McCain on "No Child Left Behind"

An educator asks McCain what he thinks about the "No Child Left Behind" act. His comments include vouchers, charter schools, and how money doesn't neccesarily equal success.

Category:

News & Politics

Tags:

• John
• McCain
• No
• Child
• Left
• Behind
• NCLB
• Republican
• primary
• NH
• 2008
• education

[ac51979]

It means that people have a lot of choice on what school they go to. Public, Private, Religious, Charter, and homeschool. Many want this because it gives them an option if their public school is crappy.

Proponents of competition want less red tape invovled in changing schools so it would be available to more people.

[SubIimity]

theiamania, there are a couple of points you are missing: a) NCLB only tests students on basic reading, writing and arithmetic skills. Teachers should be teaching to these subjects, whether their students are being tested on it or not. b) Schools have always tested children. You don't teach a child to pass a test, you teach them and then test them so you know whether or not they have learned anything.

[AndizzleXO]

i'm confused, what does competition have to do with education? I know so many people that have dropped high school because their schools were constantly quizzing them.

[Maniak11291]

Does anybody know where this speech was given?

[TheAnvilMan]

Thanks for posting this video, it help me finish my American Government project on John McCain =D

[theiamania]

The only result that comes from tests in school, and especially nationwide standardized tests, is that the teachers teach for the test and not the subject in questions. We don't send our kids to school to learn how to pas a test, we send them there so that hopefully they come out in the other end understanding the world that they live in just a little bit better. NCLB was a disaster from the beginning

[jimitl5]

One area that no one seems to address is how do we lure more qualified students into teacher education programs especially in math and science. Right now salaries for people with math and science skills are much better in the private sector then they are for the teaching profession so we lose many to business and industry. But $ is only part of the problem, there needs to be an initiative to encourage students to enter the profession.

[jimitl5]

"Teachers have to quit teaching class work for weeks to prepare for these tests,"

One of the biggest flaws with NCLB is the reliance on standardized tests. Assessment needs to be formative and not summartive in nature to assist teachers in developing the appropriate materials for remediation.

[windycurls]

Why would you support it? You musn't have kids in public school, or you'd know how terrible NCLB is. If the kids don't do well, they just change the way the scores are "interpreted". It has made the Texas school system one of the worst in the nation. Teachers have to quit teaching class work for weeks to prepare for these tests, so kids miss much needed info. Who'd let a poor student (Bush) choose educational programs? Your vote helped ruin our school system. You went to public school didn't ya?

[zoegirl134]

if you take away money from schools, the schools have less funds to get the things that they need to teach, like textbooks, other supplies.... explain to me then how are schools supposed to rise above when they do not have the needed supplies to teach?