While everyone is waiting for the next Bush Administration scandal to pop, I thought I would post this little information tidbit and see if anyone out there is willing to get off their asses and put some feedback into the system in regards to No Child Left Behind.
Yeah, I know, Tommy Thompson is the exact cross between Boris Karlov and a 1950s era mafia tough and the liklihood of him doing anything to change the status quo in education approaches zero. Nonetheless, we are (nomimally) still a democracy and this does constitute a public record of what people showed up and what they said.
Hang with me people.
We've had a lot of diaries on the topic here at Dkos. If you feel under-informed, you can do some background reading
on the tests themselves or
why they are not reducing the achievement gap but in fact exacerbating it. Of course, there is always the
the issue of teaching to the test.
IN any case, Monday is the 3rd in a series of hearings about NCLB, and while the roster of speakers is pretty much towing the party line (toeing?), it never hurts to hurl some little toothpick of resistance onto the bonfire. I figure it's good practice should our democracy every step out of the display window and actually become reality again.
What follows is the government notice of Monday's hearing in Atlanta.
Carry on.
Phone: 202/736-3858(O) OR 202/285-4268(C)
MEDIA ADVISORY FOR:
MONDAY, MAY 22, 2006 @ 9:30 AM EST
Commission to Hold Third Hearing in Atlanta
Improving Achievement for All Students:
Is NCLB Accountability Producing Results?
Washington, DC---Former Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy Thompson and former Georgia Governor Roy Barnes announced the third in a series of hearings on the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB). This hearing will help inform the Commission's recommendations on how NCLB should hold schools accountable for student achievement and whether existing adequate yearly progress requirements are effective. The hearing will take place on Monday, May 22, 2006 at 9:30 AM EST and will be held at the Georgia Institute of Technology, in Atlanta, Georgia.
The Commission on No Child Left Behind is an independent, bipartisan effort to improve the No Child Left Behind Act and ensure it is a more useful force in closing the achievement gap that separates disadvantaged children and their peers. The Commission will uncover the successes of NCLB, as well as provisions which need to be changed or eliminated. The Commission, after a year of hearings, analysis and research, will report to Congress and the Administration in early 2007 with its recommendations.
WHAT: Hearing on Accountability
WHO: Commission on No Child Left Behind
WITNESSES:
Dr. Kathy Cox, Superintendent, Georgia Department of Education
Mr. John Winn, Commissioner, Florida Department of Education
Mr. J. Alvin Wilbanks, CEO/Superintendent, Gwinnett County Public Schools, Georgia
Mr. Lester McKee, Executive Director for Research Planning and Accountability, Atlanta, Georgia Public Schools
Ms. Merchuria Chase Williams, PhD., President, Georgia Association of Educators
*Additional witnesses may be announced
WHEN: Monday, May 22, 2006 @ 9:30 AM EST
WHERE: The Ferst Center for the Arts at Georgia Tech, 349 Ferst Drive NW, Atlanta, GA 30332-0468
**THE HEARING WILL BE LIVE ON THE INTERNET AT: www.nclbcommission.org *
BACKGROUND:
The No Child Left Behind Act ushered in a new public discussion over how to hold our schools accountable for increasing student achievement and closing the achievement gap between disadvantaged children and their peers. NCLB's adequate yearly progress (AYP) provisions required States to set up an accountability plan that would ensure that all children reach state standards by the end of the 2013-2014 school year. These plans have required schools to meet increasing levels of student achievement, by subgroups of disadvantaged children. The lists of schools which have not made AYP have generated significant discussion among policymakers, researchers and the general public. The question for the Commission at this hearing is whether the existing system of AYP is the best way to assess which schools are meeting state standards and which, and how many, schools should be identified as not meeting such standards.
AYP BACKGROUND:
Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) is a State developed measure of progress for all school districts and schools in the State. After the passage of NCLB, States had to define AYP in a manner that requires progress by disadvantaged subgroups of students, as well as the overall student population with the express purpose of narrowing of the achievement gap.
States must define AYP so that all students are expected to improve and that by 2014 all students will achieve at the State defined "proficient" level on State reading and math academic assessments. In addition, in order for a school to make AYP, 95% of each subgroup must participate in the assessments.
When NCLB was passed, states set the starting point, or achievement "bar," to reach 100 percent proficiency. States were free to choose where to set the initial bar based upon the lowest-achieving demographic subgroup, or the lowest-achieving schools in the State, whichever was higher. Once the initial bar was established, NCLB required the States to gradually increase the threshold of the percentage of students who must obtain proficiency in equal increments. The thresholds must be raised at least once every three years.
Schools and districts that fail to meet their AYP goals are determined to be `in need of improvement.' Once this determination is made, a series of escalating reforms and eventually sanctions are imposed to enable the school or district to meet AYP.
ALTERNATIVE ACCOUNTABILITY MODELS - MEASURING GROWTH:
Much attention has been focused on whether the existing AYP requirements are the best way to assess the impact our schools are having on student achievement. Many policymakers have advocated for models which track growth in student achievement, either on an individual student basis, or grades of children. At the last hearing by the Commission, Commissioners learned that most States do not have all of the pieces in place to track the academic growth of individual children from year to year, creating a possible barrier to the adoption of a growth model based accountability system.
The U.S. Department of Education is presently evaluating whether to approve the use of growth models by States under a recently announced growth model pilot program. At this hearing, the Commission will examine the aspects of existing and proposed growth model systems and their impact on closing the achievement gap.
DETAILS FOR SUBMISSION OF WRITTEN COMMENTS:
Any persons or organizations wishing to submit written comments for the hearing record may do so by sending such comments electronically to nclbfeedback@aspeninstitute.org please include `Hearing Testimony' in the subject line. Written comments can also be sent through the U.S. Mail to: The Commission on No Child Left Behind, One Dupont Circle, Suite 700, Washington, D.C. 20036. ALL WRITTEN COMMENTS MUST BE RECEIVED BY COB May 30, 2006. Written comments mailed to the Commission must be accompanied by an electronic version on computer disk. Those submitting comments must clearly identify themselves with a valid mailing address and clearly indicating any affiliations the comments represent.
Submissions will be included in the record of the hearing at the discretion of the Commission. The Commission will not alter the content of your submission, but does reserve the right to format it accordingly. Submissions must be no longer than 10 pages in length, including any attachments.
The Commission on No Child Left Behind is funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation, the Joyce Foundation, the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, Carnegie Corporation of New York, and the Spencer Foundation. This document is published to communicate the results of the Commission's work. The findings, interpretations, and conclusions expressed in the Commission's documents are entirely those of the author(s) and should not be attributed in any manner to the donors.
