The Free Press, Mankato, MN

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February 7, 2010

Our View: Leave old education law behind

The Free Press

MANKATO — Leaving the old version of No Child Left Behind in the dust will be a relief to many educators and parents.

The Obama administration indicated last week it intends to work with Congress to revamp the program and get legislative changes passed.

The concept of the No Child Left Behind Act has always been noble. Who wouldn’t want an education system that demands that each and every child succeed? Who would argue against all kids making academic progress?

In practicality, it uses a negative approach, labeling schools as failing when students don’t make “adequate yearly progress” as measured by student test scores. Instead of beefing up programs that could help those students succeed and tracking the progress of individual students over the years, No Child Left Behind now punishes schools and removes resources from the schools where the kids have the most needs.

Depending on how many times the school was on the AYP list, punishment could include notifying parents of the school’s “failure” and giving them the opportunity to enroll their children elsewhere, to eventually dismissing staff or restructuring the school. No one is saying not to pay attention when schools repeatedly show their students are struggling, but a major improvement would be to reward schools that improve and direct more resources to kids who need more help.

Under the existing law, all students are required to be “proficient” by 2014. That includes kids with learning disabilities and many kids who are learning English. The Obama administration said the 2014 proficiency deadline will likely be eliminated. Instead, indications are that the proficiency deadline could be replaced with a goal that all students leave high school “college or career ready.” That goal, which students would work toward by meeting standards throughout the education process, makes much more sense.

Education groups are concerned about the administration’s emphasis on competitive grants — such as Race to the Top — and the proposal to not increase Title I funding — which goes to schools with lower-income students. Some fear that rural districts and children in the poorest parts of the country will suffer. How many poor districts have grant writers to help them compete for those federal funds?

There is a lot of discussion that needs to take place and a lot of work to do before the law is redone. Now is the time to contact your U.S. representative and senators to share your thoughts on how to improve education.

Overall, a wave of optimism is in the air as talk of revamping No Child Left Behind spreads. Schools have been wrestling with the old version of the law since 2002. It’s time to leave it behind.

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