National Council of Churches Event: “Fixing
No Child Left Behind”
“Wake up and dream” of a new movement,
the Rev. Dr. Bernice Powell Jackson urged listeners
in her morning message at an event calling for major
changes to the No Child Left Behind Act. “NCLB,”
she said, “ignores the realities of children’s
lives.” Intending to “prepare justice advocates
for the reauthorization debate” and requesting
action commitments from each of the 100 participants
from across the nation, the Committee on Public Education
and Literacy of the National
Council of Churches, the nation’s largest
ecumenical religious organization, hosted a full-day
conference on NCLB last Friday, March 9, in Washington,
DC.
Implementation Concerns
Speakers, such as Monty Neill, FairTest,
addressed concerns that NCLB leads to a narrowing of
schools’ curriculum and a false labeling of schools
as “failing”, and it needs instead to promote
professional development, quality assessments, and parental
involvement in local schools. Molly A. Hunter, National
Access Network, explained the multi-billion dollar under-funding
of NCLB and the need to close “opportunity gaps”
in order to overcome achievement gaps. Monique L. Dixon,
The
Advancement Project, recounted some of the history
of federal education law and related litigations and
explained why and how NCLB should return to the aims
of its earlier versions. When what was then named the
Elementary and Secondary Education Act was originally
passed in 1965, she said, the goal was to bring opportunity
and needed resources to the schools educating low-income
and minority kids.
Is Education a Weapon against Native Americans?
Heather Thompson, from the National
Congress of American Indians, told the gathering
that many American Indians view education as “a
weapon” against their culture, their languages,
and their communities because that has been their historical
experience with education. She also related the dire
circumstances of most native communities, which struggle
with abject poverty and extremely high unemployment
and are trying to cope with high teen suicide rates.
Regarding NCLB, the Congress and the National Indian
Education Association want more and better education
in native languages and culture and the funding needed
to support these goals, as well as better support for
teachers of native students, better measures of progress,
and other changes.
Practitioners Speak
Educators recounted personal encounters with the implementation
of NCLB in regard to:
- Students with disabilities (Daryl Gates, Shreveport,
LA, teacher);
- English language learners (Carmen Sol Cotto, Ell/Multicultural
Administrator, Philadelphia); and
- Challenges for schools educating children in concentrated
poverty (Anita Harmon, principal of a Chicago elementary
school).
Keynote
George Wood, an Ohio high school principal, former
professor, and Director of the Forum
for Education and Democracy, delivered the keynote
address, bringing a practitioner’s experience
and an academic’s keen analysis to the audience.
In his remarks, entitled “Looking for Reform in
All the Wrong Places,” he briefly pointed out
weaknesses in NCLB but focused on a different vision
of progress, including “paying off the education
debt we owe poor communities,” reconnection of
our schools and our local communities, and using “multiple
measures” to assess student achievement. He specifically
urged support for the Student Bill of Rights Act, which
has been introduced in the last few Congresses by Senator
Chris Dodd and Congressman Chaka Fattah.
Prepared by Molly A. Hunter, March 15, 2007
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