No Child Left Behind waivers sought

As New York State considers adopting waivers for requirements to the federal government’s No Child Left Behind law, which funds programs to improve performance in American schools, school districts in the Five Towns said the law hurt them more than it helped.

The goal of the No Child Left Behind Act, adopted in 2001 by former President George W. Bush, is to provide resources for improving teacher and principal quality, facilitate student achievement through technology in schools, provide a safe and drug-free learning environment and to ensure high academic achievement in delinquent and neglected youth.

In the Hewlett-Woodmere School District, Assistant Superintendent for Curriculum and Instruction Laura Seinfeld said while No Child Left Behind helped student achievement for students with disabilities and those for whom English is not a first language, there was a major fault. “The main flaw of No Child Left Behind is the over-emphasis on judging student, school and district progress based on results of single event tests,” she said.

Seinfeld said that in addition to judging a student’s proficiency in a subject area based on the result of one test, in some cases No Child Left Behind caused a reduction of the curriculum because of excessive test preparations. She added that the district is awaiting further guidance for the New York State Department of Education on how the accountability targets may be revised.

“As always, Hewlett-Woodmere Public Schools will continue to provide the support needed for all students to meet state standards,” she said. “We are currently aligning our curriculum to the New York State Common Core Learning Standards.”

The Common Core State Standards for English Language Arts & Literacy in history/Social studies, science, and technical subjects are an effort to ensure that students in kindergarten through 12th grade are college and career ready by the time they graduate high school, according to the New York State Education website.

Like Hewlett-Woodmere, Lawrence School District Superintendent Gary Schall is looking to the New York State Common Core Learning Standards to replace No Child Left Behind as they were developed with funds from the federal government Race to the Top initiative, which offers a broader foundation for achieving college readiness.

In Lawrence, Data Inquiry teams are comprised of teachers and administrators who meet to determine strengths and weaknesses in students and revise the curriculum to meet students’ needs. “With the Race to the Top funds, districts can develop Data Inquiry teams to analyze (test) results and give assessments at the beginning and end of the year,” he said.

A serious flaw of No Child Left Behind is that state testing did not accurately measure levels of improvement from year to year, Schall said. “It was yet another unfunded federal mandate that the state governments could not afford to implement properly,” he said. “There was funding for the high cost of testing itself, funds for professional development, funding for interventions and resources required to fill the achievement gap.”

The New York State Board of Regents is expected to discuss the No Child Left Behind waivers at their next meeting on Oct. 17, said State Education Commissioner John B. King Jr., who was with President Obama and Education Secretary Arne Duncan when the waiver package was announced last month.

“We are reaching out to key stakeholder groups and accountability experts to make recommendations to the Board of Regents for how New York can best respond to this opportunity,” King said in a prepared statement. “The goal is to improve student performance. A better accountability system that supports and recognizes our schools will help us reach

that goal.”