According to Time magazine, it appears the Bush-era "No Child Left Behind" public education laws have reached a crumbling point. Under NCLB, all students were supposed to be proficient in math and reading by 2014, a stipulation that any rational person should have known was unworkable. The Obama administration appears ready to try and overhaul the NCLB framework and give "failing" schools more flexibility.
While this is admirable, the plan also calls for increased oversight and rigor in regard to evaluating teachers, which is a controversial topic indeed. As a new teacher I can attest that, in Texas, expectations for teachers are rigorous enough -- all of my curricula and classroom performance must be analyzed, cataloged and operate in accordance with district- and state-level expectations.
The recent Republican debate in Orlando, Fla., saw several GOP candidates declaring they wanted to remove much of the size, scope and power of the federal Department of Education, according to The Associated Press. The Department of Education, said Texas Gov. Rick Perry, was "too aggressive," and he criticized fellow GOP competitor Mitt Romney, former governor of Massachusetts, for supporting the agency during his gubernatorial tenure.
Flexibility in the classroom, I can attest, is a necessity. While the theories and principles behind strict oversight of teachers is sound, the changing nature of today's youth culture and the expectations, and results, of K-12 public education, renders objective monitoring and evaluation of teachers a difficult task.
A study published in the Journal of Technology Studies reveals new challenges faced by educators. The proliferation of portable digital media in the form of cell phones and Mp3 players, for instance, presents daily challenges to teachers. One of the key sections of teacher evaluation, ensuring that most students are engaged in the course material, grows increasingly difficult as students find more and more accessible entertainment (and distraction) in their phones.
Each period I have to remind students to take out their earbuds and put away their phones, only to have the offending devices reappear within moments. With federal rules and guidelines under fire by both the Obama administration and the Republican candidates for president, it is curious to see what K-12 education expectations emerge over the next few years.
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