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: BoardBuzz: NSBA's Daily Weblog

Good for the goose, but not the gander?

Education Secretary Margaret Spellings announced today that she will allow as many as 10 states to use a "differentiated accountability" system to target interventions/sanctions for chronically low-performing schools rather than to treat all schools that didn't make AYP under NCLB the same way, see this. That's good news, on the surface. But BoardBuzz has to wonder, why only 10 states? If a differentiated accountability system is good for the goose, why not for the gander? If it's a fairer and more accurate measurement and helps target limited resources to schools and students most in need, why isn't that good for all states? We are talking about accountability that can have serious consequences for schools, so why should one state be allowed to have a fair system, while another would continue to be subject to the current one-size-fits-all accountability framework? Good questions, all. Spellings wants to give this flexibility in the form of a "pilot program," limiting the number of states that can implement the new framework. Sen. Edward Kennedy hit the nail on the head in responding to the annoucement:

But schools need more than new pilot programs to respond to No Child Left Behind?s challenges. I commend Secretary Spellings for giving schools greater flexibility, but experience shows it won?t get us very far as long as the Bush Administration continues to shortchange its budget for school reform.

NSBA?s recommendations on NCLB include differentiating consequences for schools based on their AYP performance. Many states must meet significantly higher benchmarks for this year's AYP, meaning many more schools are expected to miss AYP entering the 7th year of NCLB. At this late in the game, Spellings' 10-state pilot program is probably a day late and a dollar short. And speaking of dollars, you can learn more about federal funding for education by visiting NSBA's Advocacy Web site here.

Full post as published by BoardBuzz: NSBA's Daily Weblog on March 18, 2008 (boomark / email).