CONNECTICUT ASSOCIATION OF PUBLIC SCHOOL SUPERINTENDENTS

POSITION PAPER

NO CHILD LEFT BEHIND ACT

The Connecticut Association of Public School Superintendents (CAPSS) welcomes the national commitment that has been made to bring every child in this country to a meaningful level of proficiency in key academic areas. The federal government expressed this high purpose through enactment of the No Child Left Behind legislation (NCLB) which requires the achievement of universal student proficiency in language arts, mathematics and science. CAPSS members share this commitment with the Congress and the President of the United States. For many years, in fact, it has been the goal of school superintendents throughout Connecticut to close the achievement gap for low-income and minority students and thereby assure the success of all
students in these subject areas and others. This goal has now become a national priority.

Because we are committed to achieving the goal of universal proficiency, school system leaders in Connecticut’s public schools hold themselves and their staffs accountable for setting high standards for learning and for employing the best educational practices available to help all of our students meet those standards. CAPSS is concerned, however, not only about the absence of best practices in NCLB, but more importantly about the presence of critical flaws in the legislation that substantially undermine its ultimate intent, and the failure of NCLB to foster precisely those practices that would empower schools to bring all students to a meaningful level of proficiency. The primary weakness in the law is the fundamental contradiction between what it purports to foster and what it actually requires. On the one hand, NCLB permits only educational practices whose effectiveness has been established by educational research. On the
other hand, the law requires specific and expensive practices for which there is little or no vidence of effectiveness.

For example, the Act requires that school districts allow parents whose children are attending schools designated as "failing" to choose to send their children to another school. NCLB also requires districts to pay for the cost of accommodating the wishes of parents who decide to choose another school for their children. This is mandated despite the fact that there is little, if any, substantive evidence that choice is an effective means for improving schooling. In every case across this country where choice has been offered, the vast majority of parents have decided
to keep their children in the school where they are presently enrolled. Those children who do move to another school do not experience any appreciable increase in academic achievement. Under the pretense of fostering research-based practices, NCLB imposes a requirement which finds its justification in ideology, not research.

Furthermore, the method that NCLB requires for assessing student learning in language arts, mathematics and science cannot be justified given what we know about best practices. Learning in these areas should be assessed by monitoring how much students grow in their knowledge and skills from the time that they enter a school until the time that they leave the school. Instead, the Act requires that judgments be made about student learning and school effectiveness by comparing how much students at a given grade level know in one year with how much different groups of students know at that grade level in subsequent years. In other words, judgments are
being made about student achievement and school quality by comparing different groups of students with no consideration given to how much a difference in test scores might be caused by differences in the groups of students themselves. This is the educational equivalent of evaluating
an employee based on the work of the individual who previously held the job.

Finally, CAPSS is concerned about how the United States Department of Education chooses to identify research based practices. Teaching and learning encompass much more than what is assessed on a single test. Therefore there is a need to consider other measures, including direct
observations by trained assessors.

On the other hand, research does exist as to what constitutes effective practice. This research indicates at a minimum what must occur to bring the learning of all children up to a meaningful level of proficiency.

• The more time children are given to learn through a variety of experiences, the more they will learn.
• The more individual attention children receive, the more effectively they will learn.
• The earlier in their lives that children receive this attention, the more they will learn. This speaks to the need for providing learning opportunities for children before they enter formal schooling, a practice that is not included in the NCLB legislation.
• Efforts to improve student learning should address all of the factors in a child's development.
• Efforts to improve instruction also should address school organizational cultures and structures, not just program implementation procedures.

Currently, there is little indication from the U.S. Department of Education that it will use what is known to work with respect to the improvement of student learning. As a result, NCLB is not addressing adequately what best practice shows is necessary to achieve high levels of student proficiency.

Given our commitment to do all that we can do to help children achieve proficiency, CAPSS is also concerned that NCLB does not acknowledge relevant societal issues that need to be addressed if we are truly to leave no child behind. The Act does not address in any way the quality of children’s experiences when they are not in school. Lack of effective pre-school programs, low-quality nutrition and medical care, insufficient parental support, and limited intellectual and social opportunities result in a substantial number of children from impoverished backgrounds arriving at the school-house door with significant impediments.

CAPSS realizes that in raising this issue, we risk being criticized by those who think that well-run schools can by themselves ameliorate the effects of poverty and raise learning to a meaningful level of proficiency. Schools must play a primary role in achieving this goal, but they cannot do it alone. As educators who care about our children and understand their needs,
we need the commitment of our local, state and national communities to work in concert with us to address these fundamental inequities in our society. Such shared commitment provides us with the best hope for success in achieving the goal of universal proficiency.

The education of our children is extremely serious business. Connecticut's school system leaders-working with the state's teachers and principals, its school boards, the Commissioner of Education, the State Board of Education, the Governor, members of the state legislature, parents
and the state's citizens have provided this serious attention for many years. The result is a state school system that continues to make solid progress in improving student achievement and compares favorably to other state education systems across the country.

Clearly, however, we need to accelerate our progress if we are to achieve the goal of universal proficiency. However, NCLB, an Act that is highly noble in its purpose, presents major obstacles to the continued improvement of the nation’s schools. Before we expend billions of dollars implementing a flawed statute, the provisions of the statute need to be significantly revised so that it can provide schools and communities the means to undertake initiatives that will actually improve student learning. The Connecticut Association of Public School Superintendents, therefore, will do all that it can to revise the Act and its accompanying regulations so that NCLB can fulfill its promise of assuring educational success for every child in this nation.

In order to make the goal of universal proficiency for every child attainable, CAPSS firmly believes that Congress must:

1. Modify how adequate yearly progress (AYP) is determined so that (a.) there are multiple measures, and (b.) AYP measures the continuous progress of the same cohort of students.
2. Modify the accountability requirements for schools and school districts to reflect realistic requirements.
3. Modify the requirements for handicapped and limited English proficient children.
4. Streamline both NCLB and IDEA regulations to reduce paper compliance and focus on instruction.
5. Require supplementary service providers to be highly qualified teachers.
6. Provide the resources needed to attain the goal of universal proficiency and repeal unfunded mandates.

Approved by the CAPSS Board of Directors
9.5.03