This election year may prove to be a red-letter year for one of President Bush’s most prominent pieces of legislation.
The No Child Left Behind Act, aimed at improving K-12 education, will likely come up for reauthorization in Congress this year.
Under No Child Left Behind, which was passed in 2001, all students must achieve “proficient” levels on standardized tests by 2014. In the meantime, schools must meet improvement targets toward that goal each year.
Though individual states decide what constitutes “proficient,” schools who do not meet yearly targets are in danger of losing funding and possibly being taken over by the federal government.
Since the law went into effect, it has drawn criticism from some educators and experts, and may undergo significant changes along the road to reauthorization.
It also faces legal challenges from school districts complaining that the federal government has not provided them sufficient funding to implement the law’s requirements.
Meredith Phillips, a professor of public policy, said the fate of the law may hinge on who wins the presidential election later this year.
“It’s a tough thing in an election year. No one wants to make a decision now not knowing who our fearless leader will be,” she said.
Since Democrats have generally been less friendly than Republicans toward No Child Left Behind, legislators may be more likely to make major changes to the law if a Democrat wins the presidency, Phillips said.
One of the principal complaints educators have voiced is that the law requires schools to make improvements without providing enough money to cover the associated expenses.
“Schools have been placed under a lot of pressure to not fall into that category… but they haven’t gotten the resources to improve,” Phillips said.
But Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger promised to work toward improving California schools regardless.
Noting that 98 districts in the state are not meeting No Child Left Behind standards, Schwarzenegger said in his State of the State address that he would intervene in failing schools to avoid losing federal funding.
“California will be the first state to use the powers given to us under the No Child Left Behind Act to turn these districts around. We will be working with Superintendent of Public Instruction Jack O’Connell, the teachers, the administrators, the parents and elected officials to make these districts models of reform,” Schwarzenegger said.
But states and districts in other parts of the country have struggled with implementing the law’s provisions.
In 2005, a major union representing several districts around the country filed a lawsuit claiming that No Child Left Behind violates the Constitution because it requires districts to spend local money to meet federal standards. And on Monday, a federal appellate court ruled in favor of the districts, which could hamper the Bush administration’s efforts to renew the law in close to its current form.
Phillips said disputes over resources are a major reason the law has faced increasing political opposition.
“There was a lot of bipartisan support (when the law was first introduced), but largely because there was a promise of a lot more resources for schools,” she said.
The yearly targets are also controversial. Many educators complain that they are unrealistic, suggesting growth models instead, which emphasize year-to-year improvement rather than pre-set targets.
The federal Department of Education released its own set of recommendations for the law last year, including suggestions that states be permitted to use growth models, and teachers receive incentives for taking jobs in lower-performing schools.
But President Bush warned legislators against making too many changes to the law, promising to veto any he does not approve of.
Bush and the Department of Education maintain that No Child Left Behind has been effective in its current form.
“No Child Left Behind is helping replace a culture of low expectations with a commitment to high achievement for all. And the hard work being done by principals, teachers, parents and students across our country is producing results,” Bush said in October.
And Phillips said she believes the law has had some important positive results.
“What good has come from the law is that now we’re measuring academic achievement, so we’re focusing on it,” she said. “I think that knowing how well kids are doing in our schools in important. … I don’t think the law has helped us improve kids’ skills as much as we (could) have, but it has focused our attention on it.”