Get It Right: Hitting the Pause Button on NCLB

Responses to the proposed legislation to put a freeze on NCLB reporting and other requirements until the bill can be reauthorized have ranged from relief to horror.

Just for the record, in case I haven't said it lately: NCLB is a poorly conceived, horribly implemented piece of legislation.  Anybody remember what the road to hell is paved with?

In much of the debate around NCLB, one area that is regularly ignored is the law's impact on rural schools. The recent article from Utah's Deseret News about the effects of NCLB on rural schools was disturbingly refreshing (yes, that's an oxymoron).

One well-meaning person argued recently, "Well, NCLB isn't perfect, but it's better than doing nothing to improve education, especially for the kids stuck in low performing schools."  No, it isn't better to increase burdens on those who are already struggling under tremendous inequity and disadvantages, just so we can say we're "doing something." 

I want to see the shift in this society to whenever a question or concern comes up about education, the FIRST people we turn to for answers are our best TEACHERS. The House Ed Subcommittee has begun to move in that direction during its hearings on NCLB by inviting a wider range of persons to the table than were in the drawing room when the legislation was initially developed. That includes highly accomplished teachers, effective administrators, perceptive parents, excellent homeschoolers, articulate students, visionary business leaders...

Crafting a thoughtful, effective, workable education policy is not impossible, but it is hard-work. For one thing, the planning needs to include a broad group of contributors. Those who have done (or are doing) education well should be the ones to whom we turn for leadership in re-designing education.