No Child Left Behind is producing more fear for teachers than results

There is an honest disagreement within the progressive community about whether the No Child Left Behind law hurts student learning.  A University of California study that was just released shows that the Bush-backed education law is actually having the opposite impact that was intended.  It is forcing states throughout the country to "dumb down" their standardized tests out of fear that if the students do poorly the public schools will lose funding:

The study, covering test results for fourth-graders in 12states, found the states are reporting more than twice as many oftheir students proficient in math and reading as in a separatenationwide set of tests.

``State results consistently exaggerate the percentage offourth-graders deemed proficient or above in reading and math,''according to the study by Policy Analysis for CaliforniaEducation, a research center at the University of Californiacampuses in Berkeley and Davis and at Stanford University.

The report follows previous private studies contendingstates appear to be weakening their testing standards, and comesas Congress prepares next year to consider whether and how torenew the No Child Left Behind law.

The law, enacted in 2002, requires states to show annualimprovement in student test scores in subjects that includereading and math. Failing districts face penalties that initiallyinclude granting students special tutoring and the right totransfer to other schools, and eventually can include thereplacement of school management.

Test Discrepancies         

The study led by University of California educationprofessor Bruce Fuller found the states reported that about 68percent of their fourth-graders were proficient in reading, whilethe federally funded National Assessment of Educational Progresstest put the figure at 31 percent. In math, the states found 65percent proficient while NAEP found 30 percent.      

The study covered Arkansas, California, Illinois, Iowa,Kentucky, Massachusetts, Nebraska, New Jersey, North Carolina,Oklahoma, Texas and Washington, chosen for reasons that includetheir geographical and educational diversity.

Being that I have a parent who has worked as a teacher for the last three decades, I get told over and over again what happens when terrible laws like No Child Left Behind get enacted.  Teachers spend too much time teaching to the exams, while also ignoring other important subjects like history and science.

Even if Bush and the Republicans were serious about No Child Left Behind, they would at least fully fund it, which they have yet to do.

This bill is set to expire, and Congress has a decision to make about whether or not to renew it.  According to a survey from the nation's largest teacher's union, the vast majority oppose No Child Left Behind as it is today.  Instead, they want both political parties to work together to fix its flaws. 

This is what one union member said:

I'm with over 8,000 people here who believe in accountability whobelieve in testing but we want to make sure we're testing appropriatelyand fairly that we're looking at the whole child that we're not basingeverything on one test on one day but looking at how they learn everyday.

We can make this law a lot more efficient on a per-child basis if Congress does a better job of seeking the advice of those who actually teach children.

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Other blogs writing about this issue: Inner and Outer Demons, This week in Education, Tor's Rants, Greg Palast, La Shawn Barber's Corner, Homeland Stupidity, No NCLB.org.