Fast Report

2/21/06 -- NCLB commission established

• Former Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy G. Thompson and former Georgia Gov. Roy E. Barnes announced the creation of a bipartisan Commission on No Child Left Behind Feb. 14.

As Congress prepares to consider the reauthorization of NCLB in 2007, Barnes says, “the commission wants to hear from America on how the No Child Left Behind Act affects their lives.”

The commission will host five national hearings focusing on teachers, assessments, accountability, and sanctions and incentives. It is housed at the Aspen Institute. Contact: www.nclbcommission.org.

Rep. Miller still supports NCLB

• For now, Rep. George Miller (D-Calif.) isn’t all that interested in educators’ complaints that it is impossible for schools to meet the No Child Left Behind Act’s goal to have 100 percent of U.S. students scoring at proficient levels by 2014.

“Before you say you can’t get 100 percent proficiency, let’s see if you can get 60 to 70 percent proficiency,” Miller told school board members at the Council of Urban Boards of Education (CUBE) Congressional Luncheon Feb. 7 in Washington, D.C.

The ranking minority member of the House Committee on Education and the Workforce, Miller expressed his continued -- if somewhat qualified -- support for NCLB. While standing firm on the need for high standards, Miller acknowledged that school boards are handicapped by the federal government’s underfunding of NCLB including the 2007 budget request, to the tune of approximately $55 billion since the legislation was signed in January 2002.

He also expressed disappointment with President Bush, who Miller says promised to provide the resources for NCLB if leaders of Congress pushed through the education reform package.

But inadequate funding is no excuse for giving up on the ideals of NCLB, he says. “Many schools have made dramatic changes,” and they’re making significant gains.

Study: NCLB revisions threaten law’s goals

• Over the past two years, the U.S. Department of Education has made such extensive compromises in implementing the No Child Left Behind Act that the law’s legitimacy is in serious question.

That’s the main conclusion of The Unraveling of No Child Left Behind: How Negotiated Changes Transform the Law, a report by the Civil Rights Project at Harvard University.

In response to growing state and local opposition to the law, political and professional criticisms of its requirements, and the increasing number of schools and districts identified for improvement, the study says the Administration has allowed a wide variety of changes in state accountability plans.

According to the study, “These changes reflect a political strategy by the Administration to respond to the growing state opposition to the law by providing relief from some of the law’s provisions and reducing, at least temporarily, the number of schools and districts identified for improvement.”

Report tracks NCLB efforts in California

• The vast majority of California districts with schools facing restructuring under No Child Left Behind are forgoing the law’s more radical options, such as converting these schools into charter schools or turning their operation over to an outside entity.

Instead, districts are engaging in internal reforms to improve the schools, according to a report issued Feb. 9 by the Washington, D.C.-based Center on Education Policy.

Wrestling the Devil in the Details: An Early Look at Restructuring in California tracks the initial steps of 271 schools in mostly urban areas in California that have failed to meet their adequate yearly progress goals for five or more years.

According to the report, 76 percent of schools in restructuring chose to “undertake any other major restructuring of the school’s governance that produces fundamental reform.”

In California this option has taken a variety of forms, from hiring coaches to help teachers work together in new ways, to appointing a leadership team to oversee school operations.

Only 2 percent of schools chose to “reopen as a charter school.”

In the 2005-06 school year, 404 California schools have entered the restructuring phase, a 49 percent increase from the previous year.

Students nominate outstanding teachers

• The TeachersCount organization is looking for outstanding middle school teachers who are “real-life superheroes.”

The competition, co-sponsored by OfficeMax and Marvel Entertainment, calls for students in grades 6-8 to nominate teachers by writing short essays on “Why My Teacher Is a Superhero.”

One grand-prize winning teacher and corresponding entrant will make an illustrated cameo appearance in a Marvel comic book, such as Spider-Man or the Fantastic Four, and will appear in a special-edition Marvel comic book honoring teachers as “superheroes.”

Other prizes include OfficeMax gift cards, funds for professional development, supplies for the school, and furniture for the teachers’ lounge.