NewTalk is a nonpartisan online forum where invited experts discuss America’s most pressing domestic issues.
MODERATOR John Merrow:
Any talk of abandoning No Child Left Behind is foolish because NCLB is the continuation of a long trail of federal education legislation that traces back to the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965.
Congress and the next Administration must do something, but what? That’s the question posed to a remarkable roster of deep thinkers and activists.
Can NCLB be fixed? If so, what changes must be made? How wholesale must they be?
What good has NCLB done in its short history? What harm has it done?
Its supporters say that it has forced schools to—finally—pay attention to certain groups of children who have been all but ignored. By requiring that all identifiable groups of a certain size make what is called ‘adequate yearly progress,’ NCLB has held schools’ feet to the fire.
Critics point out that the law is riddled with loopholes, and that alone has created contempt for the law. States and districts have wiggled out of many of the law’s provisions—by changing the size of the subgroups, for example, rendering ‘results’ virtually meaningless.
Supporters say NCLB forces school districts to pay attention to the credentials of the teachers it hires—finally. No longer can districts put a warm body in front of classrooms, thanks to NCLB.
Read more: http://newtalk.org/2008/08/do-we-need-a-basic-rewrite-of.php
