Feature Article: Know the Child Left Behind

As all teachers-in-training, I am required to observe local teachers in action, and this past week, at a Prince William County school, a curly haired 6th grader asked the question on all adolescents’ minds, “Why are we doing this?” However, it was not because she was bored, over-challenged, or simply being a snarky—she merely wanted to know, “How is this going to help me on my SOLs?”

The classroom I was observing was a Language Arts class, and the teacher decided that it would be fun to write and illustrate an alternate ending to the poem The Walrus and the Carpenter. Nonetheless, the students were too worried how this exercise was going to prompt them for the upcoming and impending Standards of Learning standardized test. This is a state-mandated achievement test in direct response to No Child Left Behind—a controversial education legislation passed in 2002 by former President George W. Bush.

Even though these state-mandated tests strive for all students especially those at high risk environments to have quality education, Mrs. Xavier (pseudonym) , a PWC teacher for 11 years, admits, “Because of the SOLs, I have not been able to teach as much as I used to. I used to do a lot of fun projects with my students, but since I have to inform administration of the SOL objectives I covered today, I am limited in what I can teach. Plus, the students completely tune out if they think I’m teaching them something that will not help them pass the SOL.” Since she knows I am a young, wide-eyed, aspiring drama teacher at heart, she added, “Forget about reading a play if you haven’t read all the fiction, non-fiction, and poetry sections. Administration just won’t let you do it.”

But, wait, Mrs. Xavier, what about Bush’s Texas Miracle? Apparently, since Elementary and Middle schools in Houston began using state-mandated tests, drop-out rates significantly decreased and test scores soared! No Child Left Behind is a success, and these schools’ results were the catalyst for other states to begin using tests like Virginia’s SOLs. However, unfortunately, the data gained from the Houston schools was inflated and illusory. There was a dramatic increase in students classified in “Special Education” and their tests were not counted toward the schools’ averages. Furthermore, students who dropped-out of school were not included in the averages, if they attended alternative programs (in other words, drop-out recovery programs).

Yet, No Child Left Behind supporters still claim that students have never been better—or simply admit there is simply no other cost effective way to make sure all students are obtaining basic level objectives. And, yes, No Child Left Behind sounds nice—who wants to leave someone behind, left alone a child? Still, since the creation of this legislation, there has been no correlation to an increase to test scores or decrease in drop-out rates (except for ones that are inflated—well, I guess everything is bigger in Texas).

In fact, since NCLB, according to the National Association of Gifted Students, 25% of gifted and talented students have dropped out of school—and these are the students who are passing the standardized tests. Why would they drop out of school if they are receiving passing scores on the state-mandated tests? Well, two statisticians Joseph Renzulli and Park Sunghee wanted to find out too, and they surveyed students who are classified as gifted and found out that 37.4% of gifted male drop-outs and 35.5% of gifted female drop-outs said that they did not like school. The excuse for not liking school was the number one reason for leaving for females (The National Association of Gifted Children).

There are exactly 990 teaching hours in Virginia classrooms. Those hours are dedicated to meeting the high-stake SOL standards. Where my concern lies is with the curly haired student who wants to know why. She seems to have forgotten completely that learning English can be a creative process because the SOLs ask mere comprehension and basic knowledge questions. Since NCLB claims to not let any child behind, I am left to wonder are gifted and talented students being overlooked merely because they can pass the test. Is that what education has come to?
There are approximately three million students labeled as gifted in the United States who spend around 80% of their time in the regular classroom (The National Association of Gifted Children). By ignoring these students, one is indubitably ignoring the right of all students to receiving an education that meets their academic needs. We need to KNOW the child left behind, and in this case, know the gifted student who is able to pass the SOL, yet, drops out because he is bored in the classroom.

There is currently a love—hate relationship concerning gifted and talented students. This love—hate relationship stems from the teachers’ and administrators’ admiration of the gifted students’ intelligence and motivation; however, American culture has a sense of egalitarianism, an innate belief that everyone should be equal. I say this because our Declaration of Independence says, “All men are created equal” and NCLB makes sure every student passes a standardized test—whether they are capable of more. Since no two students are the same cognitively, why promote tests that are homogenous, identical, and standardized?

The gifted students’ full potential is limited and will regress when it comes to reducing the achievement gap. According to James J. Gallagher, a senior investigator at the Frank Porter Graham Child Development Institute, “the gap between low performing groups (economically disadvantaged, major racial and ethnic groups, students with disabilities, and English Language learners) and high performing groups are expected to be reduced over time”. In other words, low performing groups will progress while high performing groups either stay the same or regress. This phenomenon is known as the regression effect where students in gifted programs or even remedial programs will score as a group toward the mean average (Davis 300). Gifted and talented students are not challenged by the current classroom environment under the legislation. They cannot excel further when their teachers spend the large majority of their classroom time dedicated to students catching up to the standards.

Teachers focus on lower level of thinking skills present on Bloom’s Taxonomy: Knowledge, Comprehension, and Application. For example a 6th grade question in social studies is, “If someone really wants to conserve resources, one good way to do so is to:” and the following answers consist of “A. Leave lights on even if they are not needed. B. Wash small loads instead of large loads in the clothes washing machine. C. Write on both sides of a piece of paper. D. Place used newspapers in the garbage” (Popham). This question requires the student to define (Knowledge) the word conserve and then apply (Application) it to the choice of questions. The question is unchallenging to a gifted student because it ignores the higher order thinking skills of Analysis, Synthesis, and Evaluation. A higher level of thinking question might read something like, “Prepare (Synthesis) a list of ways in which to conserve resources.” This question would be more appropriate to gifted children because they would have to design a plan and think creatively.

The manner in which the tests are currently written, the scores absolutely cannot “indicate whether these students are being sufficiently challenged to maintain their academic interest, an issue of particular concern in high school” (Popham). Since the questions lack the higher-level of thinking skills, gifted students are not adequately challenged which can lead to unmotivated and even bored students. In paper-pencil tests, it is nearly impossible to assess creativity, a common characteristic of gifted students. Many stakeholders in program evaluations find that the only valid test is an objective one, and they refuse to question the validity of these tests. As a direct result of the types of questions asked on the tests, gifted students are left in classrooms that monotonously review information they already know.

When I was in Middle School, I do not remember the questions and answers to my multiple choice questions. I do not remember the character names in stories I read; I do not remember dates and facts and long teacher lectures. I remember dissecting a cow’s eye and watching the pupil bounce into the teacher’s gray and white hair. I remember performing A Mid Summer Night’s Dream in my drama group: Come, sit thee down upon this flowery bed,/While I thy amiable cheeks do coy,/And stick musk-roses in thy sleek smooth head,/And kiss thy fair large ears, my gentle joy. I remember writing a poem about a pineapple (that I still have saved to Microsoft Word). What are our students going to remember when they graduate from Elementary and Middle School if all their learning consists on multiple choice tests?