Fw: [arn2-strategy] CA - 'No Child Left Behind" law gets review

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

----- Original Message ----- 
From: Susan Harman 
To: arn2-strategy@yahoogroups.com ; ARN state 
Sent: Monday, October 16, 2006 2:59 PM
Subject: Re: [arn2-strategy] CA - 'No Child Left Behind" law gets review


This is all I know, and I found out about them on Saturday. Not much 
notice.
Susan
http://www.cde.ca.gov/nr/re/et/yr06ltr1002.asp

Begin forwarded message:

> From: "Monty Neill" <monty@fairtest.org>
> Date: Mon Oct 16, 2006 9:19:36 AM US/Pacific
> To: <ARN-state@yahoogroups.com>, "ARN-L" <arn-l@interversity.org>, 
> "arn2-strategy" <arn2-strategy@yahoogroups.com>
> Subject: [arn2-strategy] CA - 'No Child Left Behind" law gets review
> Reply-To: arn2-strategy@yahoogroups.com
>
> Perhaps folks in CA can tell us more what is behind these hearings, 
> who is involved, any likelihood of useful proposals... Monty
>  
> http://www.sacbee.com/101/story/40012.html
> 'No Child Left Behind" law gets review
>
> Meetings focus on renewal of No Child Left Behind Act
>
> By Laurel Rosenhall - Bee Staff Writer
> Published 12:00 am PDT Monday, October 16, 2006
>
> What do you think about the No Child Left Behind law?
>
> California education officials want to know.
>
> In a series of meetings this week -- including one in Natomas -- they 
> are taking public comment on the federal law that is supposed to close 
> the academic achievement gap but has riled educators in the process.
>
> No Child Left Behind is a sweeping federal law that, when signed by 
> President Bush in 2002, set new standards for education in all the 
> nation's schools. Its impacts are most noticeable in schools serving 
> the neediest students -- those that receive federal funds for 
> educating the poor.
>
> The law establishes requirements for teacher qualifications and sets 
> targets for proficiency in math and reading, with a goal that all 
> students will perform at grade level in those subjects by 2014. 
> Schools that fail to meet targets for two years in a row face a series 
> of sanctions that start with allowing students to transfer to other 
> schools and advance to total restructuring.
>
> The law is scheduled to be reauthorized by Congress next year, and 
> educators are starting to strategize on how to lobby lawmakers to 
> change it.
>
> "As we begin the conversation about reauthorization, one thing we 
> thought really important was that, to the extent possible, California 
> speak with one voice," said Rick Miller, a spokesman for the state 
> Department of Education, which organized the meetings this week for 
> teachers, administrators and parents to weigh in.
>
> Four meetings in four cities will each focus on a different aspect of 
> the law. After gathering input from across California, state education 
> officials will put together a report for Congress recommending changes 
> to No Child Left Behind.
>
> This morning in Santa Clara, the meeting will address the law's system 
> for measuring test performance, known as Adequate Yearly Progress. 
> State education officials have long opposed the federal system, which 
> looks at how many students are reading and doing math at grade level, 
> in favor of the California system, which looks at whether test scores 
> have improved over time.
>
> State Superintendent Jack O'Connell has said he is working with 
> federal education officials to merge the two systems. But supporters 
> of No Child Left Behind say that's a bad idea.
>
> "Until they start talking about grade-level proficiency, this is a 
> gerrymandering of accountability," said Jim Lanich, president of 
> California Business for Education Excellence, a group of business 
> leaders who support the federal education law.
>
> This afternoon in Natomas, the meeting will focus on what happens to 
> schools that don't meet their academic targets. Under the law, they 
> must go through a series of interventions -- first allowing students 
> to leave the school, then offering free tutoring and finally removing 
> a principal or becoming a charter school.
>
> Speakers at the Natomas meeting have been asked to address whether 
> these interventions are working and how they could be improved. 
> Studies have shown that very few people at low-performing schools take 
> advantage of the options for tutoring and switching schools.
>
> "Transferring your child to another school has been resoundingly 
> rejected by parents as something they don't want to do," Sacramento 
> County Superintendent David Gordon said.
>
> On Tuesday in Fresno, the meeting will look at the aspects of the law 
> that govern teacher qualifications.
>
> "My concern has always been that the qualifications don't always 
> translate into quality teaching," Gordon said. "So I'd like to see 
> that whole thing move to a highly effective teacher and try to get 
> some measure of that."
>
> The final meeting will be Wednesday in Glendale, when educators will 
> examine how No Child Left Behind has affected the instruction of 
> students who are not native English speakers. The law requires they be 
> tested just like all other students and make the same progress toward 
> grade-level proficiency in math and reading. But many schools with 
> large numbers of students learning English have been unable to meet 
> the targets and have wound up facing sanctions.
>
> Be heard
>
>
>
> What: Public meeting to discuss suggested changes to the federal No 
> Child Left Behind education law
> When: 3:30 to 5:30 p.m. today
> Where: Natomas Unified School District boardroom, 1901 Arena Blvd., 
> Sacramento More information: www.cde.ca.gov/nr/re/et/ 
> yr06ltr1002.asp#att
>
> For more information on the meetings, see the Web site 
> www.cde.ca.gov/nr/re/et/ yr06ltr1002.asp#att.
>
> About the writer:
>
> • The Bee's Laurel Rosenhall can be reached at (916) 321-1083 or 
> lrosenhall@sacbee.com.
>
> 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
> Donate: https://secure.entango.com/servlet/donate/MnrXjT8MQqk
> 

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