No Child Left Behind—Myth or Truth?

Last fall as school opened in Hartford, Connecticut, a Hartford Courant reporter asked parents what they thought of No Child Left Behind. "It's the worst thing that could have happened," said one. "All summer, I was hearing from kids that they don't have to go to school because there's 'No Child Left Behind.'"

By Alain Jehlen and Dave Winans

Photos by Earl Richardson

That turned out to be an astoundingly common belief: "No Child Left Behind" means every child gets promoted. But one parent thought it meant you can't leave your child alone on the street. And another figured it mandated after-school supervision—no more latchkey kids.

It's easy to understand the confusion. The so-called No Child Left Behind law (NCLB) is a tome of almost biblical proportions—300,000 words spanning 1,100 pages. And the regulations on implementing it grow all the time. Consider: Two years ago, NEA developed a flow chart to help educators find out whether they were "highly qualified." It had 44 boxes and spanned the centerfold of NEA Today. This year's chart has 65 boxes connected by several quivers-full of arrows to account for new policy twists.

So with an eye toward helping puzzled educators cope, here's a guide to what's really in the law and the regs, and what merely are mythical beasts in this perplexing, and increasingly overgrown NCLB forest.

Myth: NCLB is a state law.

Truth: It's federal. States choose the tests and have some leeway in implementation, but the law is federal and many crucial details are completely out of the hands of state and local education officials. Fact is, NCLB represents a major new departure from a long history of local-based control over key education decisions.

Myth: If your school doesn't make adequate yearly progress (AYP), you're doing a bad job.

Truth: Many excellent schools don't make AYP. Two-thirds of schools that merited an A from the Florida state accountability system were not "adequate" according to NCLB. Across the continent, 403 California schools that achieved twice the state's growth target were branded not "adequate" under the federal law. Schools can be flunked for many reasons that have nothing to do with the quality of instruction—if fewer than 95 percent of any subgroup of students take the test, for instance.

Myth: To be "highly qualified," teachers must have a degree in their field or pass a test.

Truth: Almost all states now use an alternative procedure in the law called "High Objective Uniform State Standard of Evaluation" or HOUSSE.

Most state HOUSSEs are similar. California's is typical. Teachers need 100 points to be qualified. Up to 50 can come from years of teaching, 10 points per year. The rest can come from college courses, professional development, classroom observations, or other evidence of competence in the classroom, as well as professional leadership, such as being a mentor—or a union leader. No written test is required for teachers with 100 points. 

Very important: The law gives most teachers only until the end of the 2005–06 school year to become highly qualified, so if you haven't jumped through this hoop yet, contact your union leaders or UniServ reps to see what plans the district has for getting everybody through.

Myth: To be "highly qualified," an instructional paraprofessional needs to complete two years of college or pass a written test.

Truth: For paras, NCLB says districts can use locally developed evaluations instead of a written test and many communities are doing that.

Also, the law applies only to Title I instructional paras—if your district says all paras must qualify, that's district policy, not the law.

Very important: Paras covered by the law have only nine months to qualify—January of 2006 is the deadline. NEA is pushing hard for a delay until the end of the 2005–06 school year, but for now, the deadline holds.

Myth: Your school is responsible for the scores of all students, no matter how recently they arrived at your door.

Truth: Students have to be at your school for one academic year before their scores count against (or for) your school. Also, immigrant students can be tested in their own language "to the extent practicable," for three years, and that can be extended for two more years. But many states only test in English, so this provision doesn't usually help.

You do have to make sure new students take the math test because their attendance counts toward a school's required 95 percent attendance. But they don't necessarily have to pass the math test, and they can be excused from taking the reading test.

Myth: High schools must turn over to military recruiters the names and contact information of all enrolled students.

Truth: Parents have the right to tell schools not to give their children's names to the military.

Buried deep within NCLB is Section 9528, which puts a school district at risk of losing NCLB funding if it doesn't give military recruiters home contact information for secondary school students. But this provision also allows parents to tell the district not to give out that information. And it requires districts to notify parents of this opt-out provision.

The law does not specify how parents are to be informed. Should it be in the student handbook, which few parents read, or somewhere more visible like the report card or the emergency contact form? Some districts ignore the parental consent requirement or just post an obscure newspaper notice, according to Oskar Castro of the American Friends Service Committee, a Quaker organization that counsels conscientious objectors to the military.

One district that takes the parent opt-out provision seriously is Montclair, New Jersey, which has a "whole school" Section 9528 notification plan, starting with entering freshmen. Parents are told of their right to opt-out through home-school communications and then sent a reminder. After the most recent round of notices, Montclair reports that 92 percent of parents asked the schools not to give their children's contact information to the military.

Myth: NCLB is here to stay. There's nothing we can do.

Truth: There's some room at the state level to make implementation more reasonable, and NEA state affiliates are working on that. The more state education officials and legislators hear from educators like you about what's really happening behind the schoolhouse doors, the more likely they are to use the leeway they have, and to push federal officials for more flexibility.

At the national level, Congress can make changes without waiting for the law to expire in 2007. NEA lobbyists and other friends of public education are working for common sense improvements such as letting schools broaden the law's one-size-fits-all, test-score driven definition of student achievement. Bottom line: Don't give up, get involved!

Heard some amazing myths of your own?

Share them on our discussion board NEA Today Extra. You'll also find NEA's new flowchart to help you figure out if you're "highly qualified," info on what NEA and others are doing to fix the law, and how you can help.