Posted on 11/30/2003 12:32:56 PM PST by Theodore R.
Meeting addresses 'No Child' act
By Becky Orr rep6@wyomingnews.com Published in the Wyoming Tribune-Eagle
CHEYENNE - A federal law that brings major changes in public education to Wyoming and across the country will be the focus of a town hall meeting Monday.
People who have questions about what the No Child Left Behind Act means can ask the experts during the meeting at Laramie County Community College.
U.S. Sen. Mike Enzi, R-Wyo., will join State Superintendent of Public Instruction Trent Blankenship and assistant secretary of legislation Karen Johnson from the U.S. Department of Education.
They'll explain what the No Child Left Behind Act means and take questions from the audience.
The federal legislation requires students be proficient in reading and math within the next 12 years.
States must provide accountability systems based on state standards developed in reading and math. Students between the third and eighth grades also will have to take yearly tests and show progress.
Students within certain subgroups must reach proficiency. The subgroups are broken down by race, ethnicity, disability, poverty and limited English proficiency.
During an interview last week, Blankenship said he mostly supports the law. He said he's concerned about achievement targets for special education and requirements for English as Second Language learners in Wyoming.
Other than that, "I'm an ardent supporter of the legislation," he said. "I believe it's absolutely the right thing."
Blankenship said he's concerned that achievement targets for special education students require them to advance at a rate significantly higher than other students.
"And I'm not sure it's a realistic expectation," he said.
He also points to concerns about English as a Second Language students in Wyoming.
In Wyoming, students are taken out of the ESL program as soon as they become proficient in English. But that causes the subgroup to lose all its proficient students.
So, it's harder for those remaining students to continue to reach proficiency year after year.
"In both of these areas, it would be nice if the folks from the U.S. Department of Education allowed us to set different targets (for these groups) while still expecting them to perform at high levels," he said.
Enzi also is a major supporter of the law. He helped write the bill that established the law, said Kim Sears, his deputy press secretary.
Enzi regards the act as something that will help Wyoming students achieve more by focusing on individual student performance, she said.
"He believes that Wyoming has been a model for most states in implementing No Child Left Behind," she said in an e-mail. Building upon the state's success will help make sure students reach their potential.
"The senator helped put these events together to provide educators, parents and the public a chance to ask questions and get answers directly from the people who are administering the law," she said.
The act has left many critics wondering how all students can realistically reach proficiency. And they fear what will happen to schools that don't make the mark.
This issue also will be addressed at the meeting to "allay those fears," Sears said.
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