I agree with Marvilene. While many of us bemoan the NCLB testing it was necessary to ensure or at the very least attempt education equity. At our school in Oakland CA, Caucasian and Asian children scored 200 or more points higher on standardized tests that African American and Latino students.

At the time we even had a principal who stated and believed that there were biological differences to account for the differences. When our school was held accountable for the learning and scores for all children, we implemented several new programs and the "gap" narrowed within 2 years to just over 50 points. Without NCLB we would have continued our pattern of teaching and the gap would have remained the same or grown as it had done the two consecutive years before implementing the changes.

What I am frustrated with in NCLB is that some schools, the first year of the changes our school was one, who will not teach beyond the standards to the gifted and talented students, thereby creating a "false closure of the gap." We corrected that problem last year and were still able to maintain our reduction of gap learning.

Until all students are taught to the highest level they are capable of learning - and that may mean that they are able to be taught 3 or 4 grade levels above their age, we will not have education equity.

My belief is that every child deserves to learn something new every day.

Dear Simone and a Mom of 2 boys,

Please understand I'm a democrat but a big supporter of President Bush's No Child Left Behind. Contrary to the media the work he supported is exemplary in nature. That some states and publishing companies grumbled was expected given the tendency in education to let anyone teach anything anyway.

But over 40 years of scientific research has shown children need to be taught skills and concepts systematically from simple to complex. For example phonics is necessary, but to learn phonics children must be able to hear the individual sounds in words (phoneme awareness), learn to identify and write upper and lower case letters, and match letters with the sounds. The educators and publishers who fought NCLB do not believe phonics is necessary (Or they believe in fuzzy phonics.)

That's why they say no child learns the same way. Well, the facts are they do need to learn the same skills and content. Some children simply require more practice time than other children. It has been shown, given the right instruction, 95% of all first graders should be reading on grade level at the end of the school year. That’s the basic reason for NCLB. At the time of its inception no schools were even close.

NCLB was about making schools accountable for all children no matter their social status, racial background, learning difficulties, or primary language. It was about using programs that work, using assessment to determine students' strengths and weaknesses, helping teachers become more effective, holding administrators accountable, and encouraging administrators to be supportive of teacher and student needs.

If you'd like to learn more about what schools need to do to become exemplary, visit the following web sites:

www.calread.net/assurances/index.html
www.cde.ca.gov/CI/cr/cf/documents/rlafw.pdf

As a mother of a 6 year old boy that attends a public school in the bronx. I am disgusted by all the violence, bullies and harrassments in public schools. I do plan on pulling my child hopefully by next year. My husband and i are not happy, and neither is my son.

No I am not happy, I am angry, sad, let down, and frustrated, dont move to Savannah Georgia, unless you can afford private school, or live in a great school district, my son will be starting high school tomarrow, and it is a well known failing school, they changed the name, and tried to "pretty it up" but, its the same school, they havent met average yearly progress in years, it is a shame and a disgrace, that we as American citizens dont have school choice in public schools, Im going to try and make the best of a bad situation, but I am seriously considering home schooling if this year does not go well. then when my youngest reaches high school age, we will have moved out of the city.

So, as you can begin to see after reading the comments on this site, it's true parents are happy with their school. If you live in California, there is reason to be supportive. More and more schools are improving. But that is no reason to be complacent. Test scores do reveal important information.

I urge parents to use the Great Schools database to learn how their child's school measures up against others in their state. Facts not feelings or best guesses should be the measure of what really constitutes parents' decisions of whether or not their children are attending a good school.

In general, I am happy with my public school. My kids' teachers work hard to challenge them and are responsive to me when I have concerns. Plus my children are learning to get along with all types of people, an important skill for later in life.

