State Teachers on NCLB

State teachers oppose the 2014 deadline of No Child act

Nanette Asimov, Chronicle Staff Writer
Thursday, May 10, 2007
As Congress prepares to renew the controversial No Child Left Behind Education Act, California teachers announced Wednesday their intention to try and gut its core: the requirement that every student score at grade level by 2014.

The federal law's emphasis on testing -- often to the exclusion of the arts, science and social studies -- has taken the joy out of learning and teaching, said teachers at half a dozen news conferences across the state. They were sponsored by the California Teachers Association.

"We'd like for all students to score at grade level -- period -- without that definite time," said Dennis Kelly, president of the United Educators of San Francisco. "It's education, not a car race."

Union leaders from around the Bay Area gathered at Sanchez Elementary in San Francisco with a newcomer to the anti-testing wars: San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom.

"If No Child Left Behind were enacted when I was a student, I would not be here. I would have failed miserably," the mayor said, adding that he had severe dyslexia as a child and had trouble passing tests. "I do feel personal about it."

Teachers from Daly City, Oakland, San Jose, Richmond, Fremont, Pittsburg and Sonoma also endorsed changes to the law, and said they will lobby Congress to cut loose billions of dollars in additional school funding.

The teachers want schools to be judged by criteria other than tests alone, such as graduation rates and attendance. And they want schools that improve to be seen as successful under the law; currently, even an improving school can be deemed a failure if it doesn't improve fast enough.

Enacted in 2002, the bipartisan No Child Left Behind is the latest incarnation of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965. Five years ago, the law established the first proficiency requirements for all public schools and districts -- and progressively more severe consequences on those that fail to satisfy them if they also receive federal Title I money for low-income students. In California, most schools and districts receive Title I money.

It works like this: Each year, a rising percentage of students at every school has to score at grade level in math and English until 2014, when 100 percent -- hence the name No Child Left Behind -- are at grade level. In California, 24.4 percent of students are supposed to score at grade level in English this year, and 26.5 percent have to do as well in math. Next year, the percentages climb to more than 35 percent.

At schools that fail to reach goals two years in a row, consequences are applied: mandated teacher training and tutoring, and, ultimately, the possibility of closure or takeover by an outside agency.

"Now is the time for us to organize and demand substantial changes to this law," said Melanie Blake, a teacher in Sonoma Valley Unified, whose entire school district headquartered in the town of Sonoma is undergoing consequences.

"No Child Left Behind treats students and teachers like parts of an assembly line," said Marc Sternberger, president of the Pittsburg Education Association.

In Washington, Rep. George Miller (D-Martinez), chairman of the Committee on Education and Labor, is preparing to introduce a new No Child Left Behind bill after months of hearings.

He is expected to include more funding -- he has blamed the Bush Administration for underfunding the education law by more than $40 billion -- and some changes demanded by the teachers, such as regarding improving schools as successful.

The fate of the 2014 deadline remains unclear.

"He wants to be responsive to teachers' concerns," said Tom Kiley, Miller's spokesman. "But he doesn't want to give up on the core idea that holding schools accountable for academic performance is how you make sure no child is left behind."

E-mail Nanette Asimov at nasimov@sfchronicle.com.

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This article appeared on page B - 2 of the San Francisco Chronicle


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