|
WASHINGTON, DC -- Democrats in the U.S. House of Representatives today asked U.S. Education Secretary Margaret Spellings to act quickly to correct a problem with the implementation of the federal No Child Left Behind law that is undermining one of the key goals of the law: closing the academic achievement gap between white and minority students.
The Associated Press recently concluded an investigative series of articles that showed how the test scores of roughly 2 million schoolchildren nationwide – the majority of whom were minorities – were not appropriately considered when determining whether schools were making adequate progress on boosting student achievement.
The federal No Child Left Behind law is intended to ensure that all students, regardless of race, income, or native language, are able to read and do math at grade level. In order for schools to show that they are making adequate progress towards this goal, they must test students in reading and math in grades three through eight and once in high school and report their scores. The scores must be broken down by race and other categories, so that a school’s overall performance cannot obscure an achievement gap between a specific group of students in the school and the rest of their peers.
The AP found that schools were gaining far more leeway to avoid reporting scores by subgroup than the law had originally intended. As a result, the scores of roughly 2 million students were not disaggregated as the law requires.
“This issue cuts right to the heart of the law: ensuring a good education for all students, regardless of race or income,” said Representative George Miller (D-CA), the senior Democrat on the House education committee. “And that is why it is so critical that this problem be corrected. The states must be accountable for the educational achievement of all children.”
Fourteen House Democrats sent a letter to Spellings asking her provide information on how she plans to correct the problem. In addition to Miller, the members who signed the letter are Dale Kildee (MI), Mike Honda (CA), Lynn Woolsey (CA), Robert Andrews (NJ), Robert C. “Bobby” Scott (VA), Rubén Hinojosa (TX), Carolyn McCarthy (NY), Rush Holt (NJ), Betty McCollum (MN), Danny Davis (IL), Raúl Grijalva (AZ), Tim Ryan (OH), and Tim Bishop (NY).
The full text of the letter to Spellings is below.
***
The Honorable Margaret Spellings
Secretary
U.S. Department of Education
400 Maryland Ave., S.W.
Washington, DC 20202
Dear Madame Secretary:
We are writing to request your proactive and immediate help in correcting the problem identified in recent press reports that found that up to 10 percent of Hispanic and black children’s test scores are not being disaggregated in their schools’ and districts’ AYP calculations, and that more than one-third of Asian children’s scores and nearly half of American Indian children’s scores are not disaggregated. We are also deeply disturbed by the reports that minority children are seven times more likely to have their test scores excluded from disaggregation requirements than are white children.
As you know, the central reason for the enactment of the No Child Left Behind law was that minority children were not getting the same opportunity to learn in our schools that their peers were getting. Democrats and Republicans alike coalesced around the idea that schools must raise the achievement levels of all students, and could no longer ignore or provide less qualified teachers to minority children, as has all too often been the case.
While some flexibility is justified, it appears from these press reports that many states have been gaming the system, appealing to the U.S. Department of Education for loopholes that allow the exclusion of millions of minority children’s scores from their accountability subgroups. States must not be allowed to continue to do this any longer.
We recognize that you have faced the difficult task of providing reasonable flexibility for schools to meet the goals of the law. Yet if states are simply gaming the system and harming students’ chances for a better education, they must not be allowed to continue to do that – period.
Additionally, there appear to be large discrepancies in n-size approval for different states. It is our understanding that n-size increase requests are denied on the basis of the subgroup exclusion rates. We would like to know what the Department considers to be “acceptable” exclusion rates, and the data on subgroup exclusion rates for all 50 states.
Congress will begin the long and important process of reauthorizing No Child Left Behind in 2007. There are many aspects of the law that will be examined at that time, including the current provisions on subgroup accountability and the many testing provisions, particularly as they pertain to the nearly 5 million children with limited English proficiency.
This problem goes to the heart of the law and is too important to wait until reauthorization to be addressed. Therefore, we are requesting detailed information from you about what steps you plan to take to revisit the waivers that have been granted to date.
Lastly, our concern about whose scores are disaggregated and whose are not is not merely a technical, statistical consideration about the calculations of state “n sizes” for reporting purposes. Rather, it is about remaining true to the spirit of the law – that states can and must provide a quality education to all of their children – and that the federal government must provide the resources it promised our children under No Child Left Behind but has not delivered.
Thank you for your immediate attention to this urgent matter.
Sincerely,
MEMBERS OF CONGRESS
### |
