Left to right, third grade student, Phillip Armstrong, teacher, Mr. Kennard Branch, and student, William Givens take part in Math explorations during class at M. Hall Stanton School in Philadelphia, PA. in March of 2007.
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There is no shortage of ideas for improving No Child Left Behind. Senator Edward Kennedy, who chairs the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, and Congressman George Miller, Kennedy's counterpart in the House, are sorting through a mind-numbing number of proposals to address AYP's shortcomings, lackluster state standards, curriculum narrowing and remedies for failing schools as well as issues concerning the law's requirement for a "qualified teacher" in every classroom and other concerns.
Miller and Kennedy hope to pass a new and improved version of the law by year's end. If that doesn't happen, the current law--with all its flaws--will remain in force, probably until a new Administration tackles the matter.
No one has all the answers to America's challenges in education, but in revising the law, Congress would do well to focus on the things the Federal Government can handle successfully and steer clear of long-distance micromanagement. A few suggestions:
More daylight Maintain the reporting requirements of NCLB but encourage states to provide a fuller picture of school quality than the bare bones of AYP. Congress should offer incentives--carrots, not sticks--for school districts to provide more information to their communities, including high school graduation rates, measures of student growth, participation in gifted and talented programs and achievement in the arts.
One nation, one test Create strong incentives for the states to move away from 50 different standards and 50 different tests and instead converge on NAEP or some other gold standard--perhaps Massachusetts' high-quality exams--as the national assessment. This would stop the states from watering down their standards--one of the most damaging side effect of NCLB and one the nation can't afford in a globally competitive economy. The estimated $600 million a year now spent on state testing programs could be used to improve instruction.
Local solutions Back off from the business of slapping failure labels on schools and imposing remedies. Leave school turnaround to the people who are closer to the students, but fund research into what works.
Better teachers for bad schools Improve federal-funding formulas so that schools in poor neighborhoods have the resources to address their weaknesses and, most especially, could afford to hire experienced teachers. This is the best way to address the achievement gap between rich and poor.
Most important, federal policymakers need to listen hard to the people who are working in the nation's schools every day. It's the only way to ensure that policies that sound great in Washington aren't leaving educational reality behind. [This article contains a complex diagram. Please see hardcopy of magazine.] Early Report Card. The law demands that schools get better, but progress may be in the eye of the beholder
Under the No Child Left Behind Act, schools must show improvement. The goal: to have all students proficient in reading and math by 2014. Math scores are creeping up, but reading scores are flat.
1. SLOW GROWTH OVERALL
Average national test scores, all students '92--'04
4th grade Math Reading
8th grade Math Reading
2. LESS SCIENCE AND HISTORY
Because state assessment tests focus on reading and math, other subjects get squeezed out. A recent study looked at how elementary-school teachers apportion their time each week: Weekly hours of instructional time, Grades 1 through 6
Reading [Up] 40 min. '99--'04
Math [Down] 17 min. '99--'04
Science [Down] 23 min. '99--'04
History [Down] 17 min. '99--'04
3. LOWER STATE STANDARDS
Federal law requires that students be tested annually to determine their reading and math skills but leaves it to each state to devise the exam. The result, critics say, is that some states make their tests easier so it appears that their students are doing well. The evidence: huge gaps between state results and scores on national standardized tests. State test results Percentage of fourth-graders scoring as proficient or better in reading Federal test results Percentage of fourth-graders scoring as proficient or better in reading
By its own count, Mississippi is tied for the best score in the country. But on the U.S. test, the state drops to 50th place—a whopping 71 points lower
On average, 30% of U.S. fourth-graders score as proficient or better on the U.S. exam, called the National Assessment of Educational Progress
The average gap between state and national fourth-grade reading scores is 40 points
Massachusetts students score best on the federal test
Missouri has the smallest scoring gap: 2 points MORE SCORES To see how your state scored in math, visit our interactive map at time.com/nochild Note: State-by-state scores for both tests are for 2005, the latest complete year available. The Washington, D.C., reading score is for fifth-graders. Sources: National Center for Education Statistics; the Education Trust; Testing, Learning and Teaching by Martin West, Brown University