Archives for category: NCLB (No Child Left Behind)
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NSBA: Dems Support Federal Control of Education

By dianeravitch
June 19, 2013 //
42

On a party-line vote, Democrats on the Senate committee reported out a bill that expands the role of the federal government in education and makes the Secretary of Education the national superintendent of schools. The National School Boards Association describes the legislation here, which NSBA opposes.

Summary of Senate HELP Mark-up of the Strengthening America’s Schools Act, S. 1094

The Senate Health, Education, Labor & Pensions (HELP) Committee approved a bill to reauthorize the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) on Wednesday, June 12, 2013. The Strengthening America’s Schools Act, S. 1094 was passed after two days of sometimes heated deliberation on a 12 Democrat – 10 Republican party line vote. Whether and when the bill will be considered by the full Senate is uncertain, but Chairman Tom Harkin (D-IA) expressed his intention to get it to the floor by the end of the year.

The issues voiced by NSBA in its letter to the Committee were raised frequently during the two days of discussion and voting. In fact, Senator Richard Burr (R-NC) read from and held up NSBA’s letter during his opening statement as evidence of the strong objections to federal overreach and the overwhelming increase in reporting requirements in S. 1094 as introduced.

Without doubt the fulcrum of debate at the mark-up was the proper role of the federal government in education. Unfortunately, the partisan gap continues on what that role should be. Chairman Harkin characterized the bill as “a new partnership of shared responsibility,” and passed an amendment clarifying that states and districts could refuse Title I, Part A funds, and thereby be free of federal requirements. Meanwhile, Ranking Member Lamar Alexander (R-TN) repeatedly asserted that S. 1094 creates “a national school board.”

The partisan gap prevailed in the Committee’s efforts to address all major issues. Of the 23 amendments offered, all but one Republican amendment was rejected, whereas all but 1 of the Democratic amendments were accepted to the base bill. This was despite recognition – acknowledged by Chairman Tom Harkin (D-IA) himself – that the Department of Education has exceeded its authority on ESEA waivers, and Congress has exacerbated the problem by failing to reauthorize ESEA. For example:

Role of the Secretary: The role of the Secretary of Education appears to have increased substantially in S. 1094. Throughout the bill, the Secretary is authorized to determine the overall quality and effectiveness of greatly expanded state plan requirements that will, in turn, impact the local level. The Secretary would appear to be involved in the design of programs, directing the specifics, for example, in addressing parent/community engagement and extensive data collection. In the case of data, the bill calls for multiple cross tabulations of a wide range of academic and non-academic student data that we believe will be overwhelming for many school systems to produce. The same can be said of new local plan requirements. Amendments described by their sponsors as attempts to eliminate new or onerous reporting and federal oversight requirements were rejected by the Committee. In fact, amendments were approved to create additional reporting requirements on military children, interscholastic sports, and career and technical education.

Turnaround models: Local educational agencies, including those receiving NCLB waivers from the Secretary, continue to be concerned with the limited flexibility in designing and implementing turnaround models for low performing schools. Several amendments intended to increase flexibility on how States and LEAs identify and improve low-performing schools were not approved.

Comparability: NSBA supports the concept of comparability and believes it is important to ensure that Title I schools receive comparable educational support. The proposed comparability provision in S. 1094 would change the method for how LEAs determine whether comparable services are being provided from local resources to Title I schools compared to other schools in the district. It would require local educational agencies to show that they spend no less at each Title I school – as determined by the combined state and local per-pupil expenditures for personnel and non-personnel – than they do at the average non-Title I schools in the district. Local school officials have determined that the provision is burdensome and not geared to achieving the desired educational outcomes. Efforts to address comparability were rejected by the Committee, so the unworkable language in the base bill stands.

