Leaving NCLB Behind: A New Foundation in Education Reform

 
It’s been ten years since a major education bill passed Congress in the form of the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB). This month, the Senate has the opportunity to pass a carefully crafted bill negotiated by Senators Tom Harkin (D-IA) and Mike Enzi (R-ID) that would revamp NCLB and provide a new foundation for education reform. This new bill maintains the good intentions of NCLB, while modifying its rigid structure and providing a clear path forward for states expecting changes to the existing law. There is actually hope for congressional action on such a balanced bill.
Providing clarity for schools would be the most important result of passing this reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act this year. States currently are applying for waivers from NCLB requirements in droves (as of this writing, 41 states have signaled their intent to request a waiver) because the law has become so onerous. With the majority of schools not on track to reach 2014 progress targets, the system is unenforceable as it is today, and the flood of waiver applications creates a sense of urgency for action. Most schools in Florida, for example, receive an A or B grade on the state’s accountability scale, yet the majority of Florida schools will “fail” under NCLB’s stringent, test-centered requirements, leading to federally mandated corrective action. The bill Senator Harkin released should appeal to both parties, as it would rectify this failed system by shifting education reform away from correction-based deterrence to competition-based motivation.
NLCB was a groundbreaking law in 2001, charting new territory in education reform. It placed a new emphasis on accountability through standardized tests, focused on narrowing the achievement gap between students of different racial and socio-economic backgrounds, and, importantly, members of both parties supported it. Test scores did improve in the last decade while NCLB was in place and the achievement gap decreased. Unfortunately, however, the law’s primary focus on standardized test results created an unfair system that inadvertently punished improving schools and did not generate the innovative reforms necessary to truly change education in the United States.
The current bill addresses the causes of this flawed system, including the federal Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) system. AYP sets benchmarks related to standardized test achievement that a school must reach each year. Schools that do not meet strict standards face increasingly stringent consequences, varying from the replacement of school staff to the eventual shutdown of the school. These punishments are the most controversial aspects of NCLB. Even improving schools can be restructured under AYP if progress is not fast enough, potentially punishing good administrators who simply cannot move results forward at a pace consistent with AYP. In urban and rural areas that are historically difficult to reform, these consequences strike school officials as unjust. (Check out DC Metro area school testimonials criticizing NCLB here.) The new bill eliminates AYP, while maintaining requirements for standardized testing and federal oversight of the five percent of schools with the worst overall performance and the widest achievement gaps. The power of creating a new accountability structure for the remaining schools shifts to the states, which can craft more personalized progress standards that are not simply based on standardized test scores.
Some may argue shifting accountability to the states ultimately makes the bill “toothless,” but the bill, while allowing more state flexibility (though far from complete control over the process), actually has more teeth than NCLB ever had because it motivates states to reform through positive incentives proven to be effective in recent years. The bill complements the change in accountability systems with the institutionalization of President Obama’s competitive grant programs such as Race to the Top and Investing in Innovation. These grant programs reward motivated states that reform and demonstrate improvement in their schools – a sharp contrast with NCLB’s habit of even sanctioning improving schools. Progress will be rewarded under this new bill, and these programs provide the best avenue for the advancement of education. Race to the Top, for example, prompted 45 states plus the District of Columbia and the U.S. Virgin Islands to adopt K-12 Common Core Standards, an action most states had been unwilling to take until incentivized by Race to the Top’s financial awards. The reauthorization bill aims to replicate this kind of educational progress.
Democrats should support this bill because it is consistent with President Obama’s efforts to reform our nation’s education system through innovation and investment. While the law concerns some civil rights activists because of the elimination of AYP achievement gap targets, this bill will ultimately help all students, including minorities, because incentives exist in this bill for true reform of school districts. Additionally, the law does keep in place oversight of schools with the widest achievement gaps.
The bill should also find Republican support, as it is actually more consistent with conservative principles than the original NLCB. It gives more power and flexibility to the states to determine accountability systems, reducing the role of the federal government in state decisions. Senator Harkin has also worked on making teacher evaluations optional for states by instituting requirements only in the competitive grant program, the Teacher’s Incentive Fund. This pleased Senator Enzi and other Republicans who were concerned mandating teacher evaluation requirements was too intrusive.
As evidenced by the number of states applying for waivers to seek relief from NCLB, education reform needs to chart a new path. The reauthorization bill released by Senator Harkin this month provides a direction forward for our states and our school systems with changes to the accountability system and the addition of competitive incentives to spark reform. Both Democrats and Republicans have ample reasons to support the bill, which addresses key priorities for both parties.
It has been a long time coming, but we may finally see changes to the state of education reform in the United States if Congress takes the opportunity this bill presents. As more and more states seek to leave NCLB behind, this can only be a positive step for the nation.
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