One of George Bush's proudest achievements as President is the No Child Left Behind Law. This law, which had bipartisan backing, has had mixed reviews by proponents and opponents.
And now, according to the Washington Post, more than 50 GOP members of the House and Senate -- including the House's second-ranking Republican -- will introduce legislation today that could severely undercut President Bush's signature domestic achievement, the No Child Left Behind Act, by allowing states to opt out of its testing mandates.
Among the co-sponsors of the legislation are House Minority Whip Roy Blunt (R-Mo.), a key supporter of the measure in 2001, and John Cornyn (R-Tex.), Bush's most reliable defender in the Senate. Rep. Eric Cantor (Va.), the House GOP's chief deputy whip and a supporter in 2001, has also signed on.
The article goes on to report that some Republicans said yesterday that a backlash against the law was inevitable. Many voters in affluent suburban and exurban districts -- GOP strongholds -- think their schools have been adversely affected by the law. Once-innovative public schools have increasingly become captive to federal testing mandates, jettisoning education programs not covered by those tests, siphoning funds from programs for the talented and gifted, and discouraging creativity, critics say.
Additionally, in extreme cases to protect test scores, some schools have even resorted to cleansing their student population of students who may bring the test scores down. Such is the case for Jasmine Boulware, a Myers Park High School student in Charlotte, North Carolina.
A Times Magazine article reported that because the student had some disciplinarian problems, and was not performing well in school she was told that she had to withdraw, and would not be allowed to return. When Jasmine's mother went directly to the Charlotte Mecklenburg district office she learned the school had no legal basis to exclude Jasmine. Suspecting a pattern of forcing out minority students, Kennedy told school district officials that she intended to refer the matter to the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People and the Congressional Black Caucus. Jasmine was back in school within the week.
Jasmine is not the only struggling student who claims to have been pushed out or encouraged to leave Myers Park High. Another Myers Park mother, Susan Arnette, claims when she and her daughter Brianna Govan were living in a homeless shelter, Brianna was frequently late or absent. Anderson forced her to leave school, saying she was "not Myers Park material." Documents obtained by TIME and interviews with former students, parents and school employees strongly suggest that Myers Park has had an unofficial policy of ridding itself of underperforming students during Principal Anderson's tenure from 2002 to 2005 and perhaps beyond, by using tactics including listing dropouts as out-of-state transfers.
According to the Times article, like many other high-flying schools with a substantial minority and low-income population, Myers Park has been under increasing pressure to close the achievement gap between students that are white and black, rich and poor. In 2006, only 51% of its black students performed at levels III/IV — proficient and above — on state exams, compared with 90% of white. Under the 2001 No Child Left Behind Act, schools that fail to close such a gap are declared "failing schools" — no matter how well the majority are doing — and can face a loss of federal Title 1 funding for low-income students.
District Associate Superintendant Lloyd Wimberley sees a sad irony in the way current national pressures to close achievement gaps can actually work against the neediest students. "No Child Left Behind has resulted in increased resentment toward at-risk and exceptional-needs kids," he says. "It's sad that legislation intended to improve the outcome for these kids is backfiring."
As Congress considers reauthorizing the No Child Left Behind Act, the GOP rebellion could grow, conceded Rep. Howard P. "Buck" McKeon (Calif.), the ranking Republican on the House Education and Labor Committee and a key ally of the president on the issue. "It was a struggle getting it passed last time. It'll be even more of a struggle this time," he said.
I thought it ironic to read Dr. Wimberley's statement about the No Child Left Behind Act. During his much-celebrated years at Myers Park, many students "slipped through the cracks" due to unfounded accusations made by the children whose parents donated money to the PUBLIC school.
No, Dr. Wimberley. The expulsion of a few kids to keep the school's financial backers happy is not the result of the No Child Left Behind Act. It is something that you practiced during your years at Myers Park and that you instilled into the culture of proceedings at Myers Park High School yourself.
Posted by: RLT | September 24, 2007 at 11:32 AM