What is the Future of NCLB?

Despite recent changes to NCLB by ISBE almost one of every four Illinois schools is not making AYP (Adequate Yearly Process) as defined by NCLB. Center Cass schools met AYP requirements again this year due to the hard work of our teachers and great test performance by our students. This accomplishment becomes harder each year as the required passing rate is raised until it reaches 100% in 2014.

This year 876 Illinois schools were labeled as “failing”. This figure is up significantly from 2006. What does the future bring? It now appears that NCLB will remain in some form for many years to come. The title is very appealing for politicians and will not be changed. Congress was to re-authorize NCLB this year or in 2008, but now that looks doubtful as elections approach and no one will want to address this volatile issue. Many think that no changes will be made until the master architect of NCLB, President Bush has entered retirement.

I hope that at sometime Congress will realize that it is unreasonable to label a school as failing in 2014 if just one child does not meet standards. The total reliance on test scores as a measure of student achievement coupled with the questionable belief that all children learn the same things at the same rate has doomed this program. Hopefully, some day politicians will salvage the one positive aspect of NCLB – the belief those schools should work with every child to realize their learning potential. In the meantime, we all will continue to attempt to elude the “failure” label.