Teacher Discussion Forums

Hello everyone, my name is Gia and I am currently a student teacher in southern California. I have a dilema regarding where I want to teach. The jobs are few and far between but they are out there. I am not bilingual but really want to help those kids that need it. I have always wanted to help disadvantaged kids, who do not have the support at home. The problem is "No Child Left Behind". I am worried that if I take a job in a low income school or in an area that is unsafe that I will be penalized in pay by the year when No Child Left Behind is supposed to go in effect. I am sure I will make a difference and bring up test scores but I don't believe that children are ever going to be at the same level academically. Everyone learns differently and at different paces. Many teachers I have spoke to about this tell me not to worry and that when that year comes it will not go into effect because no one will be there except the ones that already are. But what if it does? Should I change my plans in terms of helping these kids just because of this law? I could not afford to be penalized in pay just because I want to help those who really need it. Or should I hold out for a job locally that will not have such a challenging task of getting all my students at the same level? Does "No Child Left Behind" concern any of you? What is your advice to me regarding this topic? If you are a teacher in another state, does this law affect you as much? Do you have English Language Learners in your classrooms? If you are a teacher in another country, what do you think about "No Child Left Behind"? Do you have any laws similar to this? Any advice and/or comments to me would be greatly appreciated. Thanks for reading and have a great day or night.

Are you saying that the salary will be based on how many children pass the test? What state are you in? It certainly isn't the same in every state.

I live in southern California. Heven't you heard about the merit pay? If your students meet the expectations of No Child Left Behind then you make more money. If your students do not meet the expectations- your pay gets docked. At least that is what I have been told.

This happened in some schools in Mongolia as well and it seemed to promote cheating on the tests that decided the pay. Two students sat at a single desk so the teachers paired good and poor students and the poor students copied. Sometimes it was so blatant that the principal would circulate around the room checking answers and tell the students to change wrong answers. One poor students changed a wrong answer to another wrong answer and was called on the carpet for that. The amount the school received was also based on the results of the tests so it doesn't always produce the desired results.

I don't know if others have read this, but it is a funny(yet sad) parody on the no child left behind act. Worth the read.

http://www.trelease-on-reading.com/no-dentist.html

The school you should choose should have good leadership, ample resources, and pays well. I could go on forever about what is good leadership, ample resources and what ample pay is, but you will find all these things out after you have a couple crappy jobs and work for some poor leaders. Therefore, I wouldn't choose a place to work based off which school has the greatest "need," but which has the least need and most values your skills and time.

I've nver heard of that! How awaful! I'm a trainee teacher doing a post graduate course in the UK. Over here we have targets that need to be met in order to secure a pay rise but I believe they are reasonable targets. If you are working in a deprived area, for example, then the targets are not going to be as high as those in a well to do area. Children sit tests at the age of 7 and then 11 prior to commencing secondary school. The levels the pupils achieve are then averaged for each school (I'm not sure how the government arrive at the average scores, i.e. by mean, mode or median - as that could surely have an impact). This will then be interpreted into league tables for schools. However, regular inspections from Ofsted are enough to put the fear of God into any teacher! Quite honestly I find it stressful enough being observed by university tutors!!

the merit pay issue depends on the state you teach in. They don't do anything like this in the northeast. It tends to be something they do in the south, where teachers have lousy benefits anyway (georgia has no teacher's union, can youbelieve that! and many florida districts make you wait 30 days before you get health insurance - not treadting you like aprofessional!)

It would be a concern regarding job security if you get a job in aschool that fails to meet AYP (adequate yearly performance? on state standardized testing) for a certain number of years. Under NCLB, the school gets taken over, they can get rid of staff. Supposedly, teachers may be protected, depending on contracts/status, but who knows???
Even if a school itself makes AYP, if any one subgroup of 40 students fails to make AYP (subgroups can be ELL, students receiving free lunch, special needs, etc.) the school can be sanctioned. So, you're biggest problem is if you work in a school that has more than 40 ELLs. Where I work, there are 20something ELLs in my school, not enough to form a "subgroup". If there were more thatn 40, we'd have a problem, because how are kids who've only been here a couple years supposed to passa an English test
(even the math test requires grade level vocabulary and reading skills!).

Your best bet might be to teach in an area with less ELLs (also less people
certified in ESL, so less job competition) or in a suburban area where ELLs tend to be more spread out among different towns. Suburban does not equal priviledged (sp?)/educated, suburbs are not these ideal leave it to beaver places. I teach in a suburb outside Boston and the kids come to school with all the problems of city kids.
I've heard the middle of the US is getting a lot of ELLs - Iowa, Tennesee (good pay, benefits). goto www.teachers.net and go to the state chatboards - they have a chatboard for each state, or the ESL chatboard or the jobtalk chatboard. You will get A LOT of help there.