Michigan Ed Assn on NCLB

["Monty Neill" <monty@fairtest.org>]

This is on the Michigan Education Association Website - http://www.mea.org/Page.cfm?p=5096 It is a sharp attack, but also somewhat defeatist. 

The affiliated Great Lakes Center (which sponsored the Amrein and Berliner study that showed states with high stakes testing doing worse) also has short pieces on testing that I have not yet had a chance to look at. http://www.greatlakescenter.org/?

ESEA-A clear and present danger 
WARNING: Your neighborhood public school is being set up and as a result your child will be labeled a failure.

The ESEA or Elementary and Secondary Education Act is the main law outlining the federal requirement for the nation's public schools and federally funded K-12 programs. First enacted in 1965 when signed into law by President Lyndon Johnson, it has been revised every five to seven years. 

The latest revision was passed by Congress in 2001 and signed by President Bush in 2002. This version, dubbed "No Child Left Behind," greatly expands the federal government's role in pubic education. An enormous increase in student testing, exhaustive district reporting requirements, and punitive consequences for troubled schools are at the heart of this legislation. Furthermore, this law is woefully underfunded-it will create an enormous burden on already tight district budgets.

At first glance, No Child Left Behind appears to be an admirable legislative effort designed to improve public education. It provides funding for 12.5 million children living in high poverty areas. It also provides funding for student literacy, school technology and school safety.

Upon closer examination, however, it becomes clear that parts of this legislation are sheer lunacy! The law mandates that every child in the country must meet predetermined federal standards on high stakes tests without consideration to abilities, disabilities, or unique differences among children and their learning styles.

In addition, if any one of four subgroups identified in the law-economically disadvantaged students; students in major racial or ethnic groups; students with disabilities; and non-English speaking students-fails to meet proficiency, the whole school is deemed failing and punitive consequences that range all the way to closing the school are put into place.

It would be easy to assume that only truly troubled schools would be labeled as failures under ESEA. However, that is not the case. Consider Vandenberg Elementary School in Southfield. Last year it made the headlines when President Bush went to Southfield to tout the promises of No Child Left Behind. "I'm real proud to be in the midst of teachers that are doing a great job," Bush said, to the applause of those in attendance. "The reason I'm here is because this is a successful school. It's a successful school because there is a mindset that says 'every child can learn.'"

So, imagine the community's shock when, just three months after President Bush's speech, Vandenberg Elementary made headlines again. This time, however, the news painted a different picture. The school had been labeled as failing according to a federal report required under No Child Left Behind.

Can a school change that much in three months? Of course not. Vandenberg Elementary was an exceptional school before the president's visit and it still excels today. 

Last month, hundreds of graduation ceremonies were held in gymnasiums, auditoriums and field houses across this state and indeed this country. With both smiles and tears of joy, proud parents, grandparents and siblings saw their loved ones walk across stages, heard their names over loudspeakers, and watched them clutch the prize they were there to receive-their high school diplomas.

At the same time, more than 200 Michigan schools were labeled failing under ESEA guidelines. Next month, when the data on the most recent MEAP scores are reviewed against the new guidelines, hundreds more will be labeled failing. Likely, many of these will be the same schools that celebrated excellence just a few weeks earlier-like Vandenberg Elementary-perhaps a school near you.

Congress has moved on to other issues. The likelihood that the problems inherent in ESEA will be solved through further legislation is very slim. Parents, district staff and students are now left to cope with the incredible burden of ESEA alone-without the necessary federal funding or support. 

A conspiracy theorist might say that the real purpose of No Child Left Behind is to leave Public Education Behind by setting it up for certain failure. This would open the door once again to the idea of sending public tax dollars to private and sectarian schools through vouchers-the panacea for those who don't believe that our system of free public education is the cornerstone of our democratic society.

The stakes are high for public schools under ESEA: the rules confusing and unreasonable; the goals unrealistic; and the punishment for failure devastating. Even worse, when the federal government deems a school failing based on student test scores, isn't it really saying that our children are failures? After all, schools are buildings-brick and mortar. Failure will be attributed to the people inside them-students and staff. To label any child a failure is morally reprehensible.

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Monty Neill, Ed.D.
Executive Director
FairTest
342 Broadway
Cambridge, MA 02139
617-864-4810    fax 617-497-2224
monty@fairtest.org
http://www.fairtest.org