Fwd: No child left behind a wasted investment (Tucson Citizen)

[Susan Harman <susanharman@igc.org>]

Begin forwarded message:

> From: Stephen Krashen <skrashen@YAHOO.COM>
> Date: Sat Jul 14, 2007  1:28:12 AM US/Pacific
> To: ELLADVOC@asu.edu
> Subject: No child left behind a wasted investment (Tucson Citizen)
> Reply-To: Stephen Krashen <skrashen@YAHOO.COM>
>
> No Child Left Behind a Wasted Investment
> Published in the Tuscon Citizen, July 12, 2007
>
> Billie Stanton is right:, The feds have indeed
> “flunked out” on No Child Left Behind (Tuesday column,
> “The feds flunk out”).
>
> For several months, the Department of Education has
> been claiming that NCLB had improved fourth grade
> reading scores on a national test, the NAEP. Several
> analyses by respected scholars have shown, however,
> that the gains came before NCLB was implemented.
>
> The administration repeated their claims of victory
> after a report was published by the Center on
> Education Policy, using tests given by individual
> states,
>
> But analysis showed that elementary school reading
> test scores were increasing before NCLB went into
> effect. NCLB did not increase the rate of improvement.
>
>
> These are only two cases. There are more.
>
> NCLB has cost us billions. Reading First, the reading
> component of NCLB, provides an extra 100 minutes a
> week of reading instruction, about an extra semester
> over two years. This investment has not paid off.
>
> Stephen Krashen
> Professor Emeritus
> University of Southern California
>
> Sources, not published with the letter
> Gains before NCLB was implemented:
> Published reports analyzing national test scores:
> 1. “The 16th Bracey Report on the Condition of Public
> Education,” by Gerald W. Bracey, published in the
> October 2006 Phi Delta Kappan.
> 2. “Selling NCLB: Would You Buy a Used Law From This
> Woman?,” by James Crawford, available at
> www.elladvocates.org/nclb/spellings2.html.
> 3. “Did Reading First Work?,” by Stephen Krashen,
> http://www.districtadministration.com/pulse/ 
> commentpost.aspx?news=no&postid=17349
> 4. “Tracking Achievement Gaps and Assessing the Impact
> of NCLB on the Gaps: An In-Depth Look Into National
> and State Reading and Math Outcome Trends,” by
> Jaekyung Lee, published in 2006 by the Civil Rights
> Project at Harvard University.
>
>
> Re-analysis: Krashen, S. 2007. NCLB: No Impact on
> State Fourth Grade Reading Test Scores
> http://www.districtadministration.com/pulse/ 
> commentpost.aspx?news=no&postid=19497
>
> Stanton: The feds flunk out
> Government not providing dollars to make No Child Left
> Behind Act work to improve the worst schools
> BILLIE STANTON
> Tucson Citizen July 10
>
> The good news, U.S. Reps. Raúl Grijalva and Gabrielle
> Giffords report, is that most members of Congress want
> a full overhaul of our education plan.
> The No Child Left Behind Act has done great harm,
> despite all the spin by President Bush and Education
> Secretary Margaret Spellings.
> The bad news is: The elephant in the living room
> probably is here to stay.
> It's rarely discussed now, but once upon a time,
> America had a thing called "states' rights," and
> schools came under something known as "local control,"
> by which school boards, PTAs, parents and other
> community members made their priorities and concerns
> known.
> Not any more. The advent of NCLB in 2002 put the
> federal government squarely in charge.
> Now we're stuck with federal control, which wouldn't
> be so bad if the lofty goals articulated - standards,
> accountability and closing the achievement gap - were
> intelligently pursued and adequately funded. But
> they're not.
> So we can only hope that Giffords, Grijalva and other
> thoughtful members of Congress will get us an elephant
> that provides props instead of penalties.
> NCLB's reliance on tallying up scores from
> multiple-choice tests has led to what some bureaucrats
> call "more focus" and what educators and parents call
> dumbed-down curriculum, with a "drill and kill" focus
> on only questions that will be tested.
> The high stakes, by which "failing" schools can be
> closed and reconstituted, have led to some desperate
> measures.
> Some schools have encouraged poor-performing students
> to leave, even drop out, so as to improve the
> institution's scores average.
> Others have tried to deter enrollment by certain kids,
> i.e., those from families that are poor, minority or
> both.
> Many schools have eliminated fine arts, social
> studies, history and anything else that isn't tested,
> though research keeps showing that music, art, field
> trips, experiential learning and other creative
> approaches have profoundly positive effects on kids'
> academic achievement.
> But some schools are doomed to failure no matter how
> hard they try to meet the mandates.
> That's because they're in poor neighborhoods, have a
> high percentage of English language learners or maybe
> a high number of special education students.
> NCLB doesn't make allowances for such challenges. It
> deems those schools failures even if they have
> propelled their students forward by miraculous
> measures.
> Grijalva and Giffords understand this, thank God.
> "NCLB accountability has become punitive instead of
> supporting schools' efforts," Grijalva said last week.
> Under its framework, "the obvious became obvious":
> Kids of color, poor kids, non-English speakers - none
> fared as well as the other students.
> "It's not fair or even moral" to expect
> developmentally disabled students to perform on a par
> with the rest of the student body, Giffords said.
> Ditto the notion that kids who don't speak English
> should be able to score high on tests in English.
> Democrats Giffords and Grijalva both understand that
> much of NCLB is sheer lunacy.
> Both know the act has failed to tighten, much less
> close, the achievement gap between poor and minority
> kids and the rest of students.
> Most important, Grijalva and Giffords both understand
> that along with reasonable expectations, the federal
> government must provide actual dollars to improve the
> worst schools.
> "If the federal government is going to make demands of
> local schools," Giffords said, "then they should also
> accept their responsibility as a partner for reform
> and fund the mandates in the No Child Left Behind
> Act."
> Long before NCLB, Americans knew which students and
> schools were in trouble. As Grijalva recently learned,
> "Fifteen percent of our high schools are responsible
> for 54 percent of the dropouts. Isn't that an amazing
> statistic?"
> It's amazing but not surprising. For decades,
> extensive research into what's wrong with America's
> schools has all boiled down ultimately to the economic
> gap.
> Yet nowhere does NCLB exhort states to instigate new
> funding mechanisms so that poor schools get resources
> equal to those in rich neighborhoods.
> A new federal act "must finally address the deep and
> tenacious educational debt that holds our nation's
> future in hock," said leading education expert Linda
> Darling-Hammond, "and ensure that every child has
> access to adequate school resources, facilities and
> quality teachers.
> "Federal education funding to states should be tied to
> each state's movement toward equitable access to
> education resources."
> That's a novel idea indeed in Arizona, where education
> funding always is an afterthought.
> Congress now has an opportunity to set an example for
> the states.
> It should invest heavily in creating a stable supply
> of qualified teachers, providing scholarships for
> those who specialize in math, science and other
> shortage areas.
> It should subsidize teachers who agree to work in
> high-challenge schools where they're needed most.
> And it should hold states accountable for equalizing
> funding, so even poor kids' schools get the fair share
> desperately needed to ensure their learning.
> This may sound too utopian to some. But corny as it
> sounds, the future of our nation is riding on it.
> As American students lag far behind those in other
> industrialized nations, it's time to look at what
> those nations are doing right - and recognize that
> NCLB does the exact opposite.
> We are, most assuredly, in need of a new elephant.
> Billie Stanton may be reached at 573-4664 and
> bstanton@tucsoncitizen.com.
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