Business Leaders Weigh in on NCLB

Many in the business community recognize that the continuing success of public education, which educates 90% of all Americans, is essential not only for America's democracy, but also for its economic health. Accordingly, business groups have weighed in on education, educational reforms and NCLB. Although these groups do not always agree with other stakeholders, their input is essential, as is understanding their perspective. In this article, we report on three national business groups that are active in the field of education and have positions on aspects of NCLB: Achieve, Inc., the Committee for Economic Reform and The Business Roundtable.

The Organizations

Achieve, Inc. calls itself an independent, bipartisan, non-profit organization created by the nation's governors and corporate leaders to help states raise academic standards, improve assessments and strengthen accountability to prepare all young people for postsecondary education, work and citizenship.

The Committee for Economic Development (CED) describes itself as a non-profit, non-partisan organization of business and education leaders "dedicated to policy research on the major economic and social issues of our time." Its trustees are leaders of major corporations and university presidents.

The Business Roundtable is an association of chief executive officers of leading U.S. corporations. The Roundtable says it is committed to advocating public policies that ensure vigorous economic growth, a dynamic global economy, and the well-trained and productive U.S. workforce essential for future competitiveness.

Achieve, Inc.

Among Achieve's many activities in the area of education are: analysis of tests and standards; helping states develop model standards and tests; and providing information. Its website provides articles, publications, and links to state standards.

NCLB: In Summer 2002, Achieve produced a publication on NCLB, entitled "No Child Left Behind: Meeting Challenges, Seizing Opportunities, Improving Achievement." In this publication, Achieve recommends steps to maintain the integrity of tests while implementing the mandates of NCLB. For example, despite the pressure to deliver timely test results, Achieve cautions against eliminating open-ended questions or using "off-the-shelf" tests. The publication also recommends using the pressure of NCLB to convince legislators and policymakers to build capacity to assist low-performing schools. Achieve focuses specifically on improving professional development and providing a rich curriculum aligned with state standards.

Achieve's website also provides current articles on selected NCLB topics.

Committee for Economic Development

CED has several positions and publications regarding education in America, specifically covering: preschool, school funding and testing. CED strongly supports preschool for all from age 3 and has published "Preschool for All," in which it calls on federal and state governments to make early education available to all children age 3 and older.

CED has also put forth a statement on public school finance advocating reform of school financing systems in order to align them with standards-based reform. While recognizing that capacity needs to be built in public schools and that the state bears the primary responsibility for funding, CED also advocates such measures as performance pay for teachers and charter schools.

In addition, CED supports testing which is valid, reliable and stable. In its statement on testing, "Measuring What Matters," CED asserts that accurately measuring student achievement is essential for effective schools reform; however it also recognizes that "measuring educational performance is not the same as improving it." Therefore, in addition to advocating the appropriate use of accurate tests, CED also advocates building teacher capacity. Among its recommendations for testing are: using multiple indicators, using high quality tests which are designed for specific states, testing all students, allowing for different starting points among schools, using longitudinal or "value-added" measures in addition to static measures, incorporating evaluation mechanism into testing systems , and recognizing the uncertainty of testing.

NCLB: In response to NCLB, CED published an update to "Measuring What Matters." The update outlines three main challenges posed by NCLB regarding testing: (1) making sure test results accurately measure and report student achievement; (2) ensuring that teaching focuses on important skills and knowledge, not test questions; and (3) ensuring that low-performing schools are given the help they need to improve. CED warns against pitfalls inherent in high-stakes testing, such as: narrowing of curricula, using cheaper tests which are not instructionally supportive and focusing only on transferring students and supplemental services when schools may need assistance.

All of CED's publications are available on its website.

The Business Roundtable

The Business Roundtable supports education reform, especially setting higher standards, testing students and schools, assisting schools through reward and punishment systems and improving teacher quality through such measures as performance pay and professional development. The organization also supports priorities such as: parental involvement; learning readiness; school safety and discipline; and technology.

NCLB: Business Roundtable strongly supports NCLB. To that end, it has available on its website an NCLB toolkit for businesses, which provides key provisions of NCLB and outlines ways in which businesses can unite, articulate a message, and lobby at the local and state level to participate in and influence NCLB implementation.

The website also identifies and "dispels" what it views as six "myths" about NCLB: (1) NCLB is a right-wing plot to undermine public education; (2) NCLB is a "one-size-fits-all" education reform; (3) NCLB is an unwarranted federal intrusion into state and local control of schools; (4) NCLB is an unfunded mandate; (5) NCLB has made public school teachers more dissatisfied with their jobs; (6) NCLB forces schools to spend so much time on reading and math that the civics, geography and other important subjects must be eliminated.

Many educators, legislators and others would likely take issue with the characterization of some of these statements as "myths." For example, many states have asserted that NCLB is an unwarranted intrusion into a state and local function. Similarly, several states, the National Conference of State Legislatures, the Children's Defense Fund and education finance experts such as Bill Mathis have contended that the cost of NCLB far outweighs the federal funds provided.

The Business Roundtable's publications are available on its website.

Prepared by Wendy C. Lecker, August 26 2004