Contact: Will Potter  (202) 822-7823 

February 13, 2007

NCLB Commission's Proposal Imposes
Stiff Penalties on Teachers Based on Test Scores

Plan adds bureaucratic hoops without providing resources

WASHINGTON -- After five years of filing paperwork and jumping through hoops to meet No Child Left Behind's complex highly qualified teacher provision, teachers must now achieve the status of "Highly Qualified Effective Teacher" based on student test scores under a new proposal by the Aspen Institute's NCLB Commission. The commission's recommendation, released today, would impose stiff penalties on teachers and result in even more emphasis on "teaching to the test."

"This ill-conceived proposal would add even more bureaucratic hoops for teachers to jump through without adding resources to get the job done," said NEA President Reg Weaver. "It's like asking an orchestra to play a symphony and not checking to see if they have instruments. Effective teaching requires giving teachers what they need to be successful -- smaller class sizes, mentoring programs, professional development and professional pay."

The proposal would expand NCLB's current highly qualified teacher requirements for reading, math and science teachers to include student "learning gains." Teachers would be rated against others in the state based on standardized test scores, and the top 75 percent would be deemed "highly qualified and effective teachers." If teachers in the bottom quarter do not improve student test scores, their principals must notify parents that their children are not being taught by a "highly qualified and effective teacher." And if test scores still do not improve after that, the teachers would be barred from teaching in Title I schools.

The current definition of a highly qualified teacher needs improvement, explained Weaver, but at least it sets a standard that all teachers can theoretically meet. "This proposal pits teachers against each other and would label one out of four teachers as unqualified and ineffective," he said. "It will discourage teachers from teaching in hard-to-staff schools, where students may not score high enough on standardized tests." 

A more positive proposal offered by the commission involves growth models: measuring student achievement over time and giving schools credit for student gains. Growth models acknowledge that students learn in different ways and at different rates, rather than punishing schools for student test scores. Another promising proposal by the commission would allow school districts to limit the percentage of schools in their district that are subject to the most severe consequences under NCLB-the so-called restructuring option. 

"Test scores are no crystal ball," Weaver said. "They give snapshots of student performance. They don't reveal the complete picture of what goes on in a classroom: the resources, student preparation and parental involvement that play a key role in determining if a teacher will be 'effective.' Congress should reject this negative proposal and instead focus on positive efforts to ensure that all teachers have the skills and support they need to close gaps in student achievement."

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The National Education Association is the nation's largest professional employee organization, representing 3.2 million elementary and secondary teachers, higher education faculty, education support professionals, school administrators,  retired educators
and students preparing to become teachers.