COLUMBIA - On a day when most school kids are playing sports or working on homework, their teachers and parents worked on their own important assignment.
In a town hall style forum, teachers and parents gave their grades to the No Child Left Behind Act. The pannel called by the MU College of Education included a regional representative from the U.S. Department of Education. Presentations about the standardized tests stress the desire for accountability, but some worry the tests limit teachers' ability to teach the most important concepts that can't be bubbled in.
"I'm not saying we shouldn't be accountable but we're not taking pre and post tests," said second grade teacher Debbie Howard.
Others say accountability is the most important issue to ensure that progress is made.
"When we send money out to the states we really believe that the states need to be accountable for that money. The definition of accountable is constant steady process," said U.S. Department of Education representative Mary Cohen.
About 100 people attended the event. The goal is to start to understand the legislation's imperfections to improve it for the future.
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