While gridlock is the norm on many domestic issues, Republicans and Democrats are pledging a joint effort to address the future of the No Child Left Behind law. Though work is just underway, the pledge is giving analysts some confidence that lawmakers will examine NCLB’s most difficult topics, from achievement among students of color to the future of persistently failing public schools.
“The need for change is indisputable,” National Education Association President Dennis Van Roekel says. With one-third of ninth-graders failing to graduate high school, the system “is failing to meet the needs of too many students, and educators are chafing under a system that unfairly measures schools and students based solely on test scores.”
Though there is some consensus that test scores alone cannot drive quality improvements, the possible solutions are many — a point that lawmakers note in their new effort to bring diverse views to the table.
“We all agree, along with teachers, parents, administrators and many others, that it needs significant changes. To get there, we need to be open to bold ideas that ‘disrupt’ our current system,” says Rep. George Miller, D-Calif., chairman of the House Education and Labor Committee in a written statement.
Under NCLB, schools are to report steadily increasing levels of achievement so that every child masters state academic requirements by 2014. Annual reports document each school’s Adequate Yearly Progress, which carries penalties for underachievers. In schools without 100 percent proficiency by 2014, states or other organizations may take over schools and teachers may be forced to reapply for their jobs.
About 15 percent of schools fail to meet progress each year, and some states have as many as 50 percent that are not able to reach the standards, NEA says.
While NCLB requires the reporting of student achievement by race and income, some analysts say the law has fallen short in serving the most disadvantaged students.