I am ABSOLUTELY HAPPY with my public school. I have copied and pasted wat I posted in another forum below.

feel like public school is the only way, but this is only true if you choose the RIGHT public school. I mean, to be honest, all private schools are not created equally either, so you have to choose the RIGHT school be it public or private. The public school my child attends is rated a "ten" on great schools. And this school is far better than many private schools around. We live in an area that is comprised of mostly University Professors, Graduate and Professional students, and professionals, many of whom have advanced degrees. Having said that, the school reflects our surroundings. The academic pace is fairly fast, teachers are very concerned and attentive to the students, and our school out performs the large majority of schools in the state [private schools included].

There are a wide range of co-curricular and extracurricular activities at his school including MathCounts, FirstLegoLeague, Project Lead The Way, Future Problem Solvers, Equestrian Club, Ski Club, Fencing Club and many other specialities in addition to sports.

In addition to high academic standards, the school is larger, and [slightly] more diverse than a private school, and kids are allowed more individuality [which I feel is important for a child]. In addition the few hundred [to few thousand depending on the school] per month we don't spend in tuition, we can spend on enrichment activities that aren't offered in even most private schools. This includes martial arts, sailing, flying, polo and other activities my child enjoys. He gets everything he needs from the core curriculum and extracurricular activities at his public school, and gets a lot of supplemental activities with the money we save by not sending him to private school.

Re: school choice. This is not meant to be a generalization, but to serve as an example that "choice" doesn't always work either..we have to consider what choices we are presented with:
www.lasvegassun.com/news/2009/aug/16/district-again-taking-heat/

I am familiar with the study. Studies show that a child who is a struggling reader at the end of first grade may never catch up to their grade level peers. If parents knew 90% of all children should be reading on grade level at the end of first grade, many might change their mind.

I was not happy with all our public schools and found it interesting how different were the four public elementary schools here even within the same school district. One even had remarkably smaller class sizes than the others.
If it's true that 70% of all people are happy with their public school, I would be happy to know it. Nevertheless, I think it's yet a good time for school choice. All good public institutions guaranteed their audience and their income need some impetus to remain good and competition for students could provide that impetus. The charter school movement is a positive innovation and school choice coming to all 50 states - or at least mine - would be good too.

There's always room for improvement particularly in any institution whose work is to care for and teach children.

Yes @ this point I am happy with thier school. It is a alternative school for Art and Sciences. However my eldest child I hated the high school he use to attend and pulled him out for homeschooling. He then went to Job Corps and graduated with his diploma and currently is going to community college and working. As a parent you cannot settle you have to always do what is better for your child.

KMG6871

so far so good.

I am very happy with my childs public school , in fact my 5yr old is going to start kindergarten there this coming year and I had to have him put in a lottery because we are out of district. The teachers at my kids school have all been good teachers, they are easy to talk to, they are always available by phone or e-mail. I also like the fact the my childs school prinicpal is out in the front gate welcoming all the students as well as at the end of the day he is out in the front making sure the kids get to their cars safely. When I look over at the school I see him (the prinicpal walking the school campus) these are the things I like. I also like the fact that they have started having what the school calls second chance breakfast, which is a breakfast snack at around 9:30 in the morning this is optional the kids that choose to eat can those that don't can go to recess. Its a good program. I feel comfortable with my childs school don't get me wrong I have had some issues come up but it was they way they were handled that makes me appreciate the school and its employees.

