Backing down slightly from its unrelenting support for No Child Left Behind, the Bush Administration announced today that it is willing to relax the law’s provisions for some states, allowing education officials to distinguish schools with a few problems from those that need a large-scale overhaul.
As it stands, the law's strict accountability system, called Adequate Yearly Progress, divides students into subgroups—all ethnic/racial groups present in the school, low-income students, students with disabilities, and students with limited English proficiency—and requires that each subgroup in a school reach state-determined levels of proficiency on standardized tests in math and reading. If one subgroup fails, the entire school fails. And to her credit, Education Secretary Margaret Spellings recognizes that some schools don't need surgery, "just triage":
Under the new program, the federal Department of Education will give up to 10 states permission to focus reform efforts on schools that are drastically underperforming and intervene less forcefully in schools that are raising the test scores of most students but struggling with one group, like the disabled, for instance.
Illinois Board of Education superintendent Christopher Koch is excited about the plan and said he is hoping our state qualifies for the flexibility:
"This allows us to develop a more nuanced system of distinguishing between schools. I would love, for example, to recognize districts or schools that are showing progress, even if they are not meeting the NCLB goal."
Like Koch, educators and legislators will herald the change for easing some of NCLB's most punitive pressures. But in the end, it's a Band-Aid on a law that was not only poorly executed, but fundamentally flawed from its inception. Our national education policy needs to be rethought if we're serious about giving our children the critical thinking skills necessary to succeed as engaged, global citizens.
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