Abstract: Educators must be terribly confused about how to respond to the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB).1 On the one hand, the NCLB is a federal law that seems to be on the brink of reshaping education in the United States. On the other hand, educators hear their superintendents, school board members, and legislators bemoan the NCLB as impractical and counterproductive. Others share these opinions. The education columnist of the New York Times recently wrote that the NCLB go down as the most unpopular piece of education legislation ever created.2 A friend of mine who is a charter school administrator characterizes the law's application and compliance provisions as draconian and bordering on the sadomasochistic. He is soliciting private contributions so his school will not have to apply for NCLB funds. Many other state and local education officials are upset about and even resisting the law's implementation. They say the intent of the legislation is laudable, but characterize it as anti-public because it requires that all demographic subgroups of students demonstrate adequate yearly progress, and that schools not meeting this standard will earn the label needs improvement.3 In some cases, the objections seem to stem from hurt feelings. Schools that communities have traditionally considered good may now be exposed as not educating all their students effectively. Other school officials are frustrated because they are in a genuine quandary about what educators can do to annually raise the performance levels of low-achieving, disabled, and English as a second Language (ESL) students. Rather than seeking answers to how to respond to this difficult task, they lash out at the NCLB as a threat to public education. Still other educators complain that President Bush has not sought, and Congress has not appropriated, all the funding the NCLB authorized. While it is fair to criticize the NCLB as under funded, it is not accurate to charge, as many of its critics do, that it is an unfunded mandate. In fact, federal financial support for public education is greater than at any time in our nation's history.4 But the objections to the NCLB are so strong that many Democrats in Congress who voted for the law now oppose it.5 There is every indication that the NCLB could become a major issue in future presidential campaigns. Fortunately, there is also evidence that the law is working. * In Bellingham, Massachusetts, the school system has launched Project 2010, a commitment that all its students will perform at the proficient level or above by the year 2010, well in advance of the NCLB's goal that students should be proficient by 2014.6 * In Huntsville, Texas, school officials used a combination of NCLB and grant funds to hire five additional staff members, fifteen professionals, seventeen instructional assistants and several contract teachers.7 * In Greenville, Delaware, where A.I. du Pont Middle School is on the watch list, the new principal writes a brief personal message of praise or concern on the report card of each of the school's 533 students. A news article describes the principal's caring as a calculated effort to improve student performance in response to the pressures of the NCLB. Once you show [students] you care about them, they respond, the principal said.8 * In Oxford City, Alabama, the high schools are abandoning resource rooms and moving special education students into more challenging classes. They are also reassigning special education teachers to academic departments where they co-teach with general education content specialists. This team approach is producing positive results: last year, ninety-five percent of students with disabilities passed ninth grade physical science and tenth grade biology.9 * In Georgia, many schools did not make adequate yearly progress because too many students were absent and therefore their schools could not meet the NCLB requirement to test ninety-five percent of students in each subgroup. …
Publication Year: 2004
Publication Date: 2004-04-01
Language: en
Type: article
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Cited By Count: 1
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