No Child Left Behind 

At issue: Fundamental changes are needed in the No Child Left Behind Act, and an opportunity to promote those changes is expected in upcoming hearings before the scheduled 2007 vote on reauthorization. While NCLB’s goal of raising educational achievement for all students is laudable, its implementation has been flawed by unrealistic expectations, rigid measurements often divorced from ongoing reform efforts, and inadequate funding. Current policy will classify virtually every school in the nation as “failing” by 2014. California’s challenges under NCLB are unique and especially onerous. The state has the largest number of students and a highly mobile population. Nearly half of its students qualify for free or reduced-price meals, and 20 percent are English learners. Meanwhile, California has enacted the highest academic standards in the nation and developed its own Academic Performance Index to hold students and schools accountable to those standards – yet NCLB subjects the state to the same, one-size-fits-all, apples-and-oranges measurement of “adequate yearly progress.” The state also sets high standards for its teacher corps, but those standards are trumped by NCLB’s requirements.

CSBA’s position:

• At a minimum, NCLB must be revised to provide realistic policy objectives and multiple measurements of the achievement of those policy objectives to guide informed decisions for corrective action.
• Federal funding for NCLB must be increased to match resources to goals.

What California needs:

• Flexibility on standards and measurements.
• Federal funding equal to the federal requirements of NCLB.