Re: Joint Organizational Statement

[aburke5054@aol.com]

How nice.

But when legislation was introduced a few weeks ago that would put 
NCLB's accountability requirements on hold, the civil rights community 
rose up against it immediately and overwhelmingly.  The lesson there is 
that the NCLB-bashing that worked before is not working now and it will 
not work in the future.

Art

-----Original Message-----
From: pwmjoy@earthlink.net <pwmjoy@earthlink.net>
To: arn-l <arn-l@interversity.org>
Sent: Thu, 10 Jul 2008 11:02 am
Subject: [arn-l] Joint Organizational Statement

Here's a good deal of the JOS statement. Among the 144 signatories are: 
American Civil Liberties Union, Annenberg Institute for School Reform, 
Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund, Children's Defense 
Fund, Council for Hispanic Ministries of the United Church of Christ, 
League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC), National Association 
for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), NAACP Legal Defense and 
Education Fund (LDF), National Alliance of Black School Educators. 
Note:  Underlining is my own:

"While we all have different positions on various aspects of the law, 
based on concerns raised during the implementation of NCLB, we believe 
the following significant, constructive corrections are among those 
necessary to make the Act fair and effective.
Among these concerns are: over-emphasizing standardized testing, 
narrowing curriculum and instruction to focus on test preparation 
rather than richer academic learning; over-identifying schools in need 
of improvement; using sanctions that do not help improve schools; 
inappropriately excluding low-scoring children in order to boost test 
results; and inadequate funding. Overall, the law's emphasis needs to 
shift from applying sanctions for failing to raise test scores to 
holding states and localities accountable for making the systemic 
changes that improve student achievement.
Recommended Changes in NCLB
Progress Measurement
Replace the law's arbitrary proficiency targets with ambitious 
achievement targets based on rates of success actually achieved by the 
most effective public schools.
Allow states to measure progress by using students' growth in 
achievement as well as their performance in relation to pre-determined 
levels of academic proficiency.
Ensure that states and school districts regularly report to the 
government and the public their progress in implementing systemic 
changes to enhance educator, family, and community capacity to improve 
student learning.
Provide a comprehensive picture of students' and schools' performance 
by moving from an overwhelming reliance on standardized tests to using 
multiple indicators of student achievement in addition to these tests.
Fund research and development of more effective accountability systems 
that better meet the goal of high academic achievement for all children
Assessments
Help states develop assessment systems that include district and 
school-based measures in order to provide better, more timely 
information about student learning.
Strengthen enforcement of NCLB provisions requiring that assessments 
must:
Be aligned with state content and achievement standards;
used for purposes for which they are valid and reliable;
Be consistent with nationally recognized professional and technical 
standards;
Be of adequate technical quality for each purpose required under the 
Act;
Provide multiple, up-to-date measures of student performance including 
measures that assess higher order thinking skills and understanding; 
and
Provide useful diagnostic information to improve teaching and learning.
Decrease the testing burden on states, schools and districts by 
allowing states to assess students annually in selected grades in 
elementary, middle schools, and high schools.
Building Capacity
Ensure changes in teacher and administrator preparation and continuing 
professional development that research evidence and experience indicate 
improve educational quality and student achievement.
Enhance state and local capacity to effectively implement the 
comprehensive changes required to increase the knowledge and skills of 
administrators, teachers, families, and communities to support high 
student achievement.
Sanctions
Ensure that improvement plans are allowed sufficient time to take hold 
before applying sanctions; sanctions should not be applied if they 
undermine existing effective reform efforts.
Replace sanctions that do not have a consistent record of success with 
interventions that enable schools to make changes that result in 
improved student achievement.
Funding
Raise authorized levels of NCLB funding to cover a substantial 
percentage of the costs that states and districts will incur to carry 
out these recommendations, and fully fund the law at those levels 
without reducing expenditures for other education programs.
Fully fund Title I to ensure that 100 percent of eligible children are 
served.."


pwmjoy@earthlink.net
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