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 know there is a different test(s) for Special Ed. But the NUMBER of students who can take that is down. There is a limit on how many can take that test out of the total student population.
Just to encourage you. I studied under a man who was dyslexic. His writings were atrocious and indecipherable. His name was Francis Schaeffer. If you have heard of him you know he was a fairly bright (I think he was brilliant) evangelical, whose writings were used to move me from "nothingism" to Christianity when I was a late teenager. I liked the stuff so much I spend a summer in Switzerland studying at the commune/study institute he ran.
If you have not heard of Schaeffer, just know that if your kid does half as well as him, you will be astounded at how bright he is.
...and some liberal Democrats complain it has placed too much emphasis on high-stakes tests and discouraged creativity.
Yep. How dare teacher tell little Johnny that 2+2 does not equal 39. Or that 'CAT' is not spelled 'rtxyupcge'
Sheesh, how uncreative can one get.
Well that's a wonderful way to judge a law.
Would they have been able to get better results?
The “good” private schools around here are full and aren’t required to admit anyone. They also aren’t held accountable for test scores of students who do transfer.
Most of the charter schools actually are turning in significantly worse scores, and the one that actually was doing well was found to be skimming millions of dollars of taxpayer money to the founder.
Yeah, that’s a great solution. Give tax money to schools that aren’t held accountable, the majority of which turn in worse scores, and which use the money to line their own pockets...
So it's OK to blatantly disregard the Constitution if the Feds don't think the states are getting the job done. That is a very dangerous path to go down, my friend.
I bitch about that stuff all the time too.
Have you seen writing samples of the typical teenager/young adult these days? We're raising a generation of retards.
I'm glad I'm not the only one who noticed that.
Charter schools are generally replacing (i.e. drawing students from) some of the worst schools in the country. And they are doing an undoubtly better job.
Yes, I agree with you. The bottom line is that this has measurable tests to track progress. Not ideal, but its better than before which was basically not holding teacher unions accountable for results.
So maybe the answer is that schools must prove themselves worthy first, before getting any federal dollars.
The Constitution is more important that the difference between a 74% and a 76% on a test.
Thank you for a thoughtful, well-written, analysis of the issue.
Many of the strongest and most vocal supporters of limited Federal government as laid out by the Constitution keep overlooking one of the essential practices of that form of government — the need for compromise and the art of the possible in politics.
We suffer from 70+ years of Democrats/Progressives/Socialist/Marxists/Communists (pick your own label) steadily eroding individual rights and freedoms while expanding the size of the Federal government one piece of legislation, one floor amendment, one paragraph of Congressional language, and one compromise at a time.
Yet, we continue to insist that Conservative politicians must instantaneously roll it all back or we will fail to support them with our time, money, and votes.
This does NOT mean we must blindly follow any idiot who hangs an “R” after his or her name.
It DOES mean that we must consistently vote for and support the most conservative candidate with a SOLID CHANCE of being elected. And in some locations and some times that DOES mean “holding your nose” in the voting booth.
Locally and nationally, MONEY is the single, most important motivator to the Republican party. You CAN “vote early and often” with your dollars for specific conservative candidates.
And, to serve as an example and concentrate the minds of the rest, it is occasionally useful to render the most egregious RINOs unemployed and unemployable, by voting them out of office.
But never forget that the restoration Constitutional principles truly is “an endless war” on behalf of our children, grandchildren, and all succeeding generations.
The free market will address that. It always does.
You are forgetting two fundamental problems with NCLB.
1.) Any test given, regardless, must have a percentage of failures to be a valid test. As the number of people who pass a test approach 100%, the test must become more difficult. You will eventually test yourself out of ability. This is a fact that cannot be ignored.
2.) All students, regardless, will achieve the same levels. This is impossible because NCLB is trying to dictate intelligence. There is no feasible way, no matter if you private school, charter school, homeschool, etc. that you can change a fundamental aspect of a person. My nephew has Downs Syndrome. He will never earn a high school diploma, but under the terms of NCLB, he has to pass the same tests as his gifted, top of her class sister.
I have no problems with accountability. I just wish that some would look at the realistic aspects of this law.
100% true. Under NCLB only 5% of the total school population may be exempted. Those exemptions are saved for the severe/profound population, moderately mentally retarded, and non-verbal autistics. The Mildly Mentally Retarded and Learning disabled kids end up taking the tests. In fact 3 years ago, our school system had too many low level kids and we ended up having to test kids that had no business being tested.
NCLB has probably helped some kids who were below average in ability. But it has hurt others who were above average because of the dumbing down of the system.
That makes sense to me.
So maybe the answer is that schools must prove themselves worthy first, before getting any federal dollars.
Or if a school proves itself unworthy it no longer does -- which is I guess one of the points beind NCLB :-)
Local, anecdotal: there has been definite, positive movement in education since this bill was signed.
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