NEA's Persistence Pays Off

Republican and Democratic state legislators call for NCLB's overhaul.

Photo by Matt Ferguson

When the so-called "No Child Left Behind" Act (NCLB) was signed into law, now more than three years ago, the applause was deafening.

Members of Congress, from both sides of the aisle, had worked with the White House. NCLB was signed a few months after 9/11, and everyone was fixated on the symbolism of the politicians putting aside their differences and uniting behind the law—rather than on the law's actual details.

NEA praised the law's goals—high expectations for every child and a highly qualified teacher in every classroom. These were goals we'd long advocated. But NEA refused to ignore the serious flaws in the law's all-important implementation. To do so would have been a dereliction of our duty to our nation's children and students, and to our members.

NCLB takes a one-size-fits-all approach to assessing student performance that we, as educators, know to be misguided. It's an approach that, ultimately, impedes rather than improves a child's education.

And then, as we saw the Department of Education rigorously enforce the new law, NEA looked for ways in which the law could be amended to accomplish the goals it purported to advance. We pointed out that NCLB, in fact, gave the Secretary of Education broad discretion to waive requirements of the law that were detrimental to children, teachers, and schools. While the Secretary has such discretion, we have seen minimal improvements.

We also noted that the law clearly stated that state and local governments should not have to incur expenses for implementing NCLB that are not funded by the federal government. But as the Administration and Congress failed, year after year, to provide the promised funding for NCLB's implementation, this is precisely what happened—local and state governments have been saddled with the costs of the law's unfunded mandates.

Needless to say, NEA's straight talk about NCLB did not endear us either to the Administration, its supporters, or to some of our staunchest friends in the Congress. But for us, this has never been about partisanship; it has always been about the children.

Much has changed, however, in recent years. Our vigil is no longer a lonely one. Many others have stepped forward and spoken out about NCLB's shortcomings. In fact, 46 organizations have joined with NEA in proposing specific changes to the law, including the Children's Defense Fund, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), the League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC), and the National School Boards Association.

Most recently, the National Conference of State Legislatures (NCSL) issued a critique of the law and how it was being enforced that is one of the most thorough and telling yet.

The Republicans and Democrats on this Task Force found serious "methodological flaws" in the law's centerpiece—its Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) provisions—noting that schools must be evaluated by comparing "successive groups of students against a static, arbitrary standard, not by tracking the progress of the same group of students over time." And the state legislators recommended that the states be given greater flexibility in meeting the AYP objectives. What's more, they called for allowing multiple measures in evaluating student performance rather than relying exclusively on standardized tests.

This, my friends, is music to our ears. Read NCLS' full report and recommendations.

NCLB needs to be fixed and funded if it is to work. This should not be a test of your loyalty to the President or to your political affiliation. It should be about what's best for America's children, in all their glorious diversity.

It's been said that there is nothing more powerful than an idea whose time has come—well, thanks in large part to Team NEA's efforts, fixing and funding NCLB's time is here. Now we and our allies have to run the final mile in this marathon. We know it won't be easy, but as educators, we also know the power of persistence.

NEA President Reg Weaver