No Child Left Behind

Wow, high school feels so long ago. As the NCLB act awaits is fate, I remember when it had a huge impact on my schooling. I went to high school northeastern Philadelphia, and, to put it nicely, the school was very poorly ran. Most of the teachers were prone to missing several days out of the week, and left substitutes to vainly attempt to teach a lesson plan to a class who either ignored them completely or responded with threats or vulgar language. The other half of the teachers didn't seem overly concerned with teaching, or, if they did, fared no better than the substitutes.  Yet, whenever the PSSAs would come around, all the sudden the faculty seemed to care, and we were taught to be as ready for this test as humanly possible. Everything from bribes to threats from the principle would come over the intercom every week before the dreaded test, and AYP, or "adequate yearly progress", was the center of the lesson plans we all had to learn.

Planning on becoming a teacher someday, I often wonder just how much I'll have to deal with "teaching to the test". I'd really like to avoid a school or district that enforces this sort of teaching, as, at least in my experience, I don't feel like much is retained in the long run with this style. It felt like we were told to hold a box in our hands, then another box was stacked on that one, then another, and so on and so forth, until we had a tower of material that we only had to hold until a certain time. Once that time passed, it seemed like all the students just opened up their arms and let all the boxes fall, no longer being coerced into holding them.

I understand the ups and downs of standardized testing, but I don't feel like curriculum should force it into the front seat, then kick it out of the car when it's no longer needed.