NO CHILD LEFT BEHIND IMPACT IN MINNESOTA: Auditor's report raises red flags

[vs <victor.steinbok@verizon.net>(by way of Victor Steinbok <victor.steinbok@verizon.net>)]

Came across from the Ed Week links.

http://www.twincities.com/mld/twincities/news/editorial/8079758.htm?template=contentModules/printstory.jsp

Posted on Tue, Mar. 02, 2004
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NO CHILD LEFT BEHIND IMPACT IN MINNESOTA: Auditor's report raises red flags

The impact of the 670-page U.S. No Child Left Behind law on Minnesota 
school districts became the focus of a report issued last week by 
legislative auditor. The report concluded that the law is "costly, 
unrealistic and punitive." Minnesota would lose millions of dollars in 
federal aid if it opted out of the law, although it's not known now if the 
savings from abandoning NCLB would make up for the revenue loss.

The report offers this solution: That current federal office holders and 
state officials use their influence to amend the law and make its goals 
more attainable. This recommendation is the most sensible comment we've 
heard in months on NCLB.

In concept, the law is admirable. No child should ever be left behind 
academically. The law demands that states set up educational standards, a 
requirement that has already caused tremendous conflict in Minnesota. In 
addition, school districts must administer even more tests to see if 
children are achieving the standards, at a cost estimated by the audit 
report of $19 million a year. Clearly the federal focus is testing performance.

NCLB falls short on many fronts, beginning with the fact that the Bush 
administration has already shaved $8 billion from funding the mandate 
nationally. The auditor's report stated that Minnesota would receive $231 
million in NCLB funding this year, which is less than many other states 
because of a formula that uses Minnesota's relatively high economic growth 
in the late 1990s. The amount is projected to drop to $219 million next 
year because of cuts in Title 1 funds. This bodes ill for already strapped 
school districts and poses baffling questions for parents and educators 
about what kids actually should be learning.

Also discouraging is the prediction that an increasing number of Minnesota 
public schools will fall behind because of student test performance. The 
report projected that at least 80 percent of Minnesota's elementary schools 
would not meet the federal proficiency standards by 2014. Moreover, it's 
ridiculous to expect that special-education children will read at grade 
level. If they could advance quickly enough to match their age peers, they 
wouldn't be in special education. Only 5 percent of school superintendents 
surveyed for the report believed that special-education students should be 
held to the same academic standards as other students. Seventeen percent 
said that English language students should be held to the same standards as 
others.

These major challenges are only a few of the glaring, unresolved issues 
introduced by No Child Left Behind. The legislative auditor's report 
demonstrates that much clarification and adjustment are in order before 
state leaders take the money, and run smack into a brick wall.


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