Good grief! Before we respond to these assertions, you need to read a book or two about the history of public education in the United States. Find a book by historian Lawrence Cremin - he will broaden your perspective. (Try Amazon.com)

When we were writing Wrightslaw: No Child Left Behind, Pete, Sue and I did a great deal of research into the history the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (NCLB) since it was enacted in 1965. Because so many people are confused about the law - often believing that NCLB is a new law imposed by George Bush - we included a short history of the law in the first chapter of Wrightslaw: No Child Left Behind.

Last week, we read an excellent article about the No Child Left Behind Act by Diane Ravitch. In "Why We'll Mend it, Not End It", Dr. Ravitch tracks the law from the beginning, describes reasons for the strong bipartisan support of the law, and offers predictions about changes when the law is reauthorized in 2007.

I learned new things when I read her article. If your mind is not closed and locked up tight, you'll learn something new when you read it too. The short article (below) includes portions of Dr. Ravitch's article (shortened for brevity with links added) (full text of article)

Dr. Ravitch wrote (in part):

The critics of NCLB think that it was modeled on education reforms in Texas and that it sprang full-blown from the brow of President Bush. They think they can undermine NCLB if only they can expose shortcomings in Texas's schools.

But NCLB is not going away because it is the product of many years of bipartisan demands for changes in the role of the federal government, especially in meeting its responsibilities to poor children."

Lyndon Johnson: The Elementary & Secondary Education Act (1965)

For years the federal role in education was negligible. This changed forever in 1965, when Congress passed the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, one of President Johnson's signature issues. Its main feature, Title I, sent federal dollars to school districts across the nation to raise the achievement of disadvantaged children.

Robert Kennedy: Schools Must Provide Test-Score Data

Fearful that districts would squander the money, Sen. Robert Kennedy inserted into the law a provision requiring districts to send test-score data to Washington to show that the new federal subsidy was making a difference for poor children.

Many districts ignored the requirement, and others produced mounds of non-comparable test scores. Over time, the success of the Title I legislation was measured by how much money it distributed, but its results were unknown.

A Nation at Risk (1983)

In 1983, the National Commission on Excellence in Education published A Nation at Risk. The Commission warned that student achievement was mediocre at best and called for higher standards for students, better pay for teachers, and a stronger curriculum.

Southern Governors Accept Higher Education Standards & the NAEP

After A Nation at Risk was published, a bipartisan group of reform-minded Southern governors -- including Lamar Alexander of Tennessee, Bill Clinton of Arkansas, Jim Hunt of North Carolina, and Richard Riley of South Carolina -- insisted on higher education standards. They also agreed to a trial of the federally funded test called the National Assessment of Education Progress (NAEP) in their states.

National Assessment of Educational Progress: The Nation's Report Card (1988)

In 1988, Congress created the National Assessment Governing Board to oversee the NAEP program of testing. NAEP has become the gold standard in the testing industry.

National Education Summit & Education Goals (1989)

In 1989, President George H.W. Bush invited the governors to join him in a national summit to discuss ways to improve education. This summit produced six national education goals, which were largely negotiated between the Bush administration and Gov. Clinton of Arkansas on behalf of the National Governors Association.

Bill Clinton & Democratic Congress: Goals 2000, Higher Standards, Testing

When Bill Clinton campaigned for president, he promised to create a system of national standards and tests. When he was elected president, his education program was known as Goals 2000. It recognized the need for higher student achievement.

Goals 2000 was passed by Congress in 1994. It provided funds for every state to write academic standards and develop tests.

President Clinton's State of the Union Address (1997)

In his 1997 State of the Union address, President Clinton proposed voluntary national tests in fourth-grade reading and eighth-grade math. The Department of Education spent $50 million to develop these reading and math tests. The GOP-controlled Congress never authorized them.

Clinton said, "Education is a critical national security issue for our future, and politics must stop at the schoolhouse door."

Note from Wrightslaw: In this speech, President Clinton also proposed national standards for qualified teachers, that every child would read independently by end of third grade, that parents would have the power to choose "the right public school for their children", and increased funding for charter schools.

Bush-Gore Election (2000)

During the 2000 election, George Bush and Al Gore agreed that federal funds should be leveraged to promote higher academic achievement and to reduce the achievement gaps between advantaged and disadvantaged students.

George Bush & NCLB (2001)

When President Bush proposed No Child Left Behind (NCLB), he had many years of bipartisan agreement to build on. The new law passed by overwhelming majorities: 381-41 in the House, and 87-10 in the Senate.

Some Republicans grumbled about the expansion of the federal role in education, and some Democrats complained about the emphasis on testing, but their numbers were few.

NCLB Reauthorization in 2007

No Child Left Behind will come up for renewal in 2007. There will be griping by those who don't like the federal role in education and those who don't want to see children tested every year.

But it seems safe to predict that the next renewal will strengthen the law rather than weaken it. After all, annual testing is hardly a new idea in American education. Not just reading, math and science, but history too is likely to become part of the NCLB mandate for testing.

What is valuable about the law is its insistence that districts measure their progress in helping the children who can't meet state standards. Raising achievement across the board will be hard -- but it is not mission impossible.

NOTE: Diane Ravitch is a historian of education at NYU and a member of the Koret Task Force on Education. In 2000, the Koret Task Force did a follow-up study on the findings of A Nation at Risk. This study was the basis of Are We Still At Risk?

URL for this article:
http://online.wsj.com/article/0,,SB111438832898115613,00.html

Learn about research based reading instruction, proficiency testing, parent involvement, tutoring and supplemental educational services, highly qualified teachers, transfers from failing schools, and public school choice at Wrightslaw - No Child Left Behind