Concerned parents say new curriculum mandates and higher-stakes testing have virtually eliminated a free period of unstructured play for kids in elementary and middle schools.My guess is that the advancement of technology, computers in particular, is responsible for the students' "fuller day without play."
"There are curriculum standards that need to be met," Belluscio said. "Because we have those standards, it is increasingly more of a challenge for the districts to fit everything in the day.
Tim's schedule last year left very little time for recess each day and his afternoon performance suffered. I expressed my concern to his teacher when she complained about his après-déjeuner attitude and she agreed a little activity would help him settle down.
I just assume that my kids take recess after lunch each fair day but maybe I should make sure of it.
2 comments:
Read this...
NCLB (no child left behind) changes everything. If a school doesn't meet the right standards, they lose big time. (there are districts in Michigan that are losing 15% of their TOTAL federal funding because their percentage of special ed students is too high (one of these districts has people moving to that city FOR the special ed programming).
I enjoyed reading that article; it was very interesting.
The big point I took away from the article is how impossible it is to generalize about public schools; how difficult national standards are to mandate, implement and assess.
Literacy is the most important thing.
Sounds as if NCLB needs to make allowances for special ed students, especially if good programming attracts families.
Why punish popular special ed programs with decreased funding?
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