Good Column from Waco, Texas

[Bob Schaeffer <bobschaeffer@earthlink.net>]

 WASHINGTON CALLS COLLECT
Waco Tribune -- September 2, 2003 by John Young, Opinion Page Editor

Education reform, says University of Texas testing guru Uri Treisman, is 
"a blunt instrument wielded at great distance from students."

The distance grew in 2002 with the No Child Left Behind Act, which, 
congealing in snowball compactness around many state reforms, 
increasingly is tying school districts' hands.

This happens as policymakers say they're for "more local control." 
That's a hoot.

Standardized testing, which has become the hula hoop of its age, is only 
one aspect of the new federal control over our schools. It also includes 
one-size-fits-all mandates on teacher qualifications, school discipline, 
dropouts and more.

And though Congress patted itself on the back and newspapers said it was 
doing the right thing because schools supposedly weren't, the 
implementation is causing consternation and even a backlash in some states.

"It was designed by folks who seem not to have been around schools much 
and who lack the practical understanding of how you make things happen 
where the rubber meets the road," said Paul Houston, executive director 
of the American Association of School Administrators.

Ah, what does that guy know about running schools? George W. Bush knows 
how to run schools. He ran a baseball team, for goodness sakes.

----Good teachers left behind----

While the idea looks good on paper, one of the most problematic aspects 
of NCLB (weren't conservatives about creating fewer federal acronyms?) 
is a mandate that by the end of the 2005-2006 school year 100 percent of 
teachers and classroom aides will be classified as "highly qualified."

That's a problem amid a massive teacher shortage (slightly eased at the 
moment because there are so few good-paying jobs elsewhere). The dearth 
has caused school districts to scramble, often using alternative 
certification. Additionally, schools, particularly rural ones, employ 
good teachers in varied venues and disciplines.

Under NCLB, vast numbers of high-quality, certified secondary teachers 
who did not major in the disciplines they perfected in the trenches will 
have to stop what they are doing, go to college and get certified in 
whatever it is. So goes, along with standardizing education, the quest 
to standardize what teaching excellence is. We do it with weights and 
measures, tubs and toilets.

However, with the pay that teachers receive, and with many years in the 
classroom satisfactory to their employers, having the federal government 
suddenly override local districts and order teachers to college is both 
monstrous and potentially destructive. Some of these teachers will walk. 
Districts are going to lose good people if a sufficient system of 
waivers isn't in place that honors alternative certification.

The same applies to paraprofessionals  aides and educational support 
staff  who by the end of 2005-2006 must have an associate's degree. 
These are people who are being paid veritable menial wages to serve 
crucial functions, often of many years' duration. We're going to tell 
them to drop everything and go to college? For that paycheck?

Why, sure. Why not? It will cost them a lot, but it won't cost 
Washington a dime.

That's another problem. Money. Though Washington launched No Child Left 
with an unprecedented infusion of funds to help districts with new 
mandates, budget reality has set in with a federal deficit now at record 
levels. Increasingly, these districts will be at their own devices in 
trying to do what Washington has now ordered.

At least one state, Maine, is debating whether to resist and free itself 
of the yolk unless it gets additional federal dollars. Afraid of higher 
standards? No. Maine says NCLB standards are lower than its own and 
therefore irrelevant. How dare Maine want standards higher than 
Washington dictates? Send in the 3rd Infantry Division. Oops, it's 
occupied with an overseas call.