teacher’s name is Linda Rief, she is 67 years, and she has been teaching English at the school for 25 years. In 2000 the National Council of Teachers of English granted her the title “Middle School Teacher of the Year”. She don’t like the way things are headed. Her school is encouraging students to write longer, have posters, and new programs to better the scores, but she is not agreeing with all of it.
The “No Child Left Behind” law was created to improve the schooling of poor American children, especially those who live in the big cities. The purpose and goal is to get 100 percent to pass the proficiency tests. The problem comes when, like at Oyster River, not all of the special education students are passing. At this school, 12 of 110 students with a need for special education didn’t have high enough scores to pass. This is the reason that the school is now in the statistic.
However, the solution to this may be to apply for a waiver. The waiver was created after the federal secretary of education, Arne Duncan, and president Obama agreed that the situation was questionable. By using the waiver, the test scores for the subgroups – like special education students – automatically gets a lower importance. Even if the school does apply for it, the biggest problem that Ms. Rief has pointed out would not go away. The increasing standardized testing is not ending, so teachers, students, and schools will be evaluated and ranked also in the future. This tendency has already changed some parts in the academic area and it gives Ms. Rief reason for her fears; the value of trust in the teachers’ ability to make a good learning environment is a soon forgotten fact. The school she has worked for in so many years may no longer have time to give the students the opportunity to have different projects. It is also a fact that it isn’t good enough today to be great in the teaching job, and inspire the students, like before.
Response
This article is important in different ways. The first reason for this is that the story tells about a successful school which is placed in a bad statistic. It is important to tell the story behind a statistic because it can trick you with its numbers. Like in this case, where the data gives a misleading image of the school. The second reason is that a teacher, who is regarded as a good one, gets to tell her view. One of the problems with national ruling is exactly the fact that not everybody is heard, or has the courage to say if something isn’t right. The article let the teacher express her concerns to a bigger group of listeners. I think it is important that people continue to express themselves and I also think she makes a good point when she is worried about the decreasing regard for the teacher. This is something to worry about after my own experience. In Norway we have in a period had a decreasing respect for the teaching profession. Because of this, the number of teachers has gone down and the amount of noise has gone up inside the classroom. Luckily the time is changing, and a focus on teaching instead of finding faults is entering the Norwegian mind. Hopefully this will again lead to better scores.
It is sad that a school like this is one of those getting in trouble in the changes. I also feel sorry for the 12 special educated children that have taken the whole school down. I know they don’t get in difficulties for it, but if they know about the fact it may hurt their self-esteem. I hope they will benefit from the schools extra effort for them, and I believe it is great that the school now make changes to accommodate them.
[1] Winerip, Michael. “In a Standardized Era, a Creative School Is Forced to Be More So” The New York Times October 30th 2011. Web. November 1st 2011
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