History of IDEA
Jeannie Oakes, Founder and Former Director
Youth Voice in School Finance
NEW REPORT: Los Angeles' road to A-G for all
Without Dollars and Sense Powerpoint
Past Educational Opportunity Reports
Obama’s NCLB waivers: Do flaws outweigh benefits?
- 09-26-2011
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Guest blog by Monty Neill/Washington Post
The Obama administration’s new No Child Left Behind “flexibility” plan offers our struggling public schools a leap from the frying pan to the fire. President Obama and Education Secretary Arne Duncan provide no relief from No Child Left Behind’s massive over-use of testing — more testing than in any other advanced nation. In fact, they are demanding more, not less, testing. They provide no relief from NCLB’s mandated misuse of test scores for school accountability. And their plan will push states into adopting highly flawed and inaccurate uses of student test results to judge teachers and principals. In these ways, the administration perpetuates the discredited policies that have so damaged American education. The waiver version of NCLB will continue the pressure to narrow the curriculum and teach to multiple-choice tests — pressures that have caused the recent explosion of cheating scandals. The flaws in the waiver plan may well outweigh the benefits to states of no longer having to meet unattainable “adequate yearly progress” goals. (more...)
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