Education Policy Question
Background:
On January 8, 2002 President
George W. Bush signed the “No Child Left Behind Act of 2001” (NCLB), enacting
the most comprehensive changes to federal education policy in decades. This
revision of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 has many
components, a primary piece is the requirement that states develop standards
and tests, and that those tests be used to measure progress and hold schools
accountable. The goal of the legislation is that by 2014-2015, all students in
public schools (100%) will achieve an academic performance level of
“proficient” or higher.
Now in the 2005-2006 school
year, we are entering the fourth year of the act, and by next year schools and
school systems labeled as “failing” will be subject to the third level of sanctions
including school choice and mandatory tutoring. As this deadline approaches, criticism and
resistance to the mandated system of accountability is growing at the state and
local levels.
Most of the criticism of NCLB
is centered not on the goals of the legislation, which almost everyone agrees
to, but the implementation of sanctions that accompany NCLB. Major complaints are also that the law is too
intricate and complicated. Finally, many
do not like the “all or nothing” approach to the “Adequate Yearly Progress”
distinction. For example, a school whose
students all pass the exams, but only 94% of 1 minority group took the exam
would receive the same “failing” label as a school where only 10% of students
pass the exam.
Your Client:
The Brookings Institution, a
public policy `think tank', has appointed you as a team of independent,
non-partisan education policy experts to prepare a report recommending an
alternative accountability system for the federal government.
The Question:
How should the federal government
change the current legislation in light of what has happened since the passage
of the law? What could be done
differently by federal government to create and implement a national system of
accountability for schools (K-12)? What should be the actions taken, and under
what conditions, for schools failing to demonstrate improvement in test scores?
In other words, what should be the procedures for standards and accountability?
Additional information to
get started:
1. “No Child Left Behind Act: Facts and Fiction”,
2.
3. “Education Policy”, Chapter 10 in Public Policy:
Politics, Analysis, and Alternatives by Michael Kraft and Scott Furlong, CQ
Press, 2004.
4. U.S. Department of Education website on NCLB www.ed.gov
5. Historical context: “No Child Left Behind Act of 2001”. National Conference of State
Legislatures. http://www.ncsl.org/programs/educ/NCLBHistory.htm
6. Comprehensive summary: “No Child Left Behind: A
Desktop Reference”. US Department of
Education, Office of Elementary and Secondary Education,
7. Education Commission of the States. No Child Left Behind website. http://nclb2.ecs.org/Projects_Centers/index.aspx?issueid=gen&IssueName=General
8. Education Commission of the States. “No Child Left
Behind Policy Brief, School Choice”. http://www.ecs.org/clearinghouse/35/21/3521.pdf