Home -> Law Blog Directory -> Education Law Blogs -> BoardBuzz: NSBA's Daily Weblog

Education Law

: BoardBuzz: NSBA's Daily Weblog

Looking closely at NCLB results

BoardBuzz has been seeing some more editorialists figuring out the nuances in NCLB "failing" labels and making a point of urging readers to look more closely, too. Ironically, a little more journalistic responsibility like this might go a long way toward soothing resentment of how the act is affecting schools. If everyone understood and consistently expressed the need for caution in stigmatizing schools, NCLB might be seen as less of a mess.

For our first example, there's this from Stephanie Porter-Nichols of Southwest Virginia Today:

By 2014, schools are required to achieve 100 percent proficiency.? An official speaking at a school-year kickoff for Wythe County?s teachers wondered what would happen if the same standards were applied to every profession—if a lawyer had to win every case, if a doctor had to save every life, if a clergyman had to save every soul. The question is valid. While we strive to see every edition of this newspaper published without a single typographic error, we know we?re human.? In truth, Virginia?s schools deserve credit for their success. Despite higher standards, the same percentage of public schools achieved the required reading and math scores this year as did last year.

She doesn?t dismiss NCLB accountability, but at the same time she urges readers to take negative labels with a grain of salt:

Room for improvement always exists. We wholeheartedly endorse efforts to make continuous progress and maintain accountability for advancement.?Yet, we also believe in being realistic. While the news of three local schools failing to achieve adequate yearly progress is not good, community members should view the report within a pragmatic framework. We owe it to our schools and their leaders, faculties and students to judge their success or failure with the same discretion we apply to our work.

Moving west to the middle of the country, we find this from the Telegraph Herald in Dubuque, Iowa:

School officials must take what information they can from the No Child Left Behind testing results. But parents, students and taxpayers should not let the labels attached to those results overshadow the positive things going on in our schools.

And, hey, misery loves company, the Telegraph Herald continues:

Every other major school district in the state ? are all saddled with the District in Need of Assistance label. All the largest school districts are under scrutiny ... in Iowa, the state with the second highest ACT scores in the country. ? Interesting outcome for a state with all of its urban districts failing to succeed by the national measure.

Nationwide, there?s a whole lot of company. More all the time.

Continuing on to the west coast, there?s this one from the Everett Washington Herald:

If you only glanced at the headlines late last week, you might surmise that hundreds of schools were sliding backward in Washington. Hardly. By a variety of measures, our public school system is performing better than ever.

After explaining why the public needs to be cautious about NCLB labels, the Herald concludes that, ?Several hundred Washington schools may need improvement, but so does the law that made that judgment.?

Returning east, the Rochester Democrat and Chronicle picks up the let?s-get-it-in-gear theme. ?As it returns from its August recess, Congress must very quickly go back to school,? its editorial starts. Like NSBA and the other editorials, this one calls for ending NCLB, not ending it. Here?s the key diagnosis:

One of the assumptions of the 2002 law was that the spotlight would move states and localities to improve bad schools. That has not occurred to the degree sought—and required. Congress failed over five years to back up its demanding law with enough money to carry out its precepts. Hence, the law carried out only half of its charge—it helped plumb the depths of America's school failures but didn't provide the money and resources to correct the problems. Congress can't merely tinker under the hood on this one. The mission of NCLB should remain, but its methods must change.

Interestingly, one person who apparently doesn?t share the sense of urgency is Secretary Margaret Spellings. According to this item, she told Ed Week she?s glad Congress has ended up stalled, because "where we were headed would have been a bad reauthorization." This, Ed Week says, refers to the draft bill crafted by House Education and Labor Committee Chair George Miller.

Well, OK, BoardBuzz agrees that there?s at least one better NCLB bill on the Hill. But one seriously has to question how the climate for a good reauthorization is supposed to get any better as NCLB?s shortcomings play out more intensely in more places all over the country and drown out the act?s benefits, while Congress takes months—maybe even years—to get around to doing something about it.

Full post as published by BoardBuzz: NSBA's Daily Weblog on September 05, 2008 (boomark / email).