Educators weigh "No Child" law
The Worcester Telegram & Gazette
Clive McFarlane
January 28, 2003
While there is general agreement that the federal government's No Child Left Behind Act is on target with its emphasis on raising education standards and eliminating the achievement gap between pupils from different backgrounds, concerns are growing that the law, if not amended, could make life unbearable for public school administrators and teachers.
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Sponsored by the Center for Education Research & Policy at MassINC, the forum was a way of providing feedback for officials in Washington on how the law was being viewed and carried out in the field, according to S. Paul Reville, executive director of the Center for Education Research & Policy.
"It is a little rough around the edges and it is causing a lot of anxiety, concerns, and disappointment on how it is being implemented in the field," he said.
The law, the reauthorization of the federal Elementary and Secondary Education Act, was passed and implemented a year ago. It establishes rigorous accountability standards, expands choices for parents and gives state and local districts new flexibility in spending federal dollars.
"The objectives are precisely right. American kids do not know enough. They need to know more, if they are to succeed in the world," said Jack Jennings, founder and director of the Washington, D.C.-based Center on Education Policy.
On the other hand, if pupils are going to do better, they will need extra attention and time and teachers will have to be paid more money to teach in the poorest and most challenging schools, Mr. Jennings said.
"We will need to do business in a different way, and parents will have to take education more seriously," he said.
Administrators such as Worcester Superintendent of Schools, James Caradonio, are particularly alarmed at the law's insistence on measuring a school's success based on the achievement level of each subgroup of students in that school.
"The law is stacked against diverse schools with many different subgroups of students," said Mr. Caradonio, who spoke as a panelist at the forum.
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"It is unprecedented," Mr. Jennings said of the law's prescriptive provisions for reaching all schools and all children.
"We have never tried that before, and I do not think any other country has tried that, and that makes it quite a challenge," he said.
But while there is a pattern of accountability for schools, there is little or none for parents, teachers, and pupils, Mr. Jennings said.
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