Fwd: [arn2-strategy] Kennedy, Miller Work on NCLB Revisions

[Susan Harman <susanharman@igc.org>]

Begin forwarded message:

> From: Bob Schaeffer <bobschaeffer@earthlink.net>
> Date: Mon Jul 16, 2007  5:27:12 AM US/Pacific
> To: ARN Main List <arn-l@interversity.org>,  arn2-strategy  
> <arn2-strategy@yahoogroups.com>
> Subject: [arn2-strategy] Kennedy, Miller Work on NCLB Revisions
> Reply-To: arn2-strategy@yahoogroups.com
>
> NO CHILD LAW'S AUTHORS WORK ON A REVISION:
> RESPOND TO COMPLAINTS
>     Boston Globe -- July 16, 2007
>             by Susan Milligan
>
> Washington  -- The landmark No Child Left Behind law, which has drawn
> impassioned criticism from educators and parents unhappy with its
> stringent requirements for public schools to raise students' test
> scores, is being rewritten on Capitol Hill to fix what the bill's
> authors now acknowledge are flaws.
>
> Lawmakers say they will not abandon the basic tenets of the  
> legislation,
> which requires yearly testing of elementary and some secondary school
> students, and holds schools and districts accountable for poor test  
> scores.
>
> But after five years of complaints -- followed by sit-downs in recent
> months with teachers, administrators, and civil rights leaders --
> Congress and the Bush administration are ready to change the way  
> schools
> and students are rated.
>
> They say the changes will help states and school districts identify  
> more
> clearly which students need extra help, while avoiding labeling entire
> schools as failing because they have students who are harder to teach,
> such as those with learning disabilities or limited English skills.
>
> The original authors of the bill, Senator Edward M. Kennedy and
> Representative George Miller, are looking at a slew of changes,
> including expanding the way "adequate yearly progress" is calculated,  
> so
> schools that barely miss the testing thresholds are not put in the same
> failing category as schools with across-the-board learning problems.
>
> Other proposals include giving schools more time to improve test scores
> before schools are forced to take corrective action.
>
> "Everything's up for review," said Miller , Democrat of California and
> chairman of the House Education and Labor Committee. "I've always said  
> I
> was the proud co author of No Child Left Behind. . . . Now, I'm
> determined to be the proud author of a No Child Left Behind that  
> works."
>
> Kennedy, who worked closely with President Bush in writing the law, has
> for years said the much-reviled measure would work if the  
> administration
> provided the money schools need to develop good tests and help
> struggling students, especially those in poorer school districts.
>
> But the Massachusetts Democrat said in a Globe interview that he now
> believes the law itself must be changed as well. Many of the
> presidential candidates in both parties have called for changes in the
> law, and several -- including Democratic Senators Chris Dodd of
> Connecticut, Hillary Clinton of New York, and Barack Obama of Illinois
> -- have introduced legislation.
>
> "We still have to have the concept of accountability," said Kennedy,  
> who
> chairs the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions.
> But "what we need to do is get away from labeling, get away from the
> punitive aspects, and give help and assistance to the neediest schools.
> We're now on a pathway to make some sense on this."
>
> Miller and Kennedy said they hope to begin work this month on writing
> the revised version of No Child Left Behind. The law is up for
> reauthorization this year, which means Congress must vote on whether to
> extend it.
>
> Miller said he was pessimistic only six weeks ago that he could rally
> his Democratic colleagues to extend the controversial law, but has
> recently convinced fellow lawmakers that the law can work well if it is
> rewritten to address the complaints from constituents.
>
> The law requires yearly testing in math and reading for students in
> grades 3 through 8; students are also tested once in high school to
> gauge their academic progress. Schools can be labeled as in need of
> improvement -- and eventually, as a failing school -- if students'
> scores do not meet what the law calls "adequate yearly progress."
>
> The law provides for additional help for students needing assistance,
> and parents can also send their children to another public school if a
> school is deemed unsuccessful. In extreme cases, a school can be closed
> for poor performance.
>
> Educators have complained mightily about the law, saying the testing
> rules do not fully measure whether a student is learning. School
> administrators say they are being wrongly punished for lower test  
