NCLB reauthorization being drafted

Contact your Senator today! This one will count the most of any for a long time, because:

The draft ESEA reauth bill introduced by Harkin & Enzi will impose tens of  millions more student tests to judge teachers and principals. Their bill maintains all NCLB testing; defines “achievement” and “growth” as test scores; uses scores as the near-sole basis for many educational decisions; imposes Race to the Top’s rigid “improvement” structure on low-scoring schools. 

Senate HELP committee starts work on it Weds. For talking points, contacting Senators, seehttp://www.fairtest.org/national/get_involved. Do it now! 

Test and punish rather than school reform

Test-and-punish system is ineffective
Published in USA Today, April 2, 2010
Monty Neill, Interim executive director, National Center for Fair & Open Testing (FairTest) - Boston
Despite fresh evidence of No Child Left Behind's (NCLB) failure, USA TODAY and Education Secretary Arne Duncan want to keep its test-and-punish paradigm. Duncan at least acknowledges that the law is not working, but both responses call to mind Albert Einstein's definition of insanity: "doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results" ("Changes to 'No Child' ease up on middle-class schools," Our view; "We're flexible but tough," Opposing view; Education standards debate, Tuesday).
Last week's National Assessment of Educational Progress report should have been the final nail in the coffin for this approach. It showed student achievement has stagnated. U.S. students made faster academic progress in the decade before NCLB became law. Achievement gaps are not narrowing significantly between white, African-American and Latino students.
USA TODAY recommends we stay the course. And Duncan, though recognizing NCLB isn't working, wants more emphasis on standardized exams. Then he wants to rate teachers based on their students' scores. This will turn more classrooms into test-prep centers.
It's promising that Duncan wants to abandon the illusion that all children will become "proficient" by 2014. Targeting federal attention on low-performing schools and replacing one-size-fits-all mandates are also good ideas. Unfortunately, the plan relies on NCLB's discredited notion that raising the testing "bar" and yelling "jump higher" will magically yield better performance.
To improve education, Congress should replace NCLB with a program to help struggling schools develop the capacity to meet children's needs. The Forum on Educational Accountability, which includes leading civil rights, education, religious, disability, parent and civic groups, has drafted such a plan. Sadly, by leaving so much of NCLB intact, Duncan would consign our children to more of the same damaging insanity.
Monte Neill , Fair Test 

Speak out on NCLB

ESEA/No Child Left Behind Reauthorization: Tell Congress To Do What Is Right For Kids

Reauthorization of ESEA has kicked into high gear.  The Obama Administration has released a blueprint for reauthorization that NEA believes has significant problems and raises serious concerns. 
Of particular concern are:

• Continued emphasis on standardized testing and failure to allow for multiple measures of student learning
• Teacher evaluations tied to student test scores
• Limited and federally-mandated non-research-based turnaround models for struggling schools
• Funding streams that favor some states and districts over others
• No mention of parent or family engagement
• Insufficient efforts to address inequity and gaps in opportunity, tools, and resources 

CONTACT CONGRESS TODAY! Tell Congress what students really need.  Share your views – you are the expert!  Take NEA’s survey and tell us your priorities for ESEA reauthorization. 

Monty Neill, Ed.D.
Interim Executive Director
FairTest
15 Court Sq., Ste. 820
Boston, MA 02108
857-350-8207 x 101
fax 857-350-8209
monty@fairtest.org
www.fairtest.org