Standardization and Imperialism…

1. Standardization and Imperialism…

2. How do state or federal mandates affect education and society?

3. No Child Left Behind(NCLB) These reforms express my deep belief in our public schools and their mission to build the mind and character of every child, from every background, in every part of America. President George W. BushJanuary 2001

4. Purpose Close the achievement gap withaccountability, flexibility, parental choices,and research-based reforms

5. History 1965-2002 • President Lyndon B. Johnson signs Elementaryand Secondary Education Act, 1965 • Title I and ESEA coordinated throughImproving America’s Schools Act, 1994 • Reauthorization of ESEA -No Child Left Behind, 2002

6. Goals • ALL students will attain proficiency or betterin reading and mathematics by 2013-2014 • ALL limited English students will becomeproficient in English • ALL teachers will be highly qualifiedby 2005-2006 • ALL students will be educated in safe,drug-free environments • ALL students will graduate from high school

7. Key points • Accountability • Teacher Quality • Options and Choices for Parents • Instructional Methods • Flexibility

8. Accountability • Testing Requirements • Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) • Consequences • Public Reporting

9. ACCOUNTABILITY Adequate Yearly Progress - Example 1 2002 100% 100% Target 2013-2014 95% 90% 85% 80% 75% 70% 65% 40% Baseline Target 2001-2002 60% 55% 50% 45% 40% 2002 2003 2003 2004 2004 2005 2005 2006 2006 2007 2007 2008 2009 2009 2010 2010 2011 2011 2012 2012 2013 2013 2014

10. Teacher quality • All core academic subject area teachers nothighly qualified must meet the requirementsby 2005-2006.

11. Options and choices for parents • Increased parent notification and reporting requirements for all districts • Emphasis on parental involvement • School Improvement Status Schools: • Transfer option to schools not identifiedfor improvement • Supplemental services provided outsidethe school day

12. Summary • Assessment for ALL students • Accountability for ALL students • Public reporting for ALL schools • Increased options for ALL parents • Highly qualified personnel in ALL schools • Dollars to classrooms in ALL schools

13. Key dates… • 2002- Annual assessment of Limited EnglishProficiency students • 2002- Biennial NAEP testing in grades 4 and 8in reading and math • 2002- States and districts distribute annual report cardsbased on NCLB requirements • Annual assessment in math and reading/languagearts at least once in grades 3-5, 6-9, 10-12 2005- Annual assessments of reading and math in grades 3-8 (fall) • 2006- All public and charter school teachers must meetstandards of high quality • 2006-States must have science standards established • 2014-All students must be proficient in readingand math

14. Pros Cons What are the pros and cons to federally mandated educational policy

15. NCLB?? • No Child Left Untested • Every Child Left Behind • No Teacher Left Untested • No Puppy Left Unfed • No one could possibly “be against” leaving no child behind, just as no one could be against starving puppies! • Test and Burn • Front:  No Child Left Behind  • Back:  As long as you are white, middle class, and Christian • No Child left on Their Behind!!!!!!!! That is what we say in the Physical Education world. •  aNother Conservative-initiated program for Liberals to Bitch about • Many Children Left Behind by Debra Meier, Alfie Kohn, etc. 

16. Secretary of Education- Rod Paige • National Education Association (NEA) is a “terrorist organization” for criticizing NCLB • April 2003- “All things being equal, I would prefer to have a child in a school that has a strong appreciation for Christian values where a child is taught to have a strong faith.”

17. Equity Claims for NCLB don’t pass the test… A huge increase in financial responsibility to schools with no more federal money provided… • Some estimates say that the new federal law will require states to give more than 200 tests at a cost of more than $7 Billion dollars • Many studies show that standardized testing does not lead to increased student achievement but may in fact reduce it and lead to higher dropout rates.” (New York Times, 12/28/02)

18. May narrow the focus of what teachers do in class • Limit the ability to serve the broader needs of students and their communities • Pushes struggling students out of school • Adopt developmentally inappropriate practices for young children to get them prepared for the test

19. All the focus on test scores means that little energy is left for imagination, creativity, intrinsic motivation, intuition, spontaneity, and children

20. HQT • Makes understanding the process of teaching and learning take a back seat to knowing the facts of a subject area • 93% of white teacher candidate passed the testing necessary • 73% of African American candidates passed the same test • Over-reliance on high stakes testing of teachers mirrors the existing race and class inequities and ultimately denies many teachers of color access to the teaching field. • Attack on teacher education programs- leading to alternative licensure and deregulation and for-profit programs

21. HQT? • Kati Haycock, 2000 (Education Trust) • Students in high poverty schools were more than twice as likely to have teachers who weren’t certified in the subject areas that they were teaching • Students in schools that had a population of 90% of more of African American and Latino students were twice as likely to have teachers with no certification at all

22. HQT? • July 2001 The New York Times • 50 percent of the teachers in urban schools leave teaching within their first five years

23. Empirically Researched Instructional Methods? • Education and the Cult of Efficiency • “Acquisition of earning” (not learning) • “Education that does not promote the desire for earning… is not worth the getting.”

24. Accountability? • Law’s punitive measure to not passing high stakes test is problematic • Any extra funding will go to magnet schools through vouchers or school choice programs, not to ensure improvement of present conditions

25. Accountability? • Adding special education students and students with limited English language proficiency does not improve their situation and holds schools responsible to an unfair expectation

26. Accountability? • Testing requirements are so high that in some states over 90% of the schools will not meet the standards

27. Accountability? • Inequality in test scores is one indicator of school performance. But test scores also reflect other inequalities.

28. Accountability? • Ten percent of white children live in poverty whereas 35% of Black and Latino children live in poverty.

29. Accountability? • 14% of whites have no health insurance whereas 20% of Blacks and 30% of Latinos have no health insurance

30. Accountability? • Why isn’t our political system addressing this inequity.

31. George Bush has run a privatizing mania… • We are defending the very concept of a public sector that serves the common good • We must promote policies for equitable funding, smaller class sizes, programs to enhance teacher quality, regardless of race, color, nationality, or zip code

32. “The administration likes to talk about the soft bigotry of low expectations and how this law fights that. But what about the hard bigotry of high expectations without adequate resources?” (Washington Post, 1/2/03)

33. Dr. Sobol- (initiator of the standards movement) the high stakes nature of testing affect those that “are usually poor and disproportionately of color…this is beyond illegal and unfair-this is immoral”. (cited in Kozol, 2005)