Submitted by admin on Thu, 2007-03-15 08:00. ::
Congress will soon decide whether to renew President Bush's signatureeducation program "No Child Left Behind" (NCLB), the goal of which is tobring every public school student to grade level in reading and math by2014.
Though leaving no child behind may be a worthy goal politically andsocially, some are questioning whether it is an obtainable one. Robert L.Linn, co-director of the National Center for Research on Evaluation,Standards and Student Testing at UCLA, recently told The Washington Post,"There is a zero percent chance that we will ever reach a 100 percenttarget." Maybe not, but the poet Robert Browning said that our reach shouldalways exceed our grasp. By expecting more, we get more from ourinstitutions and ourselves than if we were to "settle" for less and getless.
Still, after five years of NCLB, the statistics are not encouraging.According to the National Assessment of Education Progress, between 1992 and2005, there has been an increase in the percentage of 12th-grade studentswho read below the basic level (from 20 percent to 27 percent since theprevious assessment). Only 23 percent of 12th-graders are performing at orabove math proficiency levels. As usual, the figures are worse for black andHispanic students.
I asked U.S. Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings about this. She toldme that half of the states waited until the 2005-'06 school year to do anannual assessment, but that 70 percent of the nation's 90,000 public schools"are meeting the requirements of NCLB. But for 1,800, which are chronicallyyear after year failing our kids, something more dramatic has to happen."
That "something more" has included local government takeover of some schoolsystems. In New York and Chicago, as well as in the state of Florida, whichSpellings describes as a "leader" in education improvement, interestingthings" are being done. Washington, D.C., is also debating whethergovernment should take over its poorly performing schools. Spellings said"the state of affairs" in Washington schools is "not encouraging."
Spellings cited one major reason for underperformance I had not considered.When I was in school, she noted, I was taught mostly by bright andaccomplished women. As opportunities for women in other professions openedup, many of the best and brightest teachers - and potential teachers - leftor chose other professions because they paid more. "The teachers' unions,"she said, "always negotiate the same pay raises for everybody and thesuperstars say Å'forget this, I'm going where I will be recognized as asuperstar.'"
Education in the United States continues to lag behind that of othernations. "When you go to China or India," Spellings said, "they don't sitaround arguing about class size. They're starving to death and are motivatedfor education. We take all the advantages we have for granted." And whileAmerica focuses too much on nonacademic subjects - sex education, driver'seducation and the environment - and not enough on what employers are lookingfor, some other nations are graduating young people with real knowledge andskills of the kind we once produced.
A serious school choice program, not more money to subsidizeunderachievement, is one answer to poor performance. Competition improveseveryone's product and service. It's working in those states and localitiesthat have managed to nominally free themselves from the teachers' unions,which seek to maintain the education monopoly for political influence.Paying bonuses to the best teachers is another good idea. According toSpellings, her department has provided $100 million through 16 grants forthat purpose. If corporations can pay their CEOs huge bonuses for failure,why shouldn't teachers be paid bonuses for achieving and surpassingeducation goals?
There is another point no one in government will address. It is that not allchildren are equally intelligent. Charles Murray of the American EnterpriseInstitute raised this controversial issue recently in a series of articleshe wrote for The Wall Street Journal, in which he noted that half of allchildren have below average intelligence and that "even the best schoolsunder the best conditions cannot repeal the limits on achievement set bylimits on intelligence."
Politically, that argument has no traction and so we are left with renewing"No Child Left Behind," monitoring progress and paying bonuses to the bestteachers. Now if we can just get real school choice added to the mix, maybeeven some of the less intelligent won't be left behind and we will see evengreater progress with the rest. With what we are spending on education, theadults deserve a better product and the kids are entitled to a bettereducation, which is their best chance at a good life.
