Needed Fixes for No
Child Left Behind
EDITORIAL, NYTimes on
the Web, February 15, 2007
The No Child Left Behind Act of 2002
— which requires states to close the achievement gap between rich and poor
students in exchange for more federal dollars — is the most far-reaching
educational reform since the country embraced compulsory education in the early
20th century.
But it is unlikely to succeed unless Congress strengthens the law and puts a lot
more money behind it when it moves to reauthorize No Child Left Behind later
this year.
The bipartisan Commission on No Child Left Behind, financed by several private
foundations to evaluate the law’s effect, has come up with a list of 75 specific
and much needed suggestions on how to improve teaching, learning and student
performance, and on what the states need to do better to help schools meet the
law’s requirements.
The report calls for the development of rigorous, voluntary national standards
that would more effectively prepare students for success at college and in the
workplace. The report also points out glaring problems with the way states
collect data on both school and student performance. Those systems appear
to be in chaos, where they exist at all. The report calls on the federal
government to pony up an additional $100 million to help states build such
systems.
The commission also argues that the reform effort will not get anywhere until
the country manages to train, hire and retain far more high-quality teachers.
In a departure from the past, the report calls for teachers to be evaluated not
just based on their educational credentials, but also on how effectively their
students learn.
In a suggestion that’s long overdue, the report recommends that colleges and
universities, which rely on federal funds, be required to increase the number of
graduates qualified to teach in underserved areas like math and science.
At the same time, it suggests that school districts with high turnover rates be
required to develop plans to train and retain their best teachers.
This report reflects the growing and welcome consensus that No Child Left
Behind, and the quest to improve public schooling for all children, are here to
stay. What remains is for Congress to write some of these important new
provisions into law and to put enough money behind them to make them work.
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