Yes, in general I am very happy with my daughter's public school. Here's why:
1. The teachers know all of the students in the school, not just those in their class.
2. We are an urban school with a mix of races, religions, national origins, native English speakers, non-native English speakers, sexual orientations of parents, grandparents, guardians and teachers.
3. We have 5% of our students in special day classes and are integrated into the general classrooms during the day.
4. We have art, music, PE, and science.
5. Our cafeteria has a salad bar with healthy choices for all students whether or not they can afford to pay for the food.
6. Our support staff (resource teacher, custodian, school secretary, librarian and computer lab) contribute to the overall strength of the students, staff and school as a whole.
7. We have an active PTA, School Site Committee and GATE Committee.
8. Afterschool enrichment is available in foreign language, martial arts, drawing, painting, pod-casting, Odyssey of the Mind and other courses WHETHER OR NOT YOU CAN AFFORD THEM.
9. Our library is central to our school and our librarian holds facilitates book clubs at lunch on her own time.
10. Parents love the students, not just their own children - it shows in the adults, the children, the teachers and the rest of the staff.
11. We recognize our mistakes and attempt to correct them even when we don't get it right the first time.
12. Living history project for each grade allows in-depth exploration of Asian culture, Native Americans / Pilgrims, Hispanic culture, African American culture and European culture as it settled into the U.S.
13. We have things at our school and our district that do not work well. We discuss them openly, transparently and sometimes heatedly. We understand our mission is to improve our school for the betterment of all students.

When I look at private education, I see them striving for the same things as our school offers. I see that they are able to do some things better than we can and do, but overall, we accept ALL children, we do not pick and choose, we do not allow money to be our deciding factor and we recognize that we have something to learn every day.

NO,it is not serving us. 7.4 million dollars for a 50 student charter school and my HS student still has no lights in the restrooms, no girls locker rooms and hallways that are so grid locked they can not be safe

I was not happy with our public school. We pulled our son for various reasons and are actually homeschooling because we couldn't find a school - public or private that was an ideal fit for him.

That being said, I think that is a reasonable figure depending on the school. I'm sure 90% of the parents at my son's previous school were very happy with the school. People speak with their feet. If families are sticking with the school, they are at least reasonably happy with it. I don't think they're blind and don't see short falls with it, but they are working with the system.

I have been very happy with my son's middle school this year. The teachers he had (actually still have, since school lets out this Friday) were (are) very involved with their students and the administration was top notch. I'm glad he'll be able to attend this school another year.

The teachers and admins. at his resident middle school were too interested in trying to just keep up. There now is a wide divide between school, students and parents.

I am not happy with public education.

I agree with what has been said about differing schools for different families. Each child has different learning styles and needs. Schools should reflect this.

I am unhappy not with teachers in general, but rather, with the attitude of administration that schools are businesses 1st and foremost and educational facilities second. Too much emphasis is placed on the politics of administration and too little on individual needs.

I'll second what Ra said, I really believes happiness comes with school choice.

Our daughter attends a phenomenal school on an open enrollment permit. The principal is phenomenal, the PTO is very dedicated, and the teachers are great. Families are incredibly involved, and the kids are really great. Students volunteer to help monitor the yard at recess and lunch, and take responsibility for their school.

I'm always looking at other options for down the road, and due to the budget issues in California, I'm considering homeschooling for next year. My daughter has reached the one grade where the teachers are less than great (it's the only speed bump in 6 years of students), and with talk of increased class size, I'm not entirely sure they'll be able to differentiate her instruction enough with an additional four or more students. At some point if I'm homeschooling her part of the way, I might as well do the rest.

My son was in magnet schools from second grade on, and again, since we chose them, we were always happy (for different curriculum, for no uniforms, whatever our particular tastes were, there was a school). He's now thriving in college, so I know we did well.

Sometimes it takes a school or two to realize what's important for a family. Ra found it. We found it for my son starting in second grade. And we found it for my daughter right off the bat. I know people who love schools I would NOT be happy at, and I know parents who were shocked that my son got out at 1 pm every day in high school.

If people are given choice, they will find their happy place.

I searched far and wide for my daughter's public elementary school after being in a terrible charter school. We are open enrollment, drive an hour each way to get her there and we are very, very happy with the school as a whole: the staff, the curriculum, the learning environment, the mentality of the teachers and other students, and even the cafeteria which serves healthier food than most school cafeterias I've heard of.

This coming fall will put her into her last year at this school so I don't know if the next school will be as good or if we'll even be in this state. But I'm glad we're there now, and that's what matters at the moment.