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opinion editorialsThis editorial first appeared in the Albuquerque Journal. It was written by editorial page staff and is unsigned as it represents the opinion of the newspaper rather than the writers
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Wednesday, February 03, 2010
Obama Education Plan More Realistic, Doable
Almost everyone is on board with the goals of the No Child Left Behind Act — 100 percent student proficiency in math and reading by 2014.
But the legislation has drawn the ire of many educators and teacher unions as imposing completely unrealistic goals and being too focused on testing. They have said it should be scrapped.
Fortunately, President Barack Obama has a better idea. Rather than do away with No Child Left Behind, he said to make necessary changes by taking a realistic view of what can be accomplished and how schools are to be evaluated in meeting the goals.
The president is calling for a $49.7 billion education act that would assess a school more flexibly and reward growth in student achievement, even if it did not meet the stringent standards of the current act.
He is proposing to do away with No Child Left Behind's 100 percent proficiency goals. That is more in line with goals Albuquerque Public Schools set last fall.
APS Superintendent Winston Brooks has said he is more concerned about seeing a school make academic progress than about hitting an arbitrary target. "Goals mean little if they are not attainable, and NCLB has some built-in problems that push schools into failing categories even if they make progress," he said.
One of the most common complaints about No Child Left Behind is that no matter how much improvement a school makes from year to year, it is still considered a failure if a predetermined number of students haven't met the proficiency goals.
No Child Left Behind has been a positive driver for schools that needed to improve.
Obama's plan doesn't throw the program out as some critics want. It seeks to make it better and more realistic. It provides more flexibility while not letting schools off the hook, continues to make sure all populations of students are served and still measures accomplishment and growth.
This looks like a more positive avenue to reach still lofty, but perhaps not utopian, goals — making sure more students can read, write and do math at grade level.
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