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Obama To Propose Sweeping Changes to Education Law
For something that sounds like a good idea, No Child Left Behind has been pretty much universally loathed by educators. I’ve covered schools in both good districts and bad for a long time and pretty much every educator all along the spectrum just really hates that law, which requires schools to show adequate yearly progress based on test scores, among other things.
Now the Obama administration is proposing huge changes to No Child Left Behind.The proposed laws would be based closely on Race To The Top, the competitive program 40 states are pursuing that administers stimulus money to schools. It’s already spurred many states to change education laws, since states that don’t allow test scores to be used in teacher evaluation can’t get the money. It also encourages more charter schools, and requires states to evaluate teachers based on improving test scores and how well they raise student achievement. It’s expected that any new legislation will attach condtions to any federal fund that are similar to Race To The Top.
The propsed legislation would also eliminate the 2014 deadline for all students to show proficiency, instead setting the standard that all students must leave high school “college or career ready.” It would also tie federal money to academic progress at a school, instead of basing it simply on numbers of students. Right now, Title 1 funds (called 21st Century Learning) are apportioned to schools based on how many students they have and how many of those are below the poverty line, and districts then use the money for tutoring programs or a teacher that provides extra help to kids in certain subjects.
According to the New York Times story, No Child Left Behind’s adequate yearly progress standard which gives schools letter grades based on percentages of students that pass state tests would be replaced with a system that divides schools into more categories, recognizing successful schools and doling out large sums to fix failing ones. Educators generally hate AYP, saying it doesn’t do anything to help failing schools change while it stigmatizes them. Schools that don’t meet AYP are required to provide students with free tutoring and allow them to transfer schools and can be forced to make staff changes if they continue to fail.
Secretary of Education Arne Duncan has met with Congressional leaders of both parties, but it’s unclear when the changes might be introduced.
Photo: New York Times/Stephen Crowley
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5 Comments
[...] Monday, the Obama administration announced plans to change how we assess whether schools are succeeding or failing, and to change how federal dollars are handed out based on such assessments. In an Op-Ed piece in [...]
A solution for our schools | Strollerderby commented on Feb 02 10 at 10:42 pmAmanda commented on Feb 01 10 at 11:53 amWhy do both parties seem to think that the federal government has any place in education? All they seem to be able to do is make things worse. I doubt this will be any better than NCLB.
Mistress_Scorpio commented on Feb 01 10 at 7:17 pmGee, Mandy. I wonder why?
jenny tries too hard commented on Feb 01 10 at 8:57 pmI’m with you Amanda. Federal government has always sucked at education policy. State authorities and local school boards understand the needs of their schools best and should be left alone by the federal government. In fact, the only public school system that is (more or less) the responsibility of the federal government (D.C. public schools) is among the worst in the country and President Obama still managed to cut it further down by eliminating the voucher program that spent considerably less per pupil than typical DC public education and raised test scores for every participating child.
Marj commented on Feb 09 10 at 2:26 pmAt least if it’s done on a federal level they won’t allow creationism to be taught in science class. That’s a reason to do it right there for me. I’m sort of relieve No Child Left Behind is being revised. It didn’t work, and I’m tired of America being the worst educated non-third world country.
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