Current Issue #1 - Justin Fox
EDLA 615 - Language Arts and Technology
Lawmakers step up NCLB renewal process
21st-century skills, data-driven instruction are areas of focus in new House draft proposal
From eSchool News staff and wire service reports
September 6, 2007
This article speaks of possible revisions to the No Child Left Behind Act, proposed by Rep. George Miller, Democratic chairman of the House Education and Labor Committee, and the committee's senior Republican member, Buck McKeon. The revisions center around the improvement of graduation rates at the nation’s lowest performing schools, and pushes for more flexibility in measuring school and student progress. This flexibility includes using scores from state test in areas previously not considered, such as history, and the sciences. It also pushes for a concentration on improving skills that students need for the 21st century, “such as problem solving, critical thinking, and collaborative skills.” It also will “allow states to measure how well students first learning English are doing at acquiring language skills, instead of judging these students on standard reading tests.”
I am particularly happy that the new revisions consider the non-English speaking population of schools, and takes into consideration the fact that the immigrant population of this country is rapidly increasing. This also implies a greater concentration on assimilating these students (to a degree) into our culture, thus giving the students a greater opportunity to succeed in American society. Of course, the point is made in the article that this “substitute test would only be allowed, however, for two years after the law is enacted.” This clearly implies a shift back to an original way of thinking in the current version of the NCLB, where ALL students are looped into the same category. Note that this original way of thinking thus severely hampers the progress of the aforementioned non-English speaking population.
There is also a shift in focus to non-traditional areas of assessment, which seems to be a great improvement. This allows schools to be recognized for making a student more well-rounded, and aware of his or her surroundings. By providing that “schools could get credit for student performance on history, civics, or science exams,” the House is recognizing that English and Math do not truly define literacy in this country. Students need to be aware of the current issues that affect this country, and become more informed citizens. This new draft version of the NCLB considers that very point.
I was disappointed to see no mention of improving upon students’ technological literacy, even though it is mentioned in a later article from eSchool News on the same issue (see Laurie B’s current event review). This concentration has always seemed to be upon simply providing teachers with the technological tools to improve student literacy in the traditional areas of English and Math. On the other hand, if we wants students to be truly prepared for the 21st century, and allow us to truly be on par with other leading nations around the world, why not mention computer literacy as another part of the NCLB. I feel that technological literacy could be easily integrated into the traditional literacy areas, and allow similar goals to be served…just on a more advanced, and beneficial level, in terms of the future economical success of this country. After all, isn’t this what the NCLB is all about?
1 comment:
Not including literacy in NCLB, I believe, is part of the problem as to why our administrators do not see it as a priority. They are concerned with test scores and if the students are not being tested in technology, maybe some have the attitude that it is not as important.
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