Re: Fwd Hickock

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

Several times a week Art has commented on the NAACP involvement in the CT suit. One might have the impression that the NAACP has become a staunch defender of NCLB. Not true. 

Peter covered much of what I would say, but some additional points: 

The primary stated reason for their intervention is a concern that if CT wins, it will open a door for attacking a wide range of other civil rights provisions as being "unfunded mandates." The NAACP is concerned, correctly, with the long history of state's ignoring equity needs. FairTest and many others in their work on NCLB have made clear that we support efforts at funding equity and building school capacity to actually educate all children well - things we believe the evidence shows NCLB hurts rather than helps. There are of course opponents of NCLB who are simple states' righters who would be happy to maintain gross inequities. 

John Brittan, the attorney who has sued CT for allowing inner cities such as Hartford, New Haven and Bridgeport to have unequal and inadequate educational opportunities, has raised issues more supportive of NCLB. He does not represent the national NAACP, though he took the lead in getting the NAACP involved and thus participating in what Brittan has submitted to the court. A number of attorneys around the US who have battled states of funding equity/adequacy like tests because the data enables them to attack the states. That, BTW, is fine with FairTest. The error they make is in then equating the gather of test data with a "remedy" of high stakes testing. I've talked with some of those folks and they even agree with our concerns about testing, but some still confound the two uses of tests (possibly informative data vs high stakes uses). Bill Taylor does this, as does Ted Kennedy. They should not.

As for the NAACP. That group was one of the first signers of the Joint Organizational Statement on NCLB, which calls for a major overhaul of the law, including the testing provisions. Since the launching of the CT suit, the NAACP directors of education (one replaced another)  have participated in two briefings held by signers of the Statement, one with Congressional staffers, the other at the Alliance for Education; and as recently as our May meeting, participated in the Forum on Educational Accountability, making clear their continued desire to participate with us and their continued support for the Statement and the efforts underway to expand on and develop the Statement.

Where I might disagree with Peter is when he says that the NAACP is acting to violate civil rights of young people while acting also to try to protect them. As they said, they had to pick sides to be able to intervene in the suit. The NAACP is seeking to protect civil rights laws while also joining with others to overhaul federal education law - ESEA. 

The statement, now with I think 84 signers is on our website at http://www.fairtest.org/joint%20statement%20civil%20rights%20grps%2010-21-04.html - but the two most recent signers -- the mainline Baptist national ministry and Big Picture Company -- have not yet been added to the website version.

Monty
Monty Neill, Ed.D.
Executive Director
FairTest
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monty@fairtest.org
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