20 States Ask for Flexibility in School Law - New York Times

20 States Ask for Flexibility in School Law - New York Times

WASHINGTON, Feb. 21 — The federal Education Department has agreed to review requests from 20 states to alter significantly the way they measure student progress under the No Child Left Behind Act. The move comes as the number of schools across the country deemed substandard under that law grows by the thousands. The requests, which Education Secretary Margaret Spellings invited states to submit last November as part of a pilot project, would allow states to judge schools by tracking the progress of individual students over time.

Currently, schools must show improvement in successive grades of students, with more of this year's fifth graders, for example, proficient at reading and math compared with last year's fifth graders. States have long sought such a change, contending that it is fairer to measure the improvement in individual students than in different groups of students.

The states that have applied to make the changes for the current school year are Alaska, Arkansas, Arizona, Colorado, Delaware, Florida, Hawaii, Indiana, Iowa, North Carolina, Oregon, South Carolina, Tennessee and Utah. Six more — Maryland, Nevada, New Hampshire, Ohio, Pennsylvania and South Dakota — have asked to apply changes next year. Only 10 states will be permitted to make the changes in assessing this year's test results. The plans must still be reviewed by a government-appointed panel and receive approval from federal officials, expected by May, to move forward.

The fundamental problem with NCLB is that it places an undue burden on states and local governments to meet a underfunded federal mandate. NCLB is a perfect example of the hypocrisy of the Republican Party and its leadership. They campaigned on issues of not creating federal mandates that were not fully funded. The idea of NCLB sounds good until you realize that it takes decision-making away from the community in which the schools reside. This is another plank of the Republican promise that is not realized. The GOP incessantly talks about not creating "big government" and allowing state and local decision-making. But NCLB is nothing less than BIG GOVERNMENT dictating to local government... and leaving the check for the meal for the guest to pay. There is cognitive dissonance and hypocrisy in there somehow.