Letter to President Obama

President Obama,

I have been a teachers assistant in North Carolina for twelve years. I also have two children in the school system that I work for. I believe the No Child Left Behind law, which was supported by George W. Bush during his presidency, should be put to rest. I agree that teachers must be "highly qualified" before working in a school setting. Furthermore, if teachers are not highly qualified that state should step in to give those teachers training and classes that will make them qualified in their area of teaching. I'm sure it probably has more good points, however, from the information I have gathered and from hearing the point of view from others, I am convinced that this law is doing more harm than good. It is not fair to label schools as "underperforming" when their adequate yearly progress does not meet the nations standards for two years in a row. Parents are allowed to move their children to so called "successful"schools if their school is underperforming. What happens if all parents jump on the bandwagon to remove their children. What will happen to all the great teachers that put their heart and soul into their jobs? "Successful" schools should not be based on test results. I believe that all children deserve the best education possible, but there needs to be a better way of reaching these schools. Shutting them down is not the answer. There are teacher shortages and over crowded classrooms today. Is the nation willing to close teacher positions and over crowd all of the successful schools, due to students moving to those schools. All schools can be successful if they are given the right focus, this is what the nation should be working towards.

Sincerely,
Kimberly High
Teacher's Assistant