Public Charter Schools Expansion: Local educational agencies continue to be concerned with the increased congressional support for public charter schools in the legislation and the apparent willingness of Congress to not hold public charter schools to the same accountability requirements as traditional public schools. Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) offered, but then withdrew an amendment to hold charter schools to the same accountability requirements as other public schools. Chairman Harkin pledged to work on an amendment for the floor, however.

Other amendments on ESEA flexibility waivers, vouchers, Race to the Top, college access, special education, and teacher and principal effectiveness sparked spirited discussion and even a little table-pounding before S. 1094 was reported out favorably by the Committee on a 12 – 10 party line vote.

NSBA is not able to support S. 1094 in its current form, and will continue to urge Congress to reauthorize an ESEA bill that supports local school district governance. In preparing for the full Senate floor vote, NSBA will prepare amendments and work with the engagement of the state associations to secure support from targeted Senators.

House Action – Committee Mark Up Tomorrow – June 19

The Committee on Education and the Workforce in the U.S. House of Representatives has released its version of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) Reauthorization, entitled The Student Success Act, H.R. 5 and it is scheduled for mark up this Wednesday, June 19, 2013. NSBA sent this letter Committee members.

Reminder: The Committee on Education and the Workforce determines the provisions in the law that best help local school boards to improve academic achievement for our students. Please contact your member of Congress if he/she sits on the Committee on Education and the Workforce in the U.S. House of Representatives through the Capitol Hill Switchboard (202-224-3121) as soon as possible.

Your Message to Your Member of Congress

As a local school board member, I urge you to:

1) Support the House Committee bill, The Student Success Act, H.R. 5 because the bill eliminates unnecessary and overwhelming administrative requirements and restores flexibility and governance to local school boards who are in the best position to address the needs of students in our local communities; but

2) Re-instate the maintenance of effort provisions for education to ensure that states provide at least the same level of funding for K-12 education from one year to the next.

Thank you for responding to our call to action. Please provide any feedback to kbranch@nsba.org.

Sincerely, Kathleen Branch & NSBA’s Advocacy Team

——————————————-
Kathleen Branch
Director, National Advocacy Services Programs
National School Boards Association
Alexandria, VA
——————————————-

Categories Duncan, Arne, NCLB (No Child Left Behind), Race to the Top

Public Education Is Not Failing, But NCLB and RTTT Are

By dianeravitch
June 14, 2013 //
27

Ron Berler has written about his year in a so-called “failing school” in Norwalk, Connecticut.

The school has a dedicated staff trying its best to raise the achievement levels of students who enter school far behind. Yet it is a “failing school” because no matter how much progress the students make,the children are still not as “proficient” as those in nearby affluent New Canaan.

Berler has a new book out, called “Raising the Curve,” explaining the utter failure of No Child Left Behind.

He wrote this note to me:

“The Title 1 school I wrote about — Brookside Elementary, in Norwalk, Conn. — is 0-for-NCLB. This past school year, the local school board cut $5.9 million from its budget, and applied 80 percent of those cuts to the city’s 12 struggling elementary schools. At Brookside that meant, among other things, eliminating the school’s literacy specialist and shuttering its 15,000-title library every other week. The Brookside principal and the Stamford, Conn., schools superintendent called it “a crime.” I wish this story had a happy ending. It doesn’t.”

It is popular treatments like Berler’s that will help the American public understand that public education is not “broken,” but federal education policy is broken and should be completely scrapped and rewritten to address real problems.

Categories Connecticut, NCLB (No Child Left Behind), Race to the Top

Mike Petrilli: A Surprising and Welcome Offer

By dianeravitch
June 11, 2013 //
14

I always hold out hope that Mike Petrilli will be the conservative who one day leaves behind his brethren and realizes that the punitive policies of No Child Left Behind and Race to the Top were a huge and costly mistake. Why do I hold out hope for Mike? I know him, and I know he is a good man. He wasn’t born with a silver spoon in his mouth. He has young children, and he will soon see how the testing monster will try to devour them and destroy their love of learning.

