NCLB changes are overdue, but welcome
Volume 12, Issue 6 - March 2008
The U.S. Department of Education (DOE) has announced plans to start addressing one of the biggest flaws in No Child Left Behind. It is calling on states to submit proposals to develop differentiated outcomes for schools that miss making their annual benchmarks — by a little or a lot. The department is requesting proposals from all states and plans to admit up to 10 states into a pilot program.
“This is a long overdue step in the right direction,” says NEA President Reg Weaver. “While we welcome the news, it comes more than six years after the law was enacted and less than a year before the Bush administration leaves office.”
What is regrettable, he explains, is that Secretary Margaret Spellings and her predecessor have had the legal authority all along to make the changes she is planning to make now. “We have known for more than six years that the law has produced many unintended and unfavorable consequences for students, parents, and educators.”
Many of the changes that the DOE has sought or is seeking have come as a result of CTA and NEA members speaking out. For example, teachers have been calling on the department to provide greater flexibility to states in measuring student progress; to allow for more flexibility in interventions for schools not making their annual benchmarks; and to clarify confusing and complex teacher requirements.
“Students, parents, and educators deserve a law that gets it right this time and one that is fully funded, because, in the end, it doesn’t matter how many administrative tweaks are made if the tools and resources aren’t provided for educators to prepare students for the real world,” says Weaver.
“That’s why we are calling on Congress to reject the president’s proposed fiscal year 2009 budget for education, which cuts funding for existing NCLB programs and diverts money to private school voucher schemes. Instead, we are asking our elected leaders to substantially increase resources for Title I, teacher quality, after-school, and other important programs.”
