One way to fix NCLB

With so much NCLB rhetoric flying around the newspapers and blogs this year (and last year, and the year before that), it’s refreshing to read something short, clear, and simple, that makes a little bit of sense.  From Diane Ravitch in the New York Times:

No Child Left Behind can, however, be salvaged if policymakers recognize that they need to reverse the roles of the federal government and the states. In our federal system, each level of government should do what it does best…

Under current law, Congress now decides precisely which sanctions and penalties are needed to reform schools, which is way beyond its competence. The leaders of the House and Senate Education Committees are fine men, but they do not know how to fix the nation’s schools.

The obvious solution is to reverse roles. Washington should supply unbiased information about student academic performance to states and local districts. It should then be the responsibility of states and local districts to improve performance.

Diane and another eminent education thinker, Deborah Meier, discuss and debate ideas on their blog Bridging Differences.  Definitely worth a visit.

Labels: News

I am concerned by the statement above that, “Washington should supply unbiased information about student academic performance to state and local districts.”

I assume this means more high stakes standardized testing. Perhaps even a set of national tests.

Since such tests typically focus on trivia, they do not tell us much of anything about what students are really learning. NCLB will continue to be a disaster for public education until the focus on standardized tests is removed.