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The Aspen Institute:
We hear news stories about low reading scores, see high numbers of students dropping out of school and learn from business owners and college professors that graduates lack necessary skills and knowledge.
We have a responsibility as a nation to take bold steps to close the achievement gaps that plague our nation's schools and to ensure that all students are prepared for successful and productive lives after high school.
Virtually every aspect of schooling---from what is taught in elementary, middle and high school classes, to how teachers are hired, to how money is allocated---has been effected by the statute.
Ensuring that NCLB works for all students requires more than asking states to develop plans for assessment and accountability systems.
We cannot hope to ensure our teachers are qualified or effective or that students are getting the extra help to which they are entitled if states merely comply with these requirements on paper, yet fail to execute their responsibilities.
The implementation of NCLB has shown the need to do a better job in providing interventions, such as public school choice and supplemental educational services (SES or free tutoring), designed to help students in low-performing schools.
The requirement for assessments in each grade from 3 through 8 and once in high school has enhanced the quality and reliability of information about school performance.
Yet the requirement for assessments in only a single grade in high school has meant that student progress cannot be tracked through the end of high school.
In short, we simply don't have the data we need to identify and assist struggling high schools under the current NCLB assessment system.
Posted on February 15, 2007 12:55 AM
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