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Volume CXXXIII, Number 11 |
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No Child Left Behind works backwards for education
BRYANT ANTHONY RICH
COLUMNIST
Featured prominently on the front page of Wednesday's New York Times was an article entitled: "Gains in Houston Schools: How Real Are They? A Miracle Revisited." One of President Bush's flagship social efforts in 2000 was education. The president drew on the gains of Texas public schools, specifically Houston's, as evidence that his education policies worked. With 2004 on the horizon, it is now time to evaluate these alleged gains.
Also featured prominently on the front page, was a chart that demonstrated the dramatic gap between the test results that Houston students earned on the Texas Assessment of Academic Skills (TAAS) and the Stanford Achievement test. While the TAAS showed students making marked improvement, the Stanford achievement test showed that students' performances actually dropped since 1999.
Also under dispute is the degree to which Houston's schools discouraged students who had difficulty with English as a second language and those with other learning problems from taking the test. Studies show that these numbers, as well as dropout rates, appear to have been markedly higher in Houston than in other cities like New York. Another disturbing factor is that while 88 percent of the Houston school district's students are Black or Latino, only a few hundred of Houston's 8,000 high school graduates are Black or Latino.
Because of all of the political capital that the Bush administration has infused into its tough educational standards, Secretary of Education Rod Paige, formerly Houston's Superintendent of Schools, has defended Houston's test results vehemently. His defense was inadequate. As a result Texas administered a new test: the Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills (TAKS). The Times found that as a result of this new, more difficult test, gaps between the races widened and passing rates fell significantly.
While these results may have proved to be revelations to people in politics, veteran educators and scholars have been skeptical from the start. I spoke with Rebecca Sargent '06, who is pursuing a minor in education and aspires to become a teacher. Her observations and opinions of contemporary criticism of the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) act in the field of education are only confirmed by this recent New York Times article.
According to NCLB, by 2014 there needs to be 100 percent proficiency in state tests relative to average yearly progress (AYP). So, if the AYP of a specific school does not increase in any two consecutive year periods, that school is deemed failing.
The consequence is as follows: "After two years, kids may attend another non-failing school in the district (a problem in Maine where there is usually only one school in a district!) and then after five years or so, schools must implement an (alternate governance) plan that includes converting it to a charter school, replacing all or most of the staff, turning it over to a private management company, or having the state take it over," said Sargent.
Sargent suggests that the problems can only increase: "Too much of the law is focused on punishment, what will happen if you fail, rather than constructive measures so that they don't fail. And as the more qualified students leave to go to other non-failing schools, where does that leave the failing school? Or the now massively overcrowded non-failing school?"
She also points out that tests often disadvantage those students with learning problems and encourage states to make their tests too easy, like the TAAS. So, essentially the NCLB will exacerbate every ill that already plagues American education: lowered standards, lower performance and school overcrowding.
I believe that Sargent summarizes the issue well here: "the heads will start to turn when wealthy public schools begin to be called 'failing schools.'" There may not be a perfect solution to the many problems of our nation's public schools, but the No Child Left Behind act only makes the existing problems worse.
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