Capitol Hill

The New York Times and Education Week report two stories about the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act that should get a lot of educators' attention.

The Times piece reports that during Monday's public testimony on the reauthorization of NCLB, not too many people were happy with the draft of the legislation that has been proposed by the committee. Criticism appears to be coming from all directions. Congressional Republicans are not happy with the draft, and Secretary Spellings has also voiced disapproval. Testimony from several leading civil rights groups including the Citizens’ Commission on Civil Rights, the National Urban League, the Center for American Progress and Achieve Inc., were all in opposition to portions of the proposal. The Times reports:

"All protested that a proposal in the bill for a pilot program that would allow districts to devise their own measures of student progress, rather than using statewide tests, would gut the law’s intent of demanding that schools teach all children, regardless of poverty, race or other factors, to the same standard."

Also criticizing the draft were representatives of the two major teacher unions. Again from the Times:

"Reg Weaver, president of the National Education Association, and Toni Cortese, executive vice president of the American Federation of Teachers — told the committee that they would not support the bill in its current form and that they objected to a proposal to count student test scores in granting pay bonuses."

In an unrelated story reported in Education Week "...a Government Accountability Office (GAO) report suggests that at least 6 percent of the 2,790 schools facing the severest sanctions under NCLB took none of the law’s prescribed actions to initiate improvements." And apparently the Department of Education isn't checking to see if the states are doing anything about these schools either. In a study conducted last year by the American Enterprise Institute, researchers reported "that most schools in the law’s corrective-action and restructuring phases had chosen to make few changes," according to the Education Week story. Here is a link to a "highlights" review of the GAO report plus links to the whole report.

This weekend, ASCD members from around the country are descending on Capitol Hill as part of the 3rd annual Leadership for Effective Advocacy and Practice (LEAP) Institute. The Institute is "designed to bridge the divide between educational policy and practice through effective advocacy," according to the ASCD website. LEAP prepares leaders to advance ASCD's advocacy goals through its legislative agenda, strengthens the leadership skills of emerging and diverse leaders, deepens knowledge and perspectives about ASCD positions, and enhances understanding of ASCD's positions with policymakers.

Carol Marcotte (immediate past president of Maine ASCD) and Deborah Baker (President Elect) are attending the LEAP conference this year and have scheduled meetings with several members Maine's Congressional delegation while in Washington. I'm sure NCLB will be on top of the discussion list. If you have specific ideas or comments on the NCLB legislation, feel free to comment here and we'll pass that information along to Carol and Deb.

~John Brandt