NCLB....ah ok...but still some questions...

After today's class I feel I have a much better understanding on what goes on with NCLB. As in my last entry, I felt like I was totally lost in finding and understanding what the initial understanding as to what NCLB was compiled of and what it was set out to accomplish. My biggest questions that were have asked in class is what happens to the program when, in 2014, schools do not reach 100% in there percentile and secondly, what will happen to students who want to graduate but can not, by the state, because of the fact that the curriculum will be narrowed to only reading, math and PE classes? This seems outrageous that the government is in charge of mandating what needs to be done for America's students but they are contradicting themselves by making provisions that don't meet, and hinder the students in graduation with a high school degree recognized by the state. I also think that the fact that in 2014, all grades are supposed to score in the 100 percentile. How can they make this unrealistic goal when almost nothing in this world can be made a guarantee to ever equal 100%? one last point I wanted to bring up involving what I had found out about the mandated curriculum at Arts High School was the fact that the state only requires 1 year of a foreign language to be taken in high school, however, with state colleges, how does this help the student when he/she can not be admitted into college without the minimum 2 years required foreign language? I find the program at heart to be a positive program to move students forward to all be on the same level and availability for students in school, but there are a serious number of obvious flaws to this that bring out the question of does the government really know what they are doing and have a back up plan for our students?

NCLB ??

After class last week, I was a little stunned to realize how confusing the information was during class dealing with No Child Left Behind. It seems to me that it is a very good potential idea to be brought about in school systems for children of this day but it also seems that it has not been entirely worked out to where it can work to its optimised level. In reading the piece on NCLB: Narrowing the Curriculum, it states the main point; improving schools and school districts curriculum in the mathematics and reading/language arts subjects. But in going back to the information and the way that it is broken down in class, it seems that it is shooting for an unrealistic goal of 100% optimum school level. By narrowing the curriculum, in my opinion, does not seem to fix the over all problem but only a small portion that makes up the big picture. I do not believe that taking out subjects that are not at a core level for NCLB but important in reiterating a student as a whole outside of school and for their life in the future, will be beneficial in the end. This directly coincides with my inquiry project question of the importance of activities and non core classes offered in school. I have a lot of questions and feel I need a little more information and understanding to what is the ultimate actions for the goal intended to meet.