Transcript Slide 1
Standardization and Imperialism…
How do state or federal
mandates affect education and
society?
No Child Left Behind
(NCLB)
These reforms express my deep belief in our public
schools and their mission to build the mind and
character of every child, from every background, in
every part of America.
President George W. Bush
January 2001
Purpose
Close the achievement gap with
accountability, flexibility, parental
choices,
and research-based reforms
History
1965-2002
President Lyndon B. Johnson signs
Elementary
and Secondary Education Act, 1965
Title I and ESEA coordinated through
Improving America’s Schools Act,
1994
Reauthorization of ESEA No Child Left Behind, 2002
Goals
ALL students will attain proficiency or better
in reading and mathematics by 2013-2014
ALL limited English students will become
proficient in English
ALL teachers will be highly qualified
by 2005-2006
ALL students will be educated in safe,
drug-free environments
ALL students will graduate from high school
Key points
Accountability
Teacher Quality
Options and Choices for Parents
Instructional Methods
Flexibility
Accountability
Testing Requirements
Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP)
Consequences
Public Reporting
ACCOUNTABILITY
Adequate Yearly Progress - Example
100%
95%
90%
85%
80%
75%
70%
65%
60%
55%
50%
45%
40%
100%
Target
2013-2014
40%
Baseline
Target
2001-2002
1 200220032004200520062007
20092010201120122013
20 200320042005200620072008200920102011201220132014
0
Teacher quality
All core academic subject area
teachers not
highly qualified must meet the
requirements
by 2005-2006.
Options and choices for parents
Increased parent notification and
reporting requirements for all
districts
– Emphasis on parental involvement
School Improvement Status Schools:
– Transfer option to schools not identified
for improvement
– Supplemental services provided outside
the school day
Summary
Assessment for ALL students
Accountability for ALL students
Public reporting for ALL schools
Increased options for ALL parents
Highly qualified personnel in ALL
schools
Dollars to classrooms in ALL schools
Key dates…
2002- Annual assessment of Limited English
Proficiency students
2002- Biennial NAEP testing in grades 4 and 8
in reading and math
2002- States and districts distribute annual report cards
based on NCLB requirements
Annual assessment in math and reading/language
arts at least once in grades 3-5, 6-9, 10-12 2005- Annual
assessments of reading and math in grades 3-8 (fall)
2006- All public and charter school teachers must
meet
standards of high quality
2006-States must have science standards established
2014-All students must be proficient in reading
and math
What are the pros and cons to federally
mandated educational policy
Pros
Cons
NCLB??
No Child Left Untested
Every Child Left Behind
No Teacher Left Untested
No Puppy Left Unfed
– No one could possibly “be against” leaving no child
behind, just as no one could be against starving
puppies!
Test and Burn
Front: No Child Left Behind
– Back: As long as you are white, middle class, and
Christian
No Child left on Their Behind!!!!!!!! That is what we say in
the Physical Education world.
aNother Conservative-initiated program for Liberals
to Bitch about
Many Children Left Behind by Debra Meier, Alfie Kohn, etc.
Secretary of Education- Rod Paige
National Education Association
(NEA) is a “terrorist
organization” for criticizing NCLB
April 2003- “All things being
equal, I would prefer to have a
child in a school that has a
strong appreciation for Christian
values where a child is taught to
have a strong faith.”
Equity Claims for NCLB don’t
pass the test…
A huge increase in financial
responsibility to schools with no
more federal money provided…
Some estimates say that the new
federal law will require states to give
more than 200 tests at a cost of more
than $7 Billion dollars
Many studies show that standardized
testing does not lead to increased
student achievement but may in fact
reduce it and lead to higher dropout
rates.” (New York Times, 12/28/02)
May narrow the focus of what
teachers do in class
Limit the ability to serve the broader
needs of students and their
communities
Pushes struggling students out of
school
Adopt developmentally inappropriate
practices for young children to get
them prepared for the test
All the focus on test scores means
that little energy is left for
imagination, creativity, intrinsic
motivation, intuition, spontaneity,
and children
HQT
Makes understanding the process of teaching and
learning take a back seat to knowing the facts of a
subject area
93% of white teacher candidate passed the testing
necessary
73% of African American candidates passed the
same test
Over-reliance on high stakes testing of teachers
mirrors the existing race and class inequities and
ultimately denies many teachers of color access to
the teaching field.
Attack on teacher education programs- leading to
alternative licensure and deregulation and for-profit
programs
HQT?
Kati Haycock, 2000 (Education Trust)
– Students in high poverty schools were
more than twice as likely to have
teachers who weren’t certified in the
subject areas that they were teaching
– Students in schools that had a
population of 90% of more of African
American and Latino students were
twice as likely to have teachers with no
certification at all
HQT?
July 2001 The New York Times
– 50 percent of the teachers in urban
schools leave teaching within their
first five years
Empirically Researched
Instructional Methods?
Education and the Cult of Efficiency
“Acquisition of earning” (not
learning)
“Education that does not promote
the desire for earning… is not worth
the getting.”
Accountability?
Law’s punitive measure to not
passing high stakes test is
problematic
Any extra funding will go to
magnet schools through
vouchers or school choice
programs, not to ensure
improvement of present
conditions
Accountability?
Adding special education students
and students with limited English
language proficiency does not
improve their situation and holds
schools responsible to an unfair
expectation
Accountability?
Testing requirements are so high that
in some states over 90% of the
schools will not meet the standards
Accountability?
Inequality in test scores is one
indicator of school performance.
But test scores also reflect other
inequalities.
Accountability?
Ten percent of white children live
in poverty whereas 35% of Black
and Latino children live in
poverty.
Accountability?
14% of whites have no health
insurance whereas 20% of Blacks
and 30% of Latinos have no health
insurance
Accountability?
Why isn’t our political system
addressing this inequity.
George Bush has run a privatizing
mania…
– We are defending the very concept of a
public sector that serves the common
good
– We must promote policies for equitable
funding, smaller class sizes, programs
to enhance teacher quality, regardless
of race, color, nationality, or zip code
“The administration likes to talk
about the soft bigotry of low
expectations and how this law
fights that. But what about the
hard bigotry of high expectations
without adequate resources?”
(Washington Post, 1/2/03)
Dr. Sobol- (initiator of the standards movement)
the high stakes nature of testing
affect those that “are usually
poor and disproportionately of
color…this is beyond illegal and
unfair-this is immoral”. (cited in
Kozol, 2005)