Department of Education Responds to Demands

Sec. Paige Yields to Pressure to Improve NCLB

While publicly castigating NEA for what he called "obstructionist scare tactics," U.S. Education Secretary Rod Paige is beginning to follow suggestions from the Association and other advocates for making the federal No Child Left Behind education law flexible enough to achieve its widely acclaimed goals.   

Paige has issued four policy revisions that offer somewhat more flexibility than the original requirements did. The latest revision eased requirements for student participation rates on mandated tests. There are countless examples of schools being labeled as failing or in need of improvement because one or two students failed to show up on testing day.

That was preceded by a change in how rural teachers can meet the law's "highly qualified" requirements, which were simply impossible for many rural -– and special education -- teachers to meet.      

The U.S. Department of Education previously unveiled new regulations that will allow states and local school districts the flexibility required to realistically assess certain special education students with disabilities and students with limited English abilities.      

All four are among the changes NEA has been long advocating since enactment of the sweeping federal legislation.    

Clearly, the ground on ESEA/NCLB has shifted. The debate is no longer on whether NCLB and its implementation is flawed and needs to be fixed, but on what needs to be fixed. With pressure from NEA and others who support the goals of NCLB, Paige is now beginning to make some of the changes that many have been calling for.       

Of course, much more needs to be done, including changing the focus from measuring all schools on just two test scores.      

In eloquent testimony prepared for a hearing of the U.S. House Education and Workforce Committee, Maryland State Teachers Association/NEA member Rosemary King Johnston spelled just some of the other significant changes that are needed.    

Johnston, who also serves on NEA's 27-member IDEA Cadre, noted:    

• Teachers need more and better help from the Ed Department to understand the complex issues of assessing students with disabilities under both IDEA and NCLB.      
• Schools unfairly labeled as not meeting AYP based on now-outdated rules on evaluating students with disabilities have the right to be re-evaluated.    
• Schools need more flexibility in assessing students with various disabilities.    
• More needs to be done overall to make AYP more flexible and workable, such as allowing schools to be evaluated based on growth models of student achievement.      

The Detroit News reported on March 5, 2004, that former Assistant U.S. Secretary for Elementary and Secondary Education Susan Neuman advised Lansing, MI, school officials parts of NCLB are unworkable and the federal government needs to be more flexible with its requirements..    

"This is a very, very critical point in our history," said Neuman, now a professor of early childhood education at the University of Michigan. "If we don't do this well, we risk hurting kids."    

Neuman was responsible for implementing the law until she left the post in January 2003.    

Ms. Neuman, Ms. Johnston, and the NEA are far from alone in calling for more flexibility, improved funding, and other changes in the federal education law. Most major education-related organizations and thousands of local and state appointed and elected school officials across the country have voiced major concerns about many aspects of the law.    

Calls for amendments, repeal, various kinds of waivers, and more funding for the federal education mandates have been proposed and in some cases adopted by legislatures in at least 24 states.