In his last exchange with Deborah Meier at “Bridging Differences” at Education Week, I see the glimmer of hope that I have been waiting for. Mike describes himself as a “Whole Foods Republican,” and then asserts that we are helpless to do much about poverty because we don’t know what to do. That is not a glimmer of hope, as I think we can forge poverty-reduction policies that work, as other nations have. We should not give up trying.

What gives me hope is not Mike’s sense of futility about poverty, but his proposal that states should have the authority to allow schools to opt out of the soul-deadening testing-and-accountability regime if they can show that their metrics are better than those of the federal and state governments.

Thus, he would give his consent to the New York Performance Standards Consortium, which has documented its success in graduation rates, college admission rates, and persistence in college rates. Granted, it took time to get that data. A group of schools needs a decade or more to generate the results of their program.

But think of the creativity and innovation that would be unleashed if schools were offered the freedom to opt out and select different ways to measure their success.

Good job, Mike.

Categories Education Reform, NCLB (No Child Left Behind), Race to the Top, Testing

Where Is the Support for Our Children?

By dianeravitch
May 30, 2013 //
30

This teacher describes how the testing mania–the evil spawn of No Child Left Behind–has consumed his school without changing the odds against the students. They are still behind and certain to remain far behind.

He writes:

I teach fourth grade in a Philadelphia public school. Though the school has made AYP for the past two years, most of the students are not performing at grade level in math or reading. So, at this school, like most urban schools, the standardized tests have become our god, informing every aspect of our teaching.

For instance I am required to teach reading and math only. If I submit lesson plans with science or social studies or something else, I am out of compliance and will be told to get back into compliance. The principal is a competent and supportive school leader who is simply navigating the academic culture that has developed since NCLB and high stakes testing began. From the district, to the region, to the school, and finally the classroom, every one is under intense pressure to get the test scores up. From day one we are focused on teaching test taking skills. ( and this is in a context where teacher evaluation is not yet tied to the test scores. )

Why is it so difficult to get the students to perform better? I could write a five page blog describing the actual challenges our children contend with that profoundly effect every aspect of their lives, which also happens to include their school experience.

After more than a decade of “academic improvements” and increased oversight and “support”, the student population that has struggled the most, still struggles. Isn’t it obvious by now that we are not addressing the real problems, but are persistently dealing with the symptoms? Where is the real support for our children?

Categories NCLB (No Child Left Behind), Philadelphia, Poverty, Testing

Alabama Teacher of the Year: A Great Teacher Whose School Did Not Make AYP

By dianeravitch
May 24, 2013 //
14

Alison Grizzle was chosen as Alabama Teacher of the Year.

Read this article and watch the video and you will see why.

She teaches math at P.D. Jackson-Olin High School in Birmingham.

She is a National Board Certified Teacher.

Her school did not make AYP.

The punitive, no-brain law called No Child Left Behind claims another victim.

NCLB is the Death Star of American education.

The sooner this killer law dies, the sooner our schools will be free to educate again.

And when it dies of its massive flaws, its insatiable desire to crush schools, Race to the Top should go too.

Categories Alabama, Education Reform, NCLB (No Child Left Behind), Race to the Top, Teachers and Teaching, Testing

A Call to Action! Time for Charter Police and Charter Firefighters?

By dianeravitch
May 20, 2013 //
9

In this article, a Massachusetts blogger points out that it is time to do something about those unionized police and firefighters who have failed to stamp out crime and fires.

It is time to unleash innovation and turnaround the police precincts where crime is highest: close them down and allow the cops to reapply for their jobs.

America could be a perfectly crime-free, safe nation if only we turned public safety over to bankers and lawyers and entrepreneurs.

The initiative–which is known as No Citizen Left Behind–requires the investment of billions of dollars for data collection, data analysis, turnaround specialists, and retraining of the current workforce.

Unfortunately this is so close to the insane reality of federal education policy that it is easy to think that it is real, not satire.

