It's been about a decade since President Bush inaugurated his educational plan with Ted Kennedy that promised to strengthen public education. Since that time more children have left public education either by dropping out or by enrolling in private or charter schools. By doing so the parents of these children have put themselves and their families under financial duress.
The question we all should have is, "The No Child Left Behind", program worth it. Lets take a quick peek at some of the statistics over the last decade. The Brookings Institution wrote a report on July 15, 2010, stated each state gets to be its own policeman by designing the tests its students take in order to stay accountable to the NCLB Act. There is an organization called, "The National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) administered every two years with 4th and 8th grade students to representative samples of students from each state. This should serve as a check on what the states report using their own assessments.
Londonderry Assistant Superintendent Mark Blount states these tests are of little value locally because few students take the test. I believe the number is approximately 3000. Many states have a problem because of the contrast of students being reported as proficient on NAEP vs. state tests. For example, NAEP shows 28 per cent of Tennessee's eighth graders are considered proficient in reading whereas the state of Tennessee finds more than 90 percent of its students to be proficient. The only question here is who is kidding who.
Even though it is easy to do I do not want this discussion to encompass why or why not the NCLB program is helping public education. I do want it to include the cost this program is putting on the parents of the children in public education. Attorney General Richard Blumenthal and the state legislature of Connecticut brought a lawsuit in 2005, stating the state should not be forced to absorb costs required to comply with the NCLB policy. By the way, Connecticut estimates it has spent approximately $41.6 million from 2002 though 2008. Can you imagine how we could improve education with that kind of money. As for what New Hampshire or Maine pays to comply with the NCLB policies must also reach into the millions.
We are told by our Federal Government we have to trust them with the education of our children. Remember this is the same government that put us in a decade's long war costing billions of dollars, allowed the almost total destruction of our Gulf Coast due to natural and very unnatural causes, literally looked the other way as our nations financial giants stole the dreams and aspirations of many, and now want to be trusted with how our children are educated?
We, as a society, have to take our schools back. In the past, our public school system was the envy of the world. We did not accomplish this by demonstrating great scores on standardized tests. We did this by having our children motivated to make their world and the world of their children a better place. Every community across this nation of ours had schools filled with children whose parents hoped their child's world would be better than their own. These parents knew that a good education could open doors for their children. We need to get this attitude back.
About a quarter century ago their was a program entitled, "School Improvement Program". It was a plan for each separate school to have a plan to improve how its students were to be educated. In other words, each school was a separate 'plant' whose sole purpose was to successfully educate its students to best survive in their local environment. The administration and teachers were accountable not to a Federal Government whose sole purpose was to increase scores on a standardized test but were accountable to the members of the community. All Federal and State monies for education were given to the schools and not to the companies who supply the tests. These tests mean nothing to our students. The amount of knowledge they can accumulate in order to better survive their futures is. Actually in a state that prides itself on independence I am shocked to watch its citizens being told what to do with their own children's education.
It's been about a decade since President Bush inaugurated his educational plan with Ted Kennedy promising to strengthen public education. If you look at the policy when it was first implemented to what the policy looks like today, it is easy to see there have been few changes. What the Federal and State leaders of educational reform fail to realize is the changes in the culture as a whole that affect academic achievement such as the use of the Internet and digital media by school-aged children. If our communities took back control of their schools I am confident they would not make such a mistake.
Jim Fabiano is a teacher and writer living in York, Maine
Maine Publisher's Association Best weekly column award for 2004
Recipient of Theodore William Richards Award for excellence in teaching secondary school science for 2007.
Email Jim: james.fabiano60@gmail.com
