Today, the Department of Education announced that it has granted waivers
releasing two more states – Washington and Wisconsin – from key provisions of
the decade-old No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB). With these waivers, Secretary
Duncan has now relieved 26 states from meeting NCLB’s goal of making all
students proficient in math and reading by 2014. To earn a waiver, states are
required to set new targets aimed at preparing students for colleges and
careers and base teacher evaluations, in part, on test scores.
Maryland earned a NCLB waiver earlier this year by setting annual
measurable objectives (AMOs) for the coming six years. By 2017, all schools are
expected to cut their percentage of non-proficient students, overall and
by subgroup, in half. Additionally, a new School Performance Index takes into
account achievement, gap, and growth measures, an improvement from NCLB’s
exclusive emphasis on proficiency. Maryland’s agreement also rewards schools
that make progress. Whether the incentives motivate schools to improve remains
to be seen, but any positive reinforcement seems to be a welcome departure from
NCLB’s emphasis on what’s not working.
Though these waivers represent a bold maneuver to advance the
administration’s education agenda, something had to be done. For the 2010-11
school year, nearly half of schools across the nation failed to meet adequate
yearly progress (AYP). And that rate was even higher in states like Virginia
(61%) and Massachusetts (80%). When AYP status becomes meaningless and Congress
fails to re-authorize NCLB, the policy needs to be adjusted, and that is
exactly what Duncan has done. Though House Republicans are calling the waivers
an abuse of executive power, many of the states they represent have applied for
one.
Montgomery County Schools Superintendent Joshua Starr doesn’t believe
waivers do much to shift education reform, but I question the notion that a
major policy shift is what we need. The law certainly needs tweaking, but much
of NCLB’s failure has been attributed to flawed implementation. States have set
standards too low and written poor assessments, causing a narrowing of the
curriculum. Teachers and school leaders – some right here in Baltimore – have
cheated on tests. But despite flawed implementation, the ‘big idea’ behind NCLB
– accountability for results from our public schools – is tremendously
important. Let’s not forget that NCLB’s requirement to disaggregate achievement
data holds schools more accountable for the education of the poor and minority
children we teach. And let’s not step back from testing accountability
altogether just because it’s put pressure on the system. We need to sustain
this push for accountability over time and maintain bold expectations for our
schools.
Duncan’s waivers may force some real progress here in Baltimore. The
administration’s Blueprint for Reform focuses the most attention on the bottom
five percent of low-performing schools, some of which are here in Baltimore.
Though this will relax some of the sanctions our schools faced under NCLB,
these schools will still be expected to meet annual performance objectives. If our high-poverty schools see real rewards for results, perhaps leaving NCLB behind in favor of fresh accountability measures can close gaps for Baltimore's students.
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