Today's Opinion Today's Opinion Thomas Sowell Global Warming Swindle John Cornyn Reinvigorating No Child Left Behind Suzanne Fields Much Ado About A Lot George Will The Compressed 2008 Primary Alan Reynolds Sen. Schumer's Tax Loopholes Donald Lambro 'She can lose the nomination' Robert D. Novak DeLay's Wrath Townhall Columnists: Alan Reynolds Alan Sears Allison Kasic Andrew Tallman Ann Coulter Anne Yasmine Rassam Armstrong Williams Ashley Herzog Austin Bay Ben Shapiro Bill Lauderback Bill Murchison Brandon Lerch Brent Bozell III Brian Fitzpatrick Bruce Bartlett Burt Prelutsky Cal Thomas Cam Edwards Carl Horowitz Carol Platt Liebau Caroline B. Glick Carrie Lukas Charles Krauthammer Chip Pickering Chris Stovall Chuck Colson Chuck DeFeo Claudia Rosett Cliff May Clinton W. Taylor Colleen Carroll Campbell Craig Shirley Daniel Simmons and Michael Keegan David Keene David Limbaugh David Strom David Yerushalmi Dean Barnett Debra England Debra J. Saunders Dennis Prager Diana West Dick Morris and Eileen McGann Dinesh D'Souza Don Kroah Donald Lambro Doug Giles Doug Wilson Douglas MacKinnon Dr. Elizabeth Kantor Dr. Paul Kengor Ed Feulner Eliot Peace Emmett Tyrrell Floyd Brown Frank J. Gaffney, Jr. Frank Pastore Gary Aldrich Gary McCaleb George Will Glen Lavy Gregory Koukl Harry R. Jackson, Jr. Henry Edmondson Herman Cain Horace Cooper Howard McKeon Hugh Hewitt Isaac Post J.B. Smith Jack Kemp Jacob Sullum James Bowman James J. Kilpatrick Janet M. LaRue Janice Shaw Crouse Jason Mattera Jay Sekulow Jeff Emanuel Jeff Jacoby Jennifer Biddison Jennifer Roback Morse Jerry Bowyer Jerry Newberry Joel C. Rosenberg Joel Mowbray Johannes L. Jacobse John Andrews John Ashcroft John Campbell John Cornyn John K. Hall John Kline John Leo John McCaslin John Noonan John Ostrowski John Shadegg John Stossel John Zmirak Jon Sanders Jonah Goldberg Jonathan Garthwaite Jonathan Medved Jonathon Burns Josue Sierra Karin Agness Kathleen Parker Kathryn Jean Lopez Katie Favazza Ken Blackwell Ken Connor Kevin McCullough La Shawn Barber Larry Elder Larry J. Sabato Lawrence Kudlow Lee S. Wishing, III Linda Chavez Lindsay Boyd Lorie Byrd Lt. Col. Scott Rutter Lyle H. Rossiter, Jr, MD Lynn O'Shaughnessy Maggie Gallagher Marjorie Dannenfelser Mark M. Alexander Mark Mix Marshall Manson Marvin Olasky Mary Grabar Mary Katharine Ham Matt Barber Matt Kibbe Matt Lewis Matt Margolis & Mark Noonan Matt Towery Megan Basham Melanie Phillips Michael Franc Michael Barone Michael Fumento Michael Johnson Michael McBride Michael Medved Michael Zak Michelle Malkin Mike Bober Mike Bouchard Mike Gallagher Mike S. Adams Mona Charen Nathan Tabor Neal Boortz Nick Loris Nick Nichols Oliver North Patrick Hynes Patrick Hynes Patrick J. Buchanan Patrick K. O’Donnell Patrick Ruffini Paul Weyrich Paul Driessen Paul Greenberg Paul Jacob Peter J. Wallison Peter Wehner Phil Harris Phyllis Schlafly Rabbi Hanoch Teller Rebecca Hagelin Rich Galen Rich Lowry Rich Tucker Richard Mgrdechian Rick Amato Rick Santorum Robert Bluey Robert D. Novak Robert Knight Roger Schlesinger Ross Mackenzie Ruben Navarrette Jr., Rusty Shackleford Ryan Kruger and Mike Catalano Ryan