Still Inquiring!

        So, I popped awake at 3:34 AM.  Unable to sleep and exhausted by an infomercial on yet another weight loss program, my mind began to wonder and returned to the course readings.  I realized that I am having quite the affective reaction to the text, a bona fide feeling!  As mentioned, I am not held accountable for NCLB, AYP, or NECAP—acronyms that give public school teachers heart palpitations!  Despite my ‘luck,’ how am I being held liable in my classroom?  If I was asked the question, how are your students doing?  I would respond like my students…um, good!   (I do realize that I am using the adjective form rather than the adverb.  It is intentional!)  Yet, I do not have quantitative data to back my assertion.  I am not saying that NCLB and high stakes testing are the answers (far from it!), but is it a valid starting point?  As a researcher and practitioner, I can gather qualitative data, but the public wants numbers, facts, figures, etc.  And, I got nothing!