adolescent literacy chap 1

In the reading of chapter 1 of the book, I have to agree with Beers' summations in the lackings in the NCLB legislation. While she defends the spirit of the legislation (and rightly so), the gaps in the law as it gets interpreted on the state level are astounding. Her example of the student, Derek, is a glaring example of how the states tend to get tunnel vision and some students still fall through the cracks.
I was also glad to see Beers description of how the schools were still set up as little factories with everyone working to a bell. Mainly, I was glad because it was clarification for me because I have been making the same statement for several years. I believe in creating opportunity and relevance for students and in doing so, we would have to make our schools look like and have more relevance to the world around us now.