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OPEN TO THE
PUBLIC: SPEAKING OUT ON NO CHILD LEFT BEHIND
In an open letter to the Bush Administration and congressional leaders,
Public Education Network (PEN) has called on federal officials to
vigorously enforce key provisions of the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB)
to avoid undermining public support for the law’s objectives. In the
letter -- delivered to President Bush, U.S. Secretary of Education
Margaret Spellings, and key leaders in Congress -- PEN cites a serious
flaw in the law’s accountability framework. While schools and students
face stiff sanctions and the stigma of not meeting state performance
targets, the law imposes no consequences on states themselves, regardless
of whether benchmarks are met or whether they fulfill their obligations.
And while public involvement is critical to the long-term success of the
education law, citizens charge that their efforts to get involved in
schools are regularly rebuffed by school leaders and by another crucial
barrier -- the lack of useful information about school performance and
improvement. Over the past nine months, PEN held a series of public
hearings around the country, and conducted an online survey to gauge
Americans’ reactions to NCLB. The purpose of these hearings was not to
hear from government leaders or professional educators entrusted to manage
the nation’s schools, but to hear from people from every walk of life --
parents, students, civic leaders, service providers, and voters --about
how NCLB has affected their communities, and what is going well or needs
to be improved in the implementation of the law. The report is consistent
with a series of public opinion polls conducted by PEN and other groups
finding that while Americans generally support the law’s objectives, the
more they learn about the law the less supportive they feel. In the report
and letter PEN calls on federal officials to take the following steps to
address the public’s concerns: Hold states accountable for performance and
for enforcing the law; Enforce the law’s information requirements; Enforce
NCLB’s parent involvement provisions; Count significant progress toward
AYP; Provide supplemental services before allowing choice, and ensure
quality services; and Keep the Public in the Conversation. To download the
report or view it in an easy-to-read online format, visit:
http://www.publiceducation.org/portals/nclb/hearings/national/Open_to_the_Public.asp
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