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10/21/2004 -
NABE JOINS ALLIANCE FOR FAIR AND EFFECTIVE ACCOUNTABILITY, ENDORSES BROAD CRITIQUE OF NO CHILD LEFT BEHIND
A group of 30 education and civil rights organizations, including NABE, has called
for an end to the "test and punish" philosophy that guides the No Child
Left Behind Act. The Alliance for Fair and Effective Accountability proposed
a series of recommendations to Congress that would reform the worst excesses
of NCLB. The statement follows:
Joint Organizational Statement on No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act
October 21, 2004
The undersigned education, civil rights, children’s, disability, and citizens’ organizations
are committed to the No Child Left Behind Act’s objectives of strong academic
achievement for all children and closing the achievement gap. We believe that
the federal government has a critical role to play in attaining these goals.
We endorse the use of an accountability system that helps ensure all children,
including children of color, from low-income families, with disabilities, and
of limited English proficiency, are prepared to be successful, participating
members of our democracy.
While we all have different positions on various aspects of the law, based on
concerns raised
during the implementation of NCLB, we believe the following significant, constructive
corrections are among those necessary to make the Act fair and effective. Among
these concerns are: over-emphasizing standardized testing, narrowing curriculum
and instruction to focus on test preparation rather than richer academic learning;
over-identifying schools in need of improvement; using sanctions that do not
help improve schools; inappropriately excluding low-scoring children in order
to boost test results; and inadequate funding. Overall, the law’s emphasis needs to shift from applying sanctions
for failing to raise test scores to holding states and localities accountable
for making the systemic changes that improve student achievement.
Recommended Changes in NCLB
Progress Measurement
1. Replace the law's arbitrary proficiency targets with ambitious achievement
targets based on rates of success actually achieved by the most effective public
schools.
2. Allow states to measure progress by using students’ growth in achievement
as well as their performance in relation to pre-determined levels of academic
proficiency.
3. Ensure that states and school districts regularly report to the government
and the public their progress in implementing systemic changes to enhance educator,
family, and community capacity to improve student learning.
4. Provide a comprehensive picture of students' and schools' performance by moving
from an overwhelming reliance on standardized tests to using multiple indicators
of student achievement in addition to these tests.
5. Fund research and development of more effective accountability systems that better meet the goal of high academic achievement
for all children
Assessments
6. Help states develop assessment systems that include district and school-based
measures in order to provide better, more timely information about student learning.
7. Strengthen enforcement of NCLB provisions requiring that assessments must:
• Be aligned with state content and achievement standards;
• Be used for purposes for which they are valid and reliable;
• Be consistent with nationally recognized professional and technical standards;
• Be of adequate technical quality for each purpose required under the Act;
• Provide multiple, up-to-date measures of student performance including
measures that assess higher order thinking skills and understanding; and
• Provide useful diagnostic information to improve teaching and learning.
8. Decrease the testing burden on states, schools and districts by allowing states
to assess students annually in selected grades in elementary, middle schools,
and high schools.
Building Capacity
9. Ensure changes in teacher and administrator preparation and continuing professional
development that research evidence and experience indicate improve educational
quality and student achievement.
10. Enhance state and local capacity to effectively implement the comprehensive
changes required to increase the knowledge and skills of administrators, teachers,
families, and communities to support high student achievement.
Sanctions
11. Ensure that improvement plans are allowed sufficient time to take hold before
applying sanctions; sanctions should not be applied if they undermine existing
effective reform efforts.
12. Replace sanctions that do not have a consistent record of success with interventions
that enable schools to make changes that result in improved student achievement.
Funding
13. Raise authorized levels of NCLB funding to cover a substantial percentage
of the costs that states and districts will incur to carry out these recommendations,
and fully fund the law at those levels without reducing expenditures for other
education programs.
14. Fully fund Title I to ensure that 100 percent of eligible children are served.
We, the undersigned, will work for the adoption of these recommendations as central
structural changes needed to NCLB at the same time that we advance our individual
organization’s proposals.
Advancement Project
American Association of School Administrators
American Association of University Women
ASPIRA
Association of School Business Officials International (ASBO)
Campaign for Fiscal Equity/ACCESS
Children's Defense Fund
Citizens for Effective Schools
Council for Children with Behavioral Disorders
Council for Exceptional Children
Cross City Campaign for Urban School Reform
Division for Learning Disabilities of the Council for Exceptional Children (DLD/CEC)
FairTest: The National Center for Fair & Open Testing
Forum for Education and Democracy
International Reading Association
International Technology Education Association
League of United Latin American Citizens
Learning Disabilities Association of America
National Alliance of Black School Educators
National Association of School Psychologists
National Association of Social Workers
National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP)
National Association for Bilingual Education (NABE)
National Council of Teachers of English
National Down Syndrome Congress
National Education Association
National School Boards Association
National Urban League
Service Employees International Union
School Social Work Association of America
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