Monday, October 16, 2006

Explaining No Child Left Behind to Totalitarians



Just as the People’s Republic of China has its nine-year Compulsory Education Law of 1985, the United States has a pre-eminent law as well. The U.S. law is known as the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 (NCLB).

NCLB has significantly impacted state educational systems and local school districts. The law’s requirement for standards, assessments, corrective actions, public report cards and adequate yearly progress has altered many state testing programs.


This is in a report written by Harcourt Assessment. Later in the report, we find the explanation of sanctions:


Consequences

Perhaps the most significant part of NCLB is that schools must help each group and the aggregate make progress or face the consequences. Schools not making adequate yearly progress have to take corrective steps ranging from offering parents public school choice to restructuring schools. If schools are able to intervene and achieve adequate yearly progress for two consecutive years, they can have the sanctions removed.
The consequences for not meeting adequate yearly progress for two consecutive years are that schools must go through the following steps of corrective action for school improvement:

Public school choice

If a school does not make adequate yearly progress for two consecutive years, parents can choose to have their child attend a different school.

Supplemental services
If a school does not make adequate yearly progress for three consecutive years, the district must provide public school choice and provide supplemental services (e.g., tutoring) to low-achieving students, disadvantaged students, students with disabilities and English language learners.

Corrective action
If a school fails to make adequate yearly progress for four consecutive years, the district must implement certain actions such as changing the curriculum, getting a new principal or replacing staff.

Restructuring
If a school fails to make adequate yearly progress for five consecutive years, it must restructure the school (e.g., state takeover, hire a private company).
Once a school makes adequate yearly progress for two consecutive years, it is considered improved.


American public schools have traditionally been locally controlled. In towns like ours, we used to have accountability - just a conversation with teachers and the principal away. No Child Left Behind puts state and federal bureaucrats ahead of parents and school committees.

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