Guest Columnist Endorses NCLB Joint Statement Recommendations

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

> From: Bob Schaeffer <bobschaeffer@earthlink.net>
>
>
> An excellent example of the kind of column grassroots assessment 
> reform activists can submit to local newspapers. The Sunday 
> Rochester, NY newspaper has a circulation of 220,000 (plus web viewers)
>
> USE AN ARRAY OF ACADEMIC YARDSTICKS; SCRUB STANDARDIZED TESTS
> Rochester Democrat & Chronicle -- July 29, 2007
> by David Hursh, guest essayist
>
> In my view, No Child Left Behind needs to be significantly 
> overhauled, if not rescinded, and I present below several proposals for change.
>
> However, I would also like to make a more general point: If we are 
> to improve education, it is crucial that we ask the right questions 
> and carefully consider the evidence.
>
> For example, NCLB proponents cite recent research by the Center for 
> Education Policy indicating that more students have demonstrated 
> proficiency in math and reading since the passage of the legislation.
>
> However, the real question should be whether the percentage of 
> students achieving proficiency since the passage of NCLB is 
> increasing faster than it did before the law, and the answer is no.
>
> What we were doing to improve student learning before the passage of 
> NCLB would have likely resulted in the same increases.
>
> Moreover, even the Center for Education Policy cautions that its 
> data showing improvements in students' test scores should not be 
> used to conclude that the new policy is working.
>
> It writes that improved test scores may "reflect easier tests ... 
> changing rules for testing, or overly narrow teaching to the test."
>
> We should also question whether improved test scores demonstrate 
> that students are learning more. Recent reports show that while 
> students' scores on state standardized exams have increased, their 
> scores on the national standardized test, the National Assessment of 
> Educational Progress, have increased only in some subjects and grades.
>
> My own view echoes that of 137 national education, civil rights, 
> religious, labor and disability groups that have signed a joint 
> statement on NCLB that concludes high-stakes standardized tests fail 
> to adequately inform us about student learning, and that argue "the 
> law's emphasis needs to shift from applying sanctions for failing to 
> raise test scores to holding states and localities accountable for 
> making the systemic changes that improve student achievement."
>
> As reported by FairTest, the National Center for Fair and Open 
> Testing (fairtest.org), the recommended changes to NCLB, which I 
> support, include:
>
> # Replace over-reliance on standardized tests with the use of 
> multiple achievement measures to provide a more comprehensive 
> picture of student and school performance.
> # Supplant arbitrary proficiency targets with ambitious achievement 
> targets based on rates of success achieved by the most effective 
> public schools.
> # Enhance the knowledge and skills that teachers, administrators and 
> families need to support high achievement and improve state and 
> district capacities to assist them.
> # Increase NCLB funding to cover a substantial percentage of the 
> costs that states and districts will incur to carry out these recommendations.
> # Fund research and development of more effective accountability 
> systems that better meet the goal of high academic achievement for 
> all children.
>
> Over the next several months, the federal government will consider 
> revamping NCLB. In my view, it needs substantial overhaul.
>
> But whether or not you agree, now is the time to become informed 
> about the policy through Web sites (Fairtest, U.S. Department of 
> Education, The Coalition for Common Sense in Education) and public 
> hearings, and to voice your opinions to federal representatives on 
> how you would like the law changed.
> **********************************************************************************************************************************************************************************
> Hursh is an associate professor at the University of Rochester's 
> Warner School of Education and a member of Rochester's Coalition for 
> Common Sense in Education dedicated to improving public schools.
>
>
> http://www.democratandchronicle.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070729/OPINION02/707290342/1039/OPINION