10/14/03 -- The No Child Left Behind (Act) is here to stay -- and school board members should not sit back in hopes that Congress will water down its provisions, says U.S. Education Secretary Rod Paige.
Speaking at the Council of Urban Boards of Education (CUBE) Annual Meeting Oct. 5, Paige told big-city school leaders there is strong bipartisan support on Capitol Hill for the new federal law.
"The intent of the bill is real; the enforcement is real," he says. "We're here for the long haul. There is no reason to be sitting around waiting for something to be different."
Having served as both a superintendent and a school board member, Paige says, he understands perfectly the dilemma that school board members face with NCLB.
But the law sets an important level of expectations, he says. It makes clear that people cannot dismiss the child who comes to school wearing dirty clothes or in need of a haircut.
"This bill says that's not how we do things," Paige says. "We give every kid a shot. Every kid deserves a chance, and we will work with them until something happens."
Some people have expressed concern about how different adequate yearly progress (AYP) goals vary from state to state -- and how that's caused concern and confusion, Paige says.
He told school leaders to stay focused on their state standards and not worry about the rest of the nation.
"There are 50 different states," he says. "There are 50 different sets of standards. The question is, what do people in [their state] want a child to know and learn?"
Paige also suggests the challenges facing urban leaders are more straightforward than they sometimes accept. As superintendent in Houston, he noticed early in his tenure that the city's middle school test scores were the "armpit of the world." He discovered middle school teachers didn't have enough training in math, so he provided more professional development.
"How complicated is that?" he asked. "Do you have a sound curriculum? Are your teachers trained in it? Are they teaching it? If you answer those questions right, I wouldn't even worry about your AYPs."
In closing his remarks, Paige reminded school board members that, "for whatever reason, we've chosen to spend part of our lives in space and time in education. Now, do you want that to mean you made some positive and indelible change in the lives of young people? Or that that you kept the seat warm?"