The Governor of Florida, Jeb Bush and Mayor of New York City Michael Bloomberg wrote an op-ed to the Washington Post this past weekend discussing some changes they would like to see in the NCLB as Congress begins to consider reauthorization. Their comments, though predictable, did mention several ideas that were consistent with the message we heard from Ted Hershberg last spring. But being consummate politicians (and both potential presidential candidates), their words have to read carefully.
The letter recommends four major themes of revision:
- Make standards meaningful
- Encourage student gains
- Recognize degrees of progress
- Reward and retain high-quality teachers
The “make standards meaningful” refers to the use of the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) as the official benchmark. The authors note that the current NCLB allows states to pick proficiency standards and that there is an uneven standard.
The “recognize degrees of progress” references the current law’s “pass/fail” nature and recommends an expanded metric for measuring.
The recommendations for “encouraging student gains” and “reward and retain high-quality teachers” are generally consistent with the ideas promoted by Hershberg. The use of “growth models” of student achievement in place of the current “summary model” is recommended. It is important to note that there is quite a variance even among growth models and that the Florida system is different from the New York system. BTW, there is an interesting new report on the pilot study being conducted by the U.S. Department of Education on the use of growth models [PDF].
“Retaining and rewarding high-quality teachers” is probably the most controversial of all of the suggested changes. Given the teachers’ unions general opposition to this type of system, I expect that this recommendation would be difficult to achieve.
~John Brandt
