GROUPS TEAM UP IN FIGHT TO CHANGE EDUCATION LAW

[Peter Farruggio <pfarr@cal.berkeley.edu>]

> GROUPS TEAM UP IN FIGHT TO CHANGE EDUCATION LAW
> Danbury (CT) News-Times -- January 8, 2006
> by Eileen FitzGerald
>
> A coalition of 100 groups, representing a variety of interests from 
> civil rights to parenting, want Congress to make substantive changes 
> to the federal education reform law known as No Child Left Behind 
> when it reauthorizes the bill this year.
>
> The coalition, known as the Forum on Educational Acountability, or 
> FEA, have signed a joint statement to advance its goal.
>
> From the National Education Association, the nation's largest 
> teacher's union, to the National Association for the Advancement of 
> Colored People, they recognize the NCLB law has merit in making 
> public education accountable for reaching all students and in 
> striving to close achievement gaps.
>
> But the coalition criticizes the law for overemphasizing 
> standardized testing, which risks narrowing what material is taught; 
> using sanctions that do not help schools improve; and being 
> inadequately funded.
>
> "As time goes by and we've seen the pressure it has placed on 
> schools, now you have mindful educators seeing that there are some 
> inherent problems that can hurt rather than help kids,'' Danbury 
> associate superintendent William Glass said Friday.
>
> "This is not fringe element. These are very solid, credible 
> organizations that are saying the emperor is not wearing any clothes."
>
> No Child Left Behind was passed in 2002 as a reauthorization of the 
> Elementary and Secondary Education Act, with a focus on 
> demonstrating that students were making progress.
>
> Its goal was that every child should read, write, add and subtract 
> at grade level, no matter what his or her background.
>
> The law measures student success and holds schools accountable for 
> their results. It was meant especially to reach children in the 
> inner cities, in rural America, and in special education.
>
> Black leaders were among the more vocal supporters of the law 
> initially, since many black children fare poorly in public schools 
> around the country.
>
> "I think it is important that you have so many different 
> organizations, with many different areas of focus, who recognize the 
> common importance of reforming No Child Left Behind," said Michael 
> Wotorson, the national education director for the NAACP.
>
> "The concept remains a good one. But in order to properly serve the 
> community, the federal government needs to provide better tools, 
> better direction and to provide funds that cover the costs that the 
> states are going to incur."
>
> When Connecticut sued the federal government for not funding NCLB 
> fully, the Connecticut chapter of the NAACP opposed the lawsuit.
>
> Wotorson said his group did not want Connecticut educators to ignore 
> the law because it was not fully funded, since it would put black 
> children at a further disadvantage.
>
> For instance, the law requires teachers to be highly qualified, yet 
> the poorest districts, or those with the largest enrollment of 
> minority students, often have the least experienced teachers.
>
> Wotorson said this was a good time for unity. "I think we're at an 
> important moment in our history. There is an openness in this 
> administration now to take a look at this and there was not this 
> openness before.
>
> "There is increasing recognition that there are problems with the 
> law and that the nuts and bolts need adjustment,'' Wotorson said.
>
> The U.S. Department of Education's Web site outlines some of the 
> law's successes:
> <>- In reading, 9-year-olds made larger gains in the past five years 
> than at any point in the previous 28 years.
> - In math, 9-year-olds and 13-year-olds earned the highest scores in 
> the history of the test used.
> - In both reading and math, black and Hispanic students are scoring 
> higher and are beginning to close the achievement gap with their white peers.
> <>
> Glass, who has 35 years' experience as an educator, said the 
> achievement gap has become his biggest concern
>
> Even in Danbury, which has shown successes in improving the scores 
> of minority students, there remain large gaps between the 
> performance of Hispanics and those of white and Asian students.
>
> Glass said some there are glaring problems with implementation of 
> the law, and even parents of children with special needs and black 
> leaders no longer believe the law does what it needs to do.
>
> One example of the law's shortcoming is that while each state can 
> use its own test to measure student progress, the law uses one set 
> of sanctions for all schools that don't measure up.
>
> Schools giving a more rigorous test face sanctions, even though 
> their children could easily succeed in another state with an easier test.
>
> Glass said another primary issue is the shortfall in funding the 
> law. The coalition reported that the federal government has given 
> out $55 billion less than Congress authorized since the law was first enacted.
>
> "It's ludicrous that the law holds everyone accountable but keeps 
> taking resources away,'' Glass said.
>
> Newtown assistant superintendent Alice Jackson said she couldn't 
> predict what would happen politically with the law's 
> reauthorization, but she said as the law stands it guarantees 
> failure for almost all schools by 2013, when all children are 
> expected to be proficient.
>
> When students in a school don't reach proficiency in high enough 
> numbers over time, the federal government will give their parents 
> the choice of sending them to private schools with federal funds. 
> Private schools, however, are not held to the same academic 
> standards as public schools.
>
> "I believe we need to do the very best we can to see that students 
> perform at their very best level," Jackson said. "I'm not sure the 
> way the law is set up is most effective for the state of 
> Connecticut, though it could be for states were a lot of kids are 
> not proficient.''
>
> Marne Usher, vice president of legislation for the Connecticut 
> Parent Teacher Association, said the law has been the subject of 
> conversation every time the group discusses federal legislation.
>
> She said PTA members also talk to state legislators to see what can 
> be changed. The National PTA has signed the forum's joint statement.
>
> "I think people are starting to see that the overarching idea (of 
> NCLB) is absolutely correct, but the devil is in the details,'' 
> Usher said. "We need to make sure we're helping schools do the job they need do
>      Recommendations
>
> - Replace proficiency targets with those based on the most effective 
> public schools.
> - Allow states to measure progress by using students' improvement as 
> well their test results.
> - Use more than standardized tests to indicate student progress so 
> there is a comprehensive picture of student achievement.
> - Fund research and development of more effective accountability systems.
> - Help states develop systems to provide more timely information 
> about student learning
> - Decrease testing. Allow states to assess students in selected 
> grades in elementary, middle and high school.
> - Ensure that changes in teacher and administration preparation 
> programs and ongoing training really increase knowledge and skills.
> - Ensure improvement plans are allowed enough time to take hold 
> before applying sanctions.
> - Replace sanctions that don't have a record of success with 
> interventions that help schools make effective changes.
> - Raise the authorized levels of funding to cover the costs that 
> states and districts have to comply with the law without reducing 
> expenditures for other programs, and fully fund Title 1 grants for 
> the neediest students.