From: Bob Schaeffer <bobschaeffer@earthlink.net>
Date: Tue Mar 13, 2007 4:56:06 AM US/Pacific
To: ARN Main List <arn-l@interversity.org>, arn2-strategy
<arn2-strategy@yahoogroups.com>
Subject: [arn2-strategy] NCLB Has Flunked
Reply-To: arn2-strategy@yahoogroups.com
NO CHILD LEFT BEHIND HAS FLUNKED
Chicago Defender -- March 12, 2007
by BlackNews.com
The Commission on No Child Left Behind does not tell America what it
really needs to know: Is the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) working?
If
it isn't working, will it succeed by the 2014 deadline? The answers to
both of these questions, unfortunately, are no.
Beyond NCLB, the title of the Commission's report issued last month,
would be more accurately titled Bolstering NCLB. The report is a
defense
of the Act against its critics. It is filled with anecdotes about NCLB
success stories, and its recommendations are structured within--not
beyond--the framework of the existing law. Because Beyond NCLB is aimed
at shoring up the Act, the important questions are not asked or
answered.
The commissioners state, "there is growing evidence that NCLB is
producing some results where it counts: in improved student
achievement." But the test results included in the report show that
student scores increased more before NCLB was implemented in 2002, not
after it. This finding raises the possibility that NCLB might be
inhibiting student achievement instead of increasing it. An evaluation
of NCLB by the Civil Rights Project at Harvard University concludes
that
so far NCLB has not significantly improved test scores or reduced
racial
achievement gaps.
Given NCLB's underwhelming performance, is 100 percent proficiency on
exams by 2014 attainable? The answer to this question appears in a
startling table on page 69 of the report which the commissioners do not
discuss. The table shows how many states are expected to reach 100
percent proficiency by the deadline. For elementary school students in
reading, only seven out of the twenty-one states analyzed are expected
to make it. These are the highest results listed in the table. For
elementary school students in math and for middle school students in
both reading and math, the prognosis is worse. There is no way that we
will achieve 100 percent proficiency for all students by 2014.
Many people who care about improving American education want to save
NCLB. It is rare for an administration to do more than merely talk
about
improving education, and never before has the country focused on the
real problem of the "soft bigotry of low expectations." Many people
probably believe that it would be a shame to loose this unique
opportunity for national educational reform. But what is the point of
saving legislation that is not working and that is fundamentally
flawed?
The problem with NCLB is that out of the smorgasbord of educational
reforms, the Bush Administration selected the ones which suit its
conservative ideology best, not the ones that educational researchers
have shown to be most likely to succeed and produce the biggest
achievement gains.
NCLB's heart is an accountability-based reform, but this type of reform
has a weak track record. A review of accountability reforms published
in
the American Journal of Education last year concluded that NCLB's
chances were "neutral at best." Why is such a monumental educational
initiative centered on one of the least promising policies?
An effective national educational reform program should begin by
expanding pre-kindergarten programs like the successful one now
operating in Tulsa, Oklahoma. This program has produced significant
gains for Hispanic and black children. There is a large body of
research
showing the benefits of quality early childhood education.
The commissioners agree and state that "half of the white-African
American achievement gap in 12th grade can be explained by the gaps in
achievement in 1st grade." NCLB, however, does little in the area of
early childhood education. Because the commissioners are trapped within
the NCLB framework, they too marginalize the issue of early childhood
education and relegate their discussion of it to one-third of the last
chapter of their report.
Given that perhaps 50 percent of racial achievement gaps are due to
differences in early childhood education, how can an educational reform
dedicated to eliminating racial achievement gaps not make early
childhood education one of its major components? A real assessment of
NCLB would point out that the Act has ignored highly effective reforms
like early childhood education, reducing class sizes, small schools and
school integration in favor of something that is "neutral at best."
While there are some good recommendations in Beyond NCLB, the authors
are mainly trapped by the flawed assumptions and biases of the Act. If
we really want to leave no child behind, we have to get beyond NCLB and
the Commission's report also.
Special to the Defender from BlackNews.com
http://www.chicagodefender.com/page/editorial.cfm?ArticleID=8751
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