FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
BURLINGAME - Millions of kids in California and the nation are left behind by the federal, so-called "No Child Left Behind" education law due to its flawed one-size-fits-all approach to learning, warns a new California Teachers Association radio ad campaign and a revealing study about the law's massive underfunding.
CTA President Barbara E. Kerr says in the radio spot - to begin airing statewide Monday - that the "No Child Left Behind" title is a "nice slogan," but the law fails to acknowledge that not every child learns the same way or at the same rate. "It requires all kids to progress at the same time and in the same way," Kerr says in the ad. "It encourages teaching-to-the-test instead of meeting individual needs. It wastes resources on standardized government tests and bureaucracy without providing the resources needed to make schools successful."
Kerr says that what students really need is quality teaching in uncrowded classrooms with current materials. "So, if Washington politicians really want to leave no child behind, they'll find a way to give schools more resources instead of more red tape."
A new report by the National Education Association shows there was a $32.6 billion federal funding shortfall in fiscal 2003 for the U.S. education law nationwide. This year, the law actually leaves behind nearly 753,000 disadvantaged children in California that it's designed to serve, and prevents the hiring of 1,586 new teachers needed in the state to reduce class size and give kids the one-on-one attention they need. Nationwide, the funding gap means 5.3 million disadvantaged children are deprived of assistance, and school districts can't hire 16,000 teachers they need.
In California, the law this year also leaves behind 1.2 million English language learners, 382,291 college students and 373,731 preschool children, the NEA estimates. The full NEA report, "No Child Left Behind? The Funding Gap in ESEA and Other Federal Education Programs," is posted here.
New NEA bipartisan polling data shows that voters nationwide overwhelmingly believe the federal education law's one-size-fits-all approach hurts kids, that schools should be evaluated by more than just standardized test scores, and that federal school funding must increase.