Black Wednesday (Dressing for NCLB)

Because education is largely a government function, there seems to be littlenhope of ever disentangling politics and education.

Today I’ll wear black tonschool. I’ve worn black to school almost every Wednesday since November 3, 2004.nWhy that date? On November 2nd of that year I spent 13 hours helping people castntheir ballots for President in a polling place in Virginia. I went home, had anshort but sound night of sleep, and woke the next morning to discover thatnGeorge W. Bush was still President. I wore black to work that day, and I’ve wornnblack almost every Wednesday since – 168 out of the last 171 Wednesdays. Thenexceptions? The day after Democrat Tim Kaine won the governor’s race in VirginianI wore more festive colors to work. (Since I work in West Virginia, half mynco-workers never fully understood why.) I also dressed quite colorfully on thenWednesday after the most recent midterm election – the one where Democrats wonnback Congress.

There was also a day earlier this year when we had Monday off and I just lostntrack of what day of the week it was. My co-workers thought that wasnfunny…

I know that President Bush has his fan club. And I know that there are plentynof people who dislike him for reasons other than education policy. But in mynmind, No Child Left Behind (NCLB) is among the low points of BushnPresidency.

I have several specific complaints about NCLB.

I don’t like the way it has reduced the scope of curriculum. I think it hasnde-emphasized the arts, for example, in favor of the most basic, pared downncore.

I don’t like the focus it brings on mediocrity. The goal of education undernNCLB is to move students who are barely failing on high stakes tests to thenplace where they are barely passing on high stakes tests. There is no reward fornexcellence. getting by is the goal.

I don’t like the unrealistic and punitive nature of the accountabilitynprovisions. The eventual goal of NCLB is 100% grade level mastery. Every fifthngrader, for example, should function at the fifth grade level (unless they havensome profound disability). Schools that don’t comply, don’t meet this standard,nare punished. The problem is that so many of the factors related to a student’snperformance fall outside the school’s reach. Basic issues of poverty and socialnfabric impact a school’s ability to achieve these goals; but the school hasnlittle power to address them. The simple truth is that there will always be atnleast one or two kids who don’t make the grade no matter what teachers do. Andneventually NCLB’s accountability provisions will result in almost every publicnschool being deemed a failure. It is a standard no other modern nation strivesnto achieve. It is unrealistic.

I think the law is underfunded. The requirements of NCLB at onerous in termsnof both time and money.

You don’t have to be a complete cynic to think that maybe, just maybe, NCLB’snaccountability provisions are a poison pill in the law. The intention could bento make public schools look bad – worse than they are – to justify thenprivatization of education through the use of vouchers. And right there innBush’s 2009 budget, what do we have? Proposed funding for a voucher program.

NCLB has failed. The task now is to replace it with a law with broadernvision, a law more supportive of public education. Hopefully Congress will benwise enough to call for far more input from the educational community than theyndid in 2002.

Greg Cruey, Guest Blogger