Submitted by Dianne Piche
on 10/12/04 3:08 PM
With all due respect, Mark, I must disagree.
First, the No Child Left Behind Act was written by a bipartisan, visionary but pragmatic group of legislators and advocates who were able to coalesce around some very basic imperatives, including closing achievement gaps, improving teacher quality in Title I schools, and targeting more federal resources to the highest poverty school systems. Rep. George Miller (D-CA), Sens. Kennedy, Clinton, Bingaman and other legislative leaders on NCLB are hardly "neo-cons" as I understand your term. Nor are groups like the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights, the Hispanic Education Coalition, the Education Trust, and my own organization, all of whom backed the major policy changes in the law. While there have been partisan disputes about the appropriation levels since NCLB passed, there is still a strong consensus in Congress about the core substantive provisions.
Second, re: the assertion about rich schools not failing, one of the major reforms in NCLB is the requirement that each key subgroup of students make progress, so schools -- even "rich schools" -- can't mask their achievement gaps by posting overall above-average scores. Many people in affluent communities are surprised when their school does not meet these important new standards, often times because a particular subgroup (e.g. disabled or minority children) has been left behind.
Finally, I would like to emphasize the importance of real enforcement of the law. When the feds even threaten to withhold federal funds, states rapidly come to the bargaining table and begin to discuss how to cure their noncompliance. Often the federal government is quite flexible (sometimes too flexible in my opinion!), agreements are reached, and states keep their dollars. Same for most school districts. It is relatively easy for a high-wealth district to scoff at the federal government and throw the tea overboard, but the amount of $$ at stake for most urban districts and even medium-sized states is simply too much to give up.
