School Officials Perplexed, Frustrated by 'No Child Left Behind Act'

8/27/2002

From: Sally Banks Zakariya, 703-838-6231 Glenn Cook, 703-838-6234, both of the American School Board Journal

ALEXANDRIA, Va., Aug. 27 -- Districts nationwide are gearing up for the most significant change in the federal regulation of public schools in three decades, leaving school officials perplexed and frustrated by the No Child Left Behind Act.

President Bush signed the law, a revision of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA), in January. Since that time, school officials have been sifting through the law's maze of mandates for student achievement, low-performing schools, and the hiring of "highly qualified" teachers and aides.

"It really involves the federal government in local education in a way it never has before," said Edith A. Miller, executive director of the Vermont School Boards Association. "It really is groundbreaking."

But, as reported in the September edition of American School Board Journal, No Child Left Behind has troubled several national education groups that are concerned about the bill's requirement that all students will attain academic proficiency in 12 years. Resources for states, most of which are facing recession-induced budget shortfalls, also are a sticking point.

"I think the real risk is that this thing is going to collapse of its own weight, notwithstanding its good intentions," said Paul Reville, executive director of the Pew Forum on Standards-Based Reform.

Supporters say the revised ESEA gives hope to a generation of schoolchildren, especially inner-city students and others who are struggling academically.

"Part of the purpose of this law, first of all, is to uncover where the achievement gaps are -- that's why the assessment part is so important -- and then make it impossible to ignore this problem," Undersecretary of Education Eugene Hickok told ASBJ.

Many states have been moving to stronger accountability systems with more highly developed tests, but the law puts a damper on this, said Harvard Education Professor Richard Elmore.

"What it's doing is taking away all the interesting variations in solutions that states have come up with," Elmore said. "Are we ready yet to go to the one best system?"

Daisy Slan, superintendent of East Feliciana Parish Schools in St. Francisville, La., worries about several of the bill's mandates, but she likes its intentions.

"It's going to be difficult -- of course, it's going to be difficult," she said. "But the federal government is saying every child in the school district is important and should not be left out of the loop."

American School Board Journal (http://www.asbj.com) is the award-winning, editorially independent education magazine of the National School Boards Association in Alexandria, Va. Founded in 1891, ASBJ covers a broad range of topics pertinent to school governance and management, policy making, student achievement, and the art of school leadership. In addition, regular departments cover education news, school law, research, and new books. Opinions expressed in the magazine do not necessarily reflect positions of the National School Boards Association.