HOW SHE SEES IT 'No Child' legislation should've been left behind

I began my teaching career as a nun. One of the vows I made was the "Instruction of youth." To that end, my pedagogical imperative was to look at pupils as individuals, not as products on an assembly line. I was taught in my education classes that children are not receptacles to be filled with content by the teacher. I was asked to distinguish between and among the concepts of education, knowledge and information.
Though I left the convent 35 years ago, I have never forgotten that vow to recognize my pupils as individuals with unique talents and capabilities and to build on those qualities. However, the No Child Left Behind Act has eclipsed what I consider a sound teaching philosophy.
The No Child Left Behind Act is a chimera and a travesty.
I have just completed my 38th year of teaching, 35 of those years in an urban school district. I retired at the end of this school year. I still have energy, compassion and a love of teaching and I am "highly qualified" according to the No Child Left Behind requirements for teacher qualification. Yet I left my life-long profession, and I left as a dispirited, resentful and angry educator.
Breaking with tradition
These feelings were underscored on our Convocation Day last September, a day traditionally used to welcome back teachers with words of hope and encouragement, a day for teachers to renew our spirit for the important mission of educating our new classes of pupils.
Instead, our principal presented, albeit reluctantly and sadly, our proficiency scores that are published in newspapers across the state. In essence, we, as well as our pupils, were deemed losers based on those scores that relegated us to "in academic emergency" status.
We have been punished, reprimanded and excoriated because we have failed to raise our pupils' scores to equal those of the pupils' in our neighboring, suburban schools.
For two consecutive years, we were mandated to take 36 professional development hours that focused on techniques to help us raise our pupils' scores. Courses teachers took toward their master's degree were not included in this mandate. We are among the lowest paid districts in our state.
Never mind that the institution we call school absorbs the onus of all societal ills with little or no involvement from other institutions. Never mind that our state has inadequate and unequal funding for our schools. Never mind that we have some of the best and most dedicated teachers on our staff.
I am outraged that the president, governors and other legislators, who by accident of birth or luck or circumstance, are in positions of power to impose No Child Left Behind on our pupils who, by accident of birth, or unluck or circumstance, now have no power over their destiny.
Impact
Based on results of a single test, some high school students will be denied a diploma and some elementary pupils the right to be promoted to the next grade. Many pupils, including some special-education ones, will be labeled a failure, again, based on the results of a single test. I am outraged that those furthest removed from the daily drama of classroom life are touting high-stakes tests and the No Child Left Behind Act as the answer to the problems in education. It is a facile and impoverished solution.
To be sure, over my many years in the classroom, I followed the curriculum guidelines of my school district, guidelines that teachers were involved in developing. I was able to use creative and innovative techniques in the process. Pupils made choices within parameters and had opportunities to think and make mistakes.
Yes, I even gave them tests to diagnose their assets and deficits. But then came this new buzzword: ACCOUNTABILITY. Suddenly we teachers were being admonished for being derelict in our duties because, among other bogus reports, our pupils were not as bright as Japanese pupils. With no teacher input initially, the pupils were given state-imposed tests that began to drive and narrow the curriculum.
"If it isn't on the test, don't teach it." A robot-induced curriculum replaced our enriched one. The anthrax fear paled in comparison to the threat of our pupils' failing the proficiency test. Administrators, teachers and our unions, while acknowledging behind closed doors the deleterious effects of these tests, succumbed without a fight. Afraid of being labeled whiners or education spoilsports, they became silent accomplices in taking the soul out of teaching and learning.
Speaking out
Five years ago, with only 33 years' teaching experience, I began to speak out publicly against using ONE test that would determine the ability, achievement and potential of our pupils. I spoke to the governor-appointed Commission on Student Success, the majority made up of legislators and CEOs of companies in our state.
I testified about the ambiguous, convoluted and complex questions that appeared on these one-size-fits-all tests. I spoke about factors that contributed to some of our pupils' failing these tests, factors for over which we have no control. The commission members were patronizing and demeaning, allowing me just five minutes to state my case.
At a subsequent meeting, where I, along with other educators and concerned parents were given additional time to testify, the governor-appointed moderator marginalized us by interrupting us and moving us along to focus on the governor's agenda of promoting testing as the panacea for education reform.
Even a professor who presented his in-depth research on the invalidity of these tests, was discredited. Bankers, journalists, plumbers, politicians, anyone with over 30 years' experience in their respective fields, would have been afforded respect for their knowledge and expertise. I left that meeting with the tacit sentiment perpetuated by presidents, legislators, CEOs, and the media: You are JUST a teacher.
As I end my teaching career, angry, embittered and sad, I still ask myself: What does it mean to be educated?
I may never know the answer to that question. But I do know what it is not: high-stakes testing and the No Child Left Behind Act. I know this because I have been a teacher.
XMaggie Hagan taught in the Warren City School District. Over the years, commentary pieces by her father, former Trumbull County commissioner and state Rep. Robert Hagan, and her brother, state Sen. Robert Hagan, have appeared on these pages.