Area educators weigh U.S. plan

Mar 16, 2010 — St. Louis Post-Dispatch

David Hunn

Mar. 16, 2010 (McClatchy-Tribune Regional News delivered by Newstex) -- Missouri and Illinois school leaders greeted a proposed overhaul of the nation's education policy with equal measures of relief and uncertainty on Monday.

Many appreciated that the strict requirements of the existing law may soon be scrapped but wondered how President Barack Obama's ideas for testing and standards would look when fleshed out.

The U.S. Department of Education's blueprint, released Monday, was slim on specifics, many in the region said. Still, several superintendents and regional leaders applauded the focus on measuring student growth and rewarding schools that make progress, instead of punishing districts for posting poor test scores.

"We're still learning a lot, and there's a lot to learn, but I'm very encouraged," said Jeffrey Spiegel, superintendent of Ferguson-Florissant schools.

Teachers associations, however, argued Monday that the new proposal would fail to fix many problems and would continue to rely on standardized test scores.

The current U.S. education law, known as No Child Left Behind, has been almost universally reviled by educators. It requires every child in the country to pass state tests by 2014, and doles out sanctions for schools that can't meet yearly testing goals.

"It's an unrealistic expectation that should have never occurred," Spiegel said. "A premise based on threats and punishment and labels."

In recent years, frustrated administrators watched schools with high-percentage passing rates get labeled as "failing" when only a small subset of students -- such as those still learning English -- didn't meet goals.

That label may not give an accurate picture of the school as a whole, said Parkway schools Superintendent Bob Malito.

Malito was one of many administrators to write the U.S. Department of Education to ask for changes in the law.

"We've been waiting for this time for the federal government to focus on students, rather than a test or timeline of 2014," he said. "This new move is dealing with individual student achievement and growth, and we believe in that."

The new plan to reauthorize the Elementary and Secondary Education Act largely follows in the spirit of the two stimulus grant projects already proposed by Obama's Education Department.

It would regularly target the poorest-performing 5 percent of each state's schools. It would ask states and districts to compete for extra dollars tied to improvement. It would encourage new, national guidelines for what should be taught in the classroom. And it would measure a school's success, not by the percentage of students passing state tests, but by how much each student improves on them.

The No Child Left Behind era added standards and accountability, and now officials need to take the best parts of that and move forward in a plan for the future, said Mary Piper, interim superintendent of the Hazelwood School District.

"I think we need to be accountable, but I like a focus on engaging work in the classroom," she said. "If we engage kids, they are going to do good on a test. That's going to naturally happen."

But some don't think the changes will reach far enough.

Almost immediately after the plan's release, the National Education Association, the nation's largest teachers union, and the American Federation of Teachers issued statements saying they were disappointed with the blueprint.

It places 100 percent of the responsibility on teachers and gives them little authority, union leaders said.

"We had great hopes that this reauthorization would not focus on student test scores," said Missouri NEA President Chris Guinther. "It absolutely does."

She wanted to see more attention on reducing class sizes and involving parents.

"It's really very prescriptive and undermines local control," she said. "We know that what works in Cassville doesn't necessarily work in St. Louis."

She said the NEA was already mobilizing "to make this right."

Indeed, the proposal has a long way to go -- if it makes it at all -- said Andrew Rotherham, an education aide to President Bill Clinton and co-founder of the Washington nonprofit Bellwether Education.

It's a step forward, certainly, he said. Ten years ago, states weren't prepared to track student test scores as they can now.

But none of that may matter, he said, if politicians can't agree on the specifics. And finding that consensus could be difficult, he said, given the current political climate in Washington.

"Let's be honest," Rotherham said, "this is a really tough year."

Newstex ID: KRTB-0187-42964565