Categories Humor, NCLB (No Child Left Behind), Privatization, Race to the Top, Romney, Mitt

Who Wins This Game?

By dianeravitch
May 18, 2013 //
17

A reader comments:

To the corporate moguls this is a game of chess, their winnings being billions of dollars.

They have been playing this game for many years now.

The big problem is that they never informed anyone what or whom they were playing against. They just kept making their moves while their opponents never realized they were in their game and therefore never had a chance to make a move.

We are now at the point of check.

If we take RTTT then checkmate, they win.

If we take the NCLB waivers, checkmate they win.

The only thing we can do is call this for what it is, outrageous.

We have to protest their game as destructive to our society and detrimental to students’ education. Now, as before, we have no moves.

We must knock over the board in protest!

Categories NCLB (No Child Left Behind), Privatization, Race to the Top

Deborah Meier: Am I Part of the Problem or the Solution?

By dianeravitch
May 18, 2013 //
19

Deborah Meier has been blogging recently with Michael Petrilli of the Thomas B. Fordham Institute.

Deb is known as a progressive, Mike as a conservative. Deb was one of the founders of the small schools movement and a leader of opposition to standardized testing through her involvement in Fairtest. Mike strongly supports standardized testing, charter schools, and competition a drivers of change.

In his previous post, Mike asked Deb whether she was part of the problem (because of her opposition to standardized testing and her general skepticism towards what is called “reform” today, I.e., No Child Left Behind and Race to the Top).

This is a good exchange. I wonder if they can bridge their differences.

Deborah answered here. I won’t begin to summarize what she said. Let me just say that she is at her best and what she wrote about children, about the shrinking middle class, and about what schools can and cannot do. Please take the time to read what she wrote.

Categories Accountability, NCLB (No Child Left Behind), Parents, Poverty, Race to the Top, Students, Teachers and Teaching, Testing

Outstanding Proposal about ESEA/NCLB by AASA

By dianeravitch
May 16, 2013 //
18

Forgive all the acronyms but that is the way that headlines work.

The School Superintendents Association wrote a strong letter to Senator Tom Harkin about the reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, the basic federal legislation for elementary and secondary education, which is currently known as No Child Left Behind.

NCLB is generally recognized to be a disaster. The best evidence of its failure is the ever louder cries for “reform.” If NCLB had worked, why would we need more and more reforming, using the same failed methods?

AASA does not have kind words for Race to the Top and urges Congress not to codify it into law.

The AASA clears away the legislative debris, recognizes the over-reach of the federal Department of Education, recommends the removal of the claptrap associated with NCLB, and urges the restoration of a healthy federalism, with a balance of powers among federal, state, and local authorities.

A welcome dose of reality.

Categories Administrators, superintendents, Education Reform, NCLB (No Child Left Behind), Race to the Top

Will Michael Fullan Stop NCLB and RTTT?

By dianeravitch
May 6, 2013 //
20

Officials in California have been meeting with Michael Fullan of Ontario to learn about the impressive improvements there.

Fullan wants to turn the state of California away from the carrots-and-sticks of No Child Left Behind and Race to the Top.

The story linked her says:

“I want California to become an alternative model to No Child Left Behind; that would be a great thing to aspire to,” Fullan said last month during an interview in Sacramento. Instead of improvement through the “negative drivers” of standardized testing and quick school turnarounds, he would shift the focus to improving instruction through “motivational collaboration” between teachers and administrators.

Fullan believes that data should be used to improve, not to punish. What a novel idea! What would our Broad trained superintendents do if they were told to help teachers and schools, not to punish them?

Good grief! Fullan’s philosophy could cause the whole miserable, mean-spirited farce of federal policy to collapse.

Want to know more about Fullan? Read this.

His ideas might be powerful enough to beat the Billionaire Boys Club. They have this one important advantage: They work.

Categories California, Education Reform, NCLB (No Child Left Behind), Race to the Top
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