Fast Report

10/12/04 -- GAO cites problems in NCLB implementation

• A report issued by the General Accounting Office in September finds that state implementation of the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) is hampered by tight timeframes for determining school progress and flawed student data systems. "Measuring achievement with faulty data can lead to inaccurate information on schools meeting proficiency goals," it says.

The report found wide variation among the states in measuring student progress, making comparisons among states meaningless. It also said the U.S. Education Department failed to provide "clear and timely guidance and information."

As of July 31, the GAO states, the U.S. Education Department had fully approved 28 states' plans for implementing NCLB and conditionally approved plans from 23 states and the District of Columbia..

Paige lauds NCLB in annual speech

• In his annual back-to-school address, U.S. Secretary of Education Rod Paige said the No Child Left Behind Act is "making a positive difference in millions of lives" and offered evidence from around the nation that the law is working.

"We are at the beginning of a new era in education," Paige told the audience at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C., Sept. 24. "I am proud to report that our schools are improving, American education is getting better -- and it is because of No Child Left Behind and the hard-working teachers and administrators in our nation's schools."

Paige was joined by students and educators who have benefited from the law, including Fatima Rodriguez, a student at Gainesville (Ga.) Elementary School. "In just two years, Fatima learned English, is reading on grade level, and passed the state test for promotion to fourth grade," Paige says.

Before NCLB, "this nation confronted a de facto apartheid in our schools," he says, "Millions of students were mired in mediocrity, denied a quality education."

Since the law was passed, Paige says, the achievement gap is closing. He urged politicians not to repeal or water down NCLB.

NCLB critics say law based on lies

• At the same time Paige was delivering his speech, critics of NCLB presented their views at a press conference in a different room at the National Press Club. University of Texas Professor Angela Valenzuela, who conducted research on the Houston Independent School District, said the "Texas miracle" on which NCLB was based is "a mirage."

When President Bush was governor of Texas and Paige was school superintendent in Houston, district officials vastly undercounted the number of dropouts and made other claims about student success that have since been shown to be untrue, Valenzuela says.

Valenzuela's appearance was coordinated by the Campaign for America's Future. Robert Borosage, co-director of the campaign, called Paige "the Ken Lay of education" because "he's risen on the basis of books that were totally cooked while claiming to know nothing about the lies."

Baptists weigh public school exodus

• About 10 of the state and regional Southern Baptist conventions meeting in October and November will consider resolutions urging church members to remove their children from public schools.

The proposal is sponsored by T.C. Pinckney, a retired brigadier general in Alexandria, Va., and Houston attorney Bruce N. Shortt.

Their main complaint is that public education is secular. "If one reads the Bible, it's clear that God gives responsibility of educating children to parents," Pinckney says. "Nowhere does it mention giving government the responsibility for educating children."

The national organization of the Southern Baptist denomination rejected a similar resolution at its convention last spring.

Pinckney says the main goal is to focus attention on the issue. "I don't think you'll see a mass exodus within the next 12 months."

Pinckney acknowledges a countermovement by some Southern Baptists to keep their children in public schools as a means of influencing other children.

CD features NCLB protest songs

• Opponents of the No Child Left Behind Act have a new way of getting their message across: a CD of protest songs called "No Child Left Behind? Bring Back the Joy."

The CD was developed by education activists Susan Ohanian and Cap Lee to raise money for the World of Opportunity alternative school in Birmingham, Ala.

The songs, performed by folk singers, educators, and children's choirs, feature an anti-testing, pro-child message.

The lyrics to "Test the Kids," for example, sung to the tune, "If You're Happy and You Know It," includes: "No Child Left Behind says test the kids/ While teachers are maligned, test the kids. If the CEOs are liars, put the kids' feet to the fire/Shouting 'vouchers, we desire!,' test the kids. If your schools they are crumbling, test the kids/And Congress it is bumbling, test the kids. . . ."