African American and Latino 17-year-olds read and do math at the same
levels as 13-year-old white students, according to the National Center for
Education Statistics.
The goal of the federal No Child Left Behind law, passed in 2001, is to
close this “achievement gap” by 2014.
No Child Left Behind (NCLB) says
- Every school must raise every student to grade level (“proficiency”) in
math and reading by 2014.
- Every school must show that it is making “adequate yearly progress”
(AYP) toward that goal for every “subgroup”—including the five largest
ethnic groups, English learners, students with disabilities, and
low-income students.
- High-poverty schools that receive “Title One” money from the federal
government, if they don’t make AYP for two years, must pay for
tutoring—or transportation if students want to transfer to another
school.
- The same schools, if they fail to meet AYP for six years, must
“restructure” with a new staff or some other drastic change.
The law is ambitious. Has it been working? Should it be renewed when it
expires this year? Is 100% proficiency by 2014 the right goal?
Agreement on need
Advocates for educational justice agree that:
- The law has shone a much-needed spotlight on the racial and economic
“achievement gap.”
- Most schools are far from closing this gap. Schools with large numbers
of low-income students and students of color are now being shortchanged
and need major new resources to equalize education.
- Children learning English should learn the same material as others—but
most states are not doing a good job of testing English learners.
Keep it or change it?
Many organizations dedicated to educational equity are now taking opposite
sides on how NCLB should be changed when Congress renews it this year or
next.
The Achievement Alliance (AA), including the Education
Trust, National Council of La Raza, the Business Roundtable, and others,
says the law is moving schools in the right direction.
The Forum for Educational Accountability (FEA), including
the Children’s Defense Fund, the NAACP, the PTA, FairTest, and many more,
says the law should change course.
Effects on schools in disadvantaged communities
AA: “The biggest thing that NCLB did is focus the nation
on whether each subgroup is achieving,” says Russlyn Ali, director of
Education Trust-West. “It’s no longer OK that black and brown children fly
below the accountability radar.” The law has given low-income schools more
money—and a yardstick to compare their achievement to others.
FEA: “In every state, the greatest number of schools
failing to make AYP are low-income, minority schools,” says Robert
Schaeffer, public education director for FairTest. And only high-poverty
(Title One) schools receive penalties.
Standardized testing
AA: Standardized testing is useful because it exposes the
achievement gap. “For decades, white and wealthy kids have been mastering
those assessments at higher levels,” says Ali. “Our kids are judged,
whether it be the driver’s ed test, the bar (exam), the SAT test, a test
(for) an apprenticeship program. We have to empower our kids to do better
on those assessments.”
Testing does not necessarily drive art, physical education and other
subjects out of schools, Ali adds. “In high-performing high-poverty
schools, you don’t see ‘drill and kill,’” she says.
FEA: Standardized tests are unfair because they do not
accurately reflect what students can do. “If you want to see if a kid can
write, look at their writing rather than giving them a standardized test on
composition and grammar,” says Robert Schaeffer, public education director
for FairTest.
Schaeffer points out that under NCLB, many schools have eliminated
important subjects like art and physical education. “What is tested is
taught,” he says. “Classes have become little more than test-prep
factories.”
Fairness to kids with disabilities
AA: Special education has become a dumping ground for
many children who probably don’t have disabilities, says Ali. “There has
been an influx of especially black boys in special ed. It defies science.
We have to hold schools accountable for their learning.” NCLB allows
districts to modify tests to accommodate disabilities for up to 3% of
students. New federal rules will double that number.
FEA: Districts should also use other methods to assess
children with disabilities, says Lynda Van Kuren, communications director
for Council for Exceptional Children. “We have to look at our students
individually,” Korten says. “Some of our students are making wonderful
strides but that is not necessarily showing up on standardized tests.”
100% proficiency by 2014
AA: This goal is fair and achievable, as the progress of
many high-poverty schools shows. “When I talk to parents, and I ask them if
12 years (from 2002, when the law was enacted, to 2014) is enough” time for
a school to raise every student to grade level, “they say, ‘that’s the
duration of my child’s K-12 experience,’” says Ali. “That’s too slow.”
FEA: Schools should be accountable for doing what it
takes to get better, not meeting arbitrary testing targets. Rather than
preparing for standardized tests, schools should focus on training their
teachers and helping parents become better educational advocates for their
children.
FEA cites experts like Robert Linn, co-director of the National Center for
Research on Evaluation, Standards and Student Testing, who told the
Washington Post, “There is a zero percent chance that we will ever
reach a 100 percent target.”
English learners: changes advocated
“I wouldn’t want to set a bar lower for our students just because they
don’t know the language,” says Melissa Lazarín, senior education policy
analyst with National Council for La Raza.
But some members of both AA and FEA want to change the way English
learners are tested. NCLB allows states to make special accommodations for
English learners for three to five years. But California and many other
states test students only in English after one year.
“Right now a lot of the assessments are a test of the student’s knowledge
of English and not a test of the (material)” in the curriculum, says
Lazarín. “We’re advocating for states and the federal government to develop
appropriate assessments. That may be English. That may be native language.
That will depend on the student.”
Resources
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