Posted on 06/06/2007 1:48:30 AM PDT by ricks_place
Study's Authors Unsure Whether to Credit Law for Gains
The nation's students have performed significantly better on state reading and math tests since President Bush signed his landmark education initiative into law five years ago, according to a major independent study released yesterday.
The study's authors warned that it is difficult to say whether or how much the No Child Left Behind law is driving the achievement gains. But Republican and Democratic supporters of the law said the findings indicate that it has been a success. Some said the findings bolster the odds that Congress will renew the controversial law this year.
"This study confirms that No Child Left Behind has struck a chord of success with our nation's schools and students," U.S. Education Secretary Margaret Spellings said in a statement. "We know the law is working, so now is the time to reauthorize."
The report, which experts called the most comprehensive analysis of test data from all 50 states since 2002, concluded that the achievement gap between black and white students is shrinking in many states and that the pace of student gains increased after the law was enacted. The findings were particularly significant because of their source: the nonpartisan Center on Education Policy, which in recent years has issued several reports that have found fault with aspects of the law's implementation.
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
I don’t like the federal gov’t being involved in education, but something was needed to get teachers to teach, and not just propagandize. The uproar from teachers unions tells me the idea behind it is good.
It sounded like you were defending the bill. If not, sorry.
I thought that one thing this bill did was limit those who could be tested as 'special ed'. Maybe that is only in Texas.
“No Child” has overturned the education establishment. The shrieks over this bill were and continue to be harsher, more shrill, and desperate as any you’ll get from a group that feels its privilege and entire sense of self shaken (choose your latest example).
“No Child” is cumbersome, overwrought, expensive, and revolutionary. And it is precisely the type of work we elected this President to pursue: shake the establishment, inject conservative principles of accountability and self-advancement, and begin to sort through an entrenched liberal bureaucracy. Folks have no idea just how much resistence Bush appointees have received at the department level, and how much those cultures have been changed: and that’s against not just eight years of Clintoon, it’s 60+ years of post-New Deal hardening of the “public service” bureaucracy.
“No Child” and accompanying Bush Admin reform has introduced incredible change into our educational system. I just sponsored for full scholarship into an elite college one of the first Federal voucher students from SE D.C. Using Bush programs, she escaped public schools and ran straight to the top of a Catholic — religious — school, using federal funding. Unheard of before.
Above all, “No Child” has the education bureaucracy questioning itself for the first time since unionization: the concept of “accountability,” alone, has loosened their death grip on education. (This also explains the need for federal intervention, since collective bargaining of public service was a federal invention.)
This type of story has happened across the Departments. No, the ‘94 agenda has gone unfulfilled, and yes, the establishments are still there. But unchanged they are not, and we are all so much the better off for this Adminstration’s ground-level battles.
I think it is sad that such a bill was needed to try to get kids to accept responsibility for their own learning. I have been in education for many years. Something like this can get a child’s attention - that learning is HIS(HER) responsibility. That sense of responsibility has been lost over the years.
Thank you. Many of the Teachers I know were also against the testing but only because of what they had been “told” not for what the program “did”. It put accountability into teaching.
That depends on whether or not you are an ends justifies the means person. You don't mind ignoring the constitution and general principles of Federalism if the outcome in once instance is maybe ok. Others of us think that in the long run the country and the children would be far better off if the Feds stayed out of it.
This is a rehash of so very many issues in our society. The quetion is "carrot or stick" or in other words, "market based or enforcement based solutions" Enforcement based solutions (like no child left behind) have some positive benefits and there is no denying that, especially when the problem has become a festering, metastasizing mess. However, I believe that market based solutions should ALWAYS lead. People choosing to do what it good/right/legal is always always always always to be preferred over forcing them to do so (less expensive, too). Make enforcement a part of the picture, but make it stand last in line. Again, this is a principle that should be followed in a number of areas in the USA where we have social problems.
Please state here, in this forum, the text of the 10th amendment (or a paraphrase, if you wish). You will have answered your own question.
NCLB applies federal funding (Title I for example) programs. The states have their hands out for this money, then the government should expect something in return. I have no problem with that at all.
The states can by all means not accept this money and go it alone. Are you prepared to see your real estate taxes go through the roof as a result of that? If yes, then go for it.
“The special ed kids are given outrageous help”
Oh my.
I take it you don’t have a special needs child. I honestly don’t trust myself to respond to this ridiculous statement.
Duh. When the Feds tell you funding is at stake, that's what you do.
NCLB applies federal funding (Title I for example) programs. The states have their hands out for this money, then the government should expect something in return...
The state legislature in Virginia has discussed doing that very thing. It is possible they will be the first to say 'no' to the NCLB money and drop out. It's a fair amount of money so it will be interesting to watch
I completely agree.
My daughter has a measured IQ of 68, the border line for mental retardation. The pain of the gradual realization of her problems is something only a parent who has had a child like this can understand. We home schooled her. She "hit the wall" educationally at about age 16. She is now grown, lives at home, is full time employed, just got a raise and promotion. I am convinced that her ability to read, do simple math, and reason are largely the result of my wife's decision to stay home (we made a huge financial sacrifice during those years) and POUR HER LIFE into that child. I am extremely proud of her, and I thank God for her. God used her to show me that the standards and values the world places on smart, rich, savvy and "successful" are all just bullshit. You might say that God used her to save me "a second time," in that I understand so much better how utterly empty the values are in this world that have no place for a person like Louise (not her real name).
Save your indignation for someone who needs it, ok?
Taxes? My taxes are already high. Oh, by the way, where do think the federal money comes from? (Sheesh, posted on a conservative website!)
I make a point to ask every teacher I run into about their thoughts on NCLB. So far, I’ve asked about ten, ranging politically from very liberal to very conservative, and every single one of them thinks that NCLB is garbage.
No, here in Texas, Special Ed students take a different test that is not as “hard” with special seating arrangements (i.e.: small group). (I know because my step-son who just graduated this year and cannot even spell the word “school” correctly) took the “dummed down” test throughout high school. Funny thing how he went to school all these years and no one in the public school system realized until this year he is dyslexic.
But it does bring up an interesting question: what part of the “score increase” is due to the extreme increase in putting “normal” students in to “special ed” and having them take the “dummed down” test. We all know the Fed pays more to schools for special ed students.
Good post.
The teachers union certainly doesn’t like the law so I’d say it’s far more good than bad.
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