Education Matters US

The Committee on Education and Labor has released its’ discussion draft on the Title I changes for NCLB (Elementary and Secondary Education Act). You can view the summary if you don’t want to read the full draft.

A couple of quick items I noticed in the summary were the following [Emphasis mine]:

1. 
   

   Multiple Indicators/Assessments – Allows states to use more than a single test for accountability purposes. States can use multiple, state-developed assessments taken at different points in time to measure AYP and may consider more than reading and math assessments in the final AYP determination. Such additional indicators of school progress include graduation rates, dropout rates, college enrollment rates, percentages of students successfully completing end of course exams for college preparatory courses, assessments in history, science, civics and government, and writing, and improvements in the performance of the lowest and highest performing students in the school. Substantial improvement on such indicators may provide credit of up to a total of 15% of elementary schools’ Annual Measurable Objectives and 25% of high schools’ Annual Measurable Objectives. Requires states to make itemized score analyses understandable and useful to schools.

2. 
   

   In order to use a growth model, states need to have in place longitudinal data systems that compare the same group of students each year. These data systems will include certain elements, including: • An ability to match individual student scores on state academic assessments from year to year; • A unique student identifier so test scores can be monitored while individual privacy is protected and a unique teacher identifier that matches student records to the appropriate teacher; • Enrollment, attendance, demographic and program participation information including individual student membership in subgroups at the school, grade and classroom level; • Student-level data on the entrance and exit of the education system for each student including first-time grade enrollment, grade level retention, transfer status, and drop out rates.

The multiple indicators will allow schools to game the system even more than they do now. This is easily seen by the way the test scores show high numbers meeting AYP while the Nations Report Card does not.

The second items of having year to year tracking of both students and teachers would be a great data to have. In fact, a system like this should have already been in place if the public schools had truly been interested in knowing what methods work and who the best teachers are. This is basic data that is neccessary for finding, fixing, and improving educational outcomes.

I am not going to analyze this document too much because NCLB is not needed. It is a misguided effort by lawmakers and the education bureaucracy to seemingly provide accountability, but in fact does not fix the inherent problems that exist in this government sanctioned monopoly. The education bureaucracy has become bloated and inefficient. They no longer are responsive to the community in which they live or the parents who are not given an alternative to the failing education of their local school district.

The solution is to fund the child and not the bureaucracy. This simple plan that would allow all children equal access to a good education and would put parents back in charge of their children’s education can easily be done with the following steps:

• Designate an equal amount of money for each school-aged child
• The parents then choose which school their child will attend
  • Public – in or out of current district boundary
  • Private
  • Charter
• Remove all current mandates
• Require all financial data to be on the internet for all public/charter schools
• Require yearly testing of all students – all schools (These tests should be created by an independent authority and not the current State or Education Bureaucracy)
• Require raw and aggregate testing results to be on the internet in a timely manner, i.e. in time for school selection for the upcoming school year – all schools
• DO NOT reauthorize NCLB, it will no longer be needed
• Abolish the Dept. of Education, it also will no longer be needed

Whether you share my views or not, you are being given a change to express your concerns with Congress on this matter. To provide them your comments please send and email to ESEA.Comments@mail.house.gov. You will need to include your name. They would also appreciate the page and line numbers related to your comment. These comments are due by September 5, 2007 so don’t delay.