New NCLB Draft Criticized

       The draft of a House bill to renew the No Child Left Behind federal education law has came under sharp attack during the last two weeks – from civil rights groups, the nation’s largest teachers unions and the Department of Education.
All three entities are asking members of the House Education and Labor Committee to reject language currently under discussion for the reauthorization of the already controversial legislation.
NCLB, a Bush administration initiative passed in 2001, requires schools to test all students annually in reading and math in grades 3 to 8 and to show all students progressing toward 100 percent proficiency regardless of background. So far, 10,000 high poverty schools that failed to show “Adequate Yearly progress” (AYP) have been tagged for state and district intervention.
The House Education Committee draft calls for schools to move away from relying solely on test scores in math and reading as a gauge of school progress. It would allow them to include test results in other subjects and indicators like attendance, promotion, performance in advanced placement courses and graduation rates – to assess their academic strength.
Two weeks ago, Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings criticized the draft saying that several of its provisions would make it easier for schools and districts to make adequate yearly progress—a key measure of success under the law—and wouldn’t hold them accountable for students’ performance in reading and mathematics.
During a hearing last week, Dianne M. Piché, executive director of the Citizens’ Commission on Civil Rights, complained a proposal that would allow districts to devise their own measures of student progress, “had the potential to set back accountability by years, if not decades.” Piché said.
The sharpest criticism was levied by Reg Weaver, president of the National Education Association (NEA) , and Toni Cortese, executive vice president of the American Federation of Teachers (AFT). Both told the committee they would not support the bill in its current form and vehemently rejected a proposal to consider student test scores in granting pay bonuses to teachers. Weaver also warned the Committee that rushing to get a bill passed could lead to a new set of unintended and negative consequences.

— Teachers of Color