Revamping No Child Left Behind

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Story by Megan Hughes, CNC News

This week, Education Secretary Arne Duncan is laying out the White House blueprint on Capitol Hill to revamp No Child Left Behind. 

Mary Kusler, an advocate for the American Association of School Administrators, says a lot is at stake for cash-strapped states, like Maryland.

“I think there are just tough decisions going on across school districts in the state as per what next school year will look like and what this next reauthorization is will have a huge impact on what education in Maryland looks like in the future,” Kusler said.

No Child Left Behind established the current school rating and testing systems, including the requirement that schools meet a benchmark called “adequate yearly progress,” with the goal of having all students proficient in reading and math by 2014.

Matt Hornbeck, principal at Hampstead Hill Academy in Baltimore, said two years ago, one student’s score put his school below “AYP” and he believes the system needs to be re-evaluated.

“The worst thing is you get your name in the paper as a school saying you’re a failing school,” Hornbeck said. “And that really hurts.”

Other critics call the law an unfunded mandate. Senator Barbara Mikulski (D-MD) says she wants to see more flexibility, local control, and funding. 

“I think we really need to do a better job of matching resources with requirements,” Mikulski said.

It’s one of Mikulski’s goals to make sure teachers get mid-career training and mentorship.

“So many of the young teachers I talk to in Maryland say we love it, but we face discipline challenges, children with special needs,” Mikulski said. “We might know our subject about history or language, but we don’t know our kids! That’s what I’d like to see.”

At the first in a series of Senate hearings this week before the Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee, panelists offered different opinions on how to change the law. There were disagreements on much class-size matters, how often testing should be done, and whether the law needs to be revamped or just tweaked.

Maryland lawmakers have differing opinions. Representative Elijah Cummings (D-MD) said he supports the intent of the law.

“One of the main goals of No Child Left Behind was to bridge the gap between minority achievement and white achievement,” Cummings said. “That gap has closed a bit, but there’s still quite a gap there.”

Representative “Dutch” Ruppersberger (D-MD), didn’t like the way NCLB labeled failing schools.

“You have to have a better way to turn around poor performing schools,” Ruppersberger said. “Not penalize, but work with them and help them.”

Ruppersberger also believes there should be the same benchmarks nationwide, a proposal the Obama administration also supports.

A group of governors and state superintendents this week proposed common standards for K-12 English and math. Governor Martin O’Malley is one of its supporters. Maryland Deptartment of Education spokesperson Bill Reinhard said he has no doubt Maryland will adopt them.

“We know that our students can compete with any students around the country,” Reinhard said. “It will be interesting to see what happens.”

The Obama Administration has said it wants Congress to pass a new law by the end of the year. Some education advocates are skeptical it will get done with issues like healthcare and climate change on the agenda, and elections looming. However, Sen. Chris Dodd, D-Conn., said he’s been meeting with House members and several Republican senators and that there’s a lot of consensus on the way forward.

Created by Bureau Chief and Executive Producer Melinda Wittstock, Capitol News Connection from PRI provides insightful, localized coverage of participating stations’ congressional delegations.

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