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Put to the Test Part 6 (of 6)

Series: Put to the Test (Six Part Documentary News Series)
From: WUNC
Length: 00:07:38

Series on the impact of NCLB and high stakes testing at one high school Read the full description.

Default-piece-image-2 Six years ago, President Bush signed "No Child Left Behind." The law requires states to prove students are learning. Now schools across the country are using standardized tests to measure and quantify student progress. The goal is to get every student to pass the tests by the year 2014. The clock is ticking, and so far the results are mixed. There?s evidence that elementary students are doing better on national tests in math, but little to show much improvement at the high school level. And some studies actually show a decline in reading skills since No Child Left Behind was passed. What?s going on? Are the tests helping? Is education getting better? To look for answers, reporters from North Carolina Public Radio-WUNC teamed up with American RadioWorks, the documentary unit of American Public Media. They spent two years at Western Guilford High School in Greensboro, North Carolina to observe up-close how ?No Child Left Behind? is working. In this six part series, we follow two students and their teacher over the course of two school years to explore how standardized testing is changing schools, and education.

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Piece Description

Six years ago, President Bush signed "No Child Left Behind." The law requires states to prove students are learning. Now schools across the country are using standardized tests to measure and quantify student progress. The goal is to get every student to pass the tests by the year 2014. The clock is ticking, and so far the results are mixed. There?s evidence that elementary students are doing better on national tests in math, but little to show much improvement at the high school level. And some studies actually show a decline in reading skills since No Child Left Behind was passed. What?s going on? Are the tests helping? Is education getting better? To look for answers, reporters from North Carolina Public Radio-WUNC teamed up with American RadioWorks, the documentary unit of American Public Media. They spent two years at Western Guilford High School in Greensboro, North Carolina to observe up-close how ?No Child Left Behind? is working. In this six part series, we follow two students and their teacher over the course of two school years to explore how standardized testing is changing schools, and education.

Broadcast History

"Put to the Test" originally aired as a one hour documentary, part of American RadioWorks Fall 2007 season. This is a six part news series updated for January 2008. It ran during Morning Edition on North Carolina Public Radio - WUNC.

Transcript

Put to the Test: PRX
Part 6
7:38
Piece begins with reporter track; piece ends with reporter track
There is no reporter SOC on any of the pieces in this series; you can bring up music and go straight to HOST OUTRO below, or bring up music and have your host do a back ID ?That was Emily Hanford reporting? and then go to HOST OUTRO
HOST INTRO:
Today we conclude a series from Western Guilford High School in Greensboro, North Carolina. We?re looking at how standardized testing is affecting teachers and students.
Yesterday, we left off with student Jessica Giardullo. When Jessica started high school, she was put in a special set of classes to help her catch up on basic skills and improve her test scores.
She does well, and by 10th grade, teachers are recommending her for advanced level classes. But Jessica?s still not very enthusiastic about school.
Emily Hanford reports.

HOS...
Read the full transcript

Related Website

http://wunc.org/programs/voices/special-put-to-the-test