NCLB: A Hindrance?
If the so-called No Child Left Behind Law really "is working," as U.S. Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings recently said, then why aren't students reading better? Why aren't they improving at a faster rate in math? Recent scores from the 2005 National Assessment of Educational Progress show that American fourth-graders are reading at about the same level as they did in 1992. And, while math scores had been steadily improving, progress has slowed in the past two years—just when NCLB was making its presence felt in schools. "There's a question as to whether No Child is slowing down our progress," said Jack Jennings, president of the Washington-based Center on Education Policy.
Salary Blues
A recent union study proves what you already know: Teacher salaries aren't what they used to be. The average teacher salary in 2003–04 was $46,597, a 2.2 percent increase over the previous year. At the same time, the rate of inflation in 2004 was 2.7 percent. That adds up to less money for you—and that doesn't even include cuts in health insurance and retirement benefits! |
