The No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 was signed into law by President Bush on Jan. 8, 2002. The goal behind the program is to make school districts and teachers accountable for the education of children. By looking deeper into the program, there are many concerns.
\nThe law gives flexibility to all 50 states for the type of standards that they set. Pennsylvania has one of the most stringent tests to evaluate student achievement.
\nThe Daily Herald talked with Tyrone High School English Chairman Steve Everhart and Math Chairman Fran Bloom about the program and how it will affect the Tyrone schools.
\nTyrone fared well in the latest rounds of PSSA tests, but even with the results it achieved, it would be in trouble in the year 2014.
\n\u201cLet\u2019s talk about Philadelphia\u2019s esteemed Julia Masterman School,\u201d said Everhart. \u201cThat school only admits academic and socio-economic prima donnas already scoring in the top 10 percent of the city in PSSA performance. It\u2019s hard to classify Masterman as a public school under these elitist private school admission standards, but the school has been at the top of the state in PSSA performance since the inception of the state exams. Even the Julia Masterman School failed to meet the state\u2019s rigid 99.5 percent proficiency mark last year \u2014 one percent of its students were non-proficient on the 2001-02 tests. If Masterman cannot achieve 99.5 percent proficiency with all of its chusy advantages over the mainstream public school system, then how do lawmakers propose that the toughest of our inner-city schools make the mark \u2014 this year, in 12 years or even in 100 years.\u201d
\nThis is a state-wide situation that is facing all public schools.
\n\u201cUpper St. Clair, Lower Merion, Mount Lebanon, Central Bucks, Hatboro-Horsham, Radmor, State College and Bethel Park have been recognized as Blue Ribbon Schools for excellence,\u201d said Everhart. \u201cWere this 2014, all of these districts would be failures given the 99.5 percent guidelines of No Child Left Behind.\u201d
\nIf the Blue Ribbon Schools aren\u2019t making the grade, what could the prospects be for Tyrone?
\n\u201cWe will overachieve \u2014 as we have always done,\u201d said Bloom. \u201cOur kids will outperform other schools like ours with 25 percent special education populations and huge low-income enrollments. We can\u2019t make any promises of crossing the 99.5 percent bar consistently. Tyrone has proven that it can transform Title I laden kindergarten populations into learners who score near the top of the state in their PSSA\u2019s in their junior years of high school. However, over-achieving schools like ours have already squeezed a lot of blood from the stone. They have acted with vigor and commitment to be ahead of the curve by in-servicing staff, fine-tuning curriculum, tracking progress and student accountability, and addressing serious attendance and motivational issues.\u201d
\nThe question is, can we do better?
\n\u201cSure we can,\u201d said Bloom. \u201cWe are pretty sure we know where to begin, but somewhere up there is a ceiling. I don\u2019t know exactly where it is, but it\u2019s definitely below 99.5 percent.\u201d
\nWith the stringent guidelines and penalties facing school districts, it seems that policy makers expect more blood from the stone.
\n\u201cThat\u2019s the idea, and it\u2019s a good idea at that,\u201d said Everhart. \u201cWe must do all we can for kids. But, you must understand that No Child Left Behind is politics first and educational policy second. Lawmakers will not admit that this legislation is intended to do more than encourage schools to help students. By setting proficiency standards so unreasonably high, it is also another political weapon aimed at public education.\u201d
\nThe policy lets each state set their own standards and many other states are in the process of revisiting their state exams.
\n\u201cAlready some states are revising their state exams, making them easier to pass, lowering the bar of excellence to maintain their financial solvency in the future,\u201d said Everhart. \u201cBut the federal government is on to this. Pennsylvania, which has one of the nation\u2019s most rigorous tests, is not likely to follow suit. I would hate to see our state tests bastardized in this way because they are challenging, well-designed instruments. Texas, on the other hand, has no need to revise its test, which along with Montana\u2019s is regarded y many as the easiest one to pass in the entire nation \u2014 thus explaining Texas\u2019 high state proficiency rates. By setting the bar in his home state so low to start when he was governor there, George Bush makes No Child Left Behind seem conveniently within reach. It is unfortunate that studies from the Rand Corporation reveal that Texas places near the bottom on the NAEP and other measures of national achievement. On a national scale, Texas is a failure academically, despite its high state exam proficiency rates.\u201d
\nOne of the punishments for schools not making the proficiency standards is giving parents the option of vouchers for private schools.
\n\u201cLike the federal government, state governments want to cut taxes while shirking their constitutional responsibility to fund public education,\u201d said Everhart. \u201cPennsylvania\u2019s share of public education funding has dipped from 50 percent to near 30 percent over the past two decades. Privatizing our schools would reduce that funding even further. Thus, public school bashing is fast becoming a national pastime as property taxes are soaring to make up the difference.\u201d
\nTomorrow, in part three in our series on No Child Left Behind, Everhart and Bloom look at what privatizing education would do and what factors are necessary for the program to work.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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