School cut programs, struggle with federal mandates
By Alice Felts
“Due to technical difficulties...”
That was the essence of the message left by teacher Marcia Salanski as she explained the termination of Taylor Middle School's broadcast program. The immediate culprit was a malfunctioning computer server which had held all of the student team's work for their television show. Everything was now gone.
No Child Left Behind may shoulder most of the long-term blame.
The broadcast program, an extra-curricular activity, was one of those unfunded initiatives that offers educational advantages, seems to excite students to participate, yet remains lost on the NCLB priority list. With no money, no time, no status — and now, no product — the program was cut.
Six middle-schoolers, under Salanski's direction, had been undergoing the learning process of creating a school-televised program in which they had to plan programming, write scripts, conduct interviews, operate a camcorder, edit footage, and anchor the news. Rotating roles, the students would teach each other the responsibilities required for individual tasks.
Both Salanski and her team were doing a good job under very hard circumstances. Not having a regular class period, everyone met once or twice a week for 15 minutes in the morning, while school announcements were blaring over the intercom. But Salanski saw this constrained time as better than nothing. “We squeeze a little extra time because it benefits the children, but it is not critical to the Department of Education,” she said.
One study, conducted 10 years ago, showed that journalistic activities for middle schoolers allow the students to fulfill their need to belong to a group, and yet still maintain independence to be themselves. While Salanski found the experience a lesson in time management, leadership and decision-making for the students, she said, “I am also learning, and I am enjoying it.”
And enjoyment is part of the process, as well. That is one of the reasons students signed up for the extracurricular experience. “I did it in elementary school so I have lots of experience. I always watch the news. I never miss anything,” Matthew Barnes said.
Fellow team member Nick Atanasio, also with previous school newspaper experience, said, “I like to give my input out to the school. It's a fun thing. I don't want [the students] to be bored. ”
The team wasn't bored either. They were learning about preventing needless burning of camera batteries, readjusting the backdrop so that the school station WTSN call letters were visible on screen, and developing good interview questions and anchor scripts.
But since this type of learning experience isn't part of the curriculum needed to pass federal mandates, there is no funding — or time — to execute the project. That means the Taylor team won't be broadcasting as planned. They had lots of energy and lots of ideas. But now they will have to use them outside of school.
This is part of the trend that schools seem to have to follow. The Center for Education Policy conducted a nationwide study which revealed that NCLB has forced many schools to narrow their curriculum. Since federal mandates concentrate on reading and math improvement, other subjects, such as social studies, science and art, are often cut.
The survey concluded that participants felt the NCLB was “shortchanging students from learning important subjects, squelching creativity in teaching and learning, or diminishing activities that keep children interested in school.”
It seems like there is more than one way to leave a child behind.
E-mail the reporter: afelts@timespapers.com.