> scores
> from students with learning difficulties, and some parents are unhappy
> with schools' decisions to curtail art and music education to focus on
> meeting testing thresholds in math and reading.
>
> Funding, too, is a major complaint from both educators and  
> congressional
> Democrats, who say that No Child Left Behind has never been given all
> the money authorized in the law by Congress. The Bush administration
> said that funding for elementary and secondary schools has increased
> each year since Bush took office, often by more than it did under
> President Bill Clinton -- a fact Kennedy acknowledges.
>
> But states are still not getting the money they need to develop
> appropriate tests and provide the extra help students need to make the
> test-score improvements demanded in the law, Kennedy said.
>
> Nonetheless, complaints from teachers have been so strong that some say
> it is unclear whether the changes under consideration will appease
> educators, and some political leaders, unhappy with No Child Left  
> Behind.
>
> While teachers say they share the goals of providing a high-quality
> education to all children, regardless of race, economic background, or
> disability, many fear that the rules might undermine public education
> and send more students fleeing into private schools.
>
> "The Bush administration was setting up the public schools to fail, and
> to undermine public confidence" in them, said Kevin Fleming , a teacher
> at Winnacunnet High School in Exeter, N.H.
>
> At a conference late last month for the National Education Association,
> candidates for president slammed the law, saying the testing
> requirements force educators to "teach to the test" and stifle
> creativity in the classroom.
>
> Further, the testing structure -- which holds schools accountable for
> the progress of an entire class, instead of individual students -- is
> unrealistic, said NEA president Reg Weaver. "Not all children learn at
> the same rate, at the same speed," Weaver said in an interview.
>
> Dodd is author of the most sweeping package on Capitol Hill to overhaul
> No Child Left Behind. Dodd annoyed some of his colleagues when he
> introduced his proposal several years ago, when the education law was
> still new. He is now drawing support for some of the alterations he's
> seeking. They include easing certification requirements for teachers  
> and
> giving schools more ways to show they are making students better at  
> math
> and reading.
>
> "Test scores obviously have value, but if it's the only thing you're
> doing, you're not making a coherent and substantial judgment of how an
> individual is doing or how a school is doing," Dodd said in an  
> interview.
>
> More than 30 pieces of legislation to alter No Child Left Behind have
> been introduced on Capitol Hill, by the NEA's count -- some of them  
> from
> Republicans.
>
> Senators Judd Gregg of New Hampshire and Richard Burr of North Carolina
> -- both Republicans -- introduced legislation last week aimed at  
> keeping  
> the accountability and testing concepts while giving more leeway to
> schools. For example, the bill would give schools more time to achieve
> test standards among children just learning English, and treat schools
> with small populations of low-achieving students less harshly than  
> those
> with widespread problems.
>
> The Bush administration is also ready to make some changes in the law.
>
> The Department of Education has launched a limited program allowing
> several states to use different ways of calculating a school's progress
> in boosting test scores.
>
> "We shifted our national education dialogue from how much we are
> spending to how much children are learning," Education Secretary
> Margaret Spellings said in a statement. "Today, we need a new
> conversation about how to strengthen and improve this law."
>
>             Changes under consideration
>
> Avoid labeling entire schools as failing because they have students who
> are harder to teach, such as those with learning disabilities or  
> limited
> English skills .
>
> Give schools more time to bring up test scores before they are forced  
> to
> take corrective action.
>
> Ease certification requirements for teachers.
>
> Give schools more options for showing they are making students better  
> at
> math and reading.
>
> Treat schools less harshly if they have small populations of
> low-achieving students compared with those with widespread problems.
>
> Allow different ways of calculating a school's progress in bringing up
> test scores in select locations.
>
>
> http://www.boston.com/news/education/k_12/articles/2007/07/16/ 
> no_child_laws_authors_work_on_a_revision/
>
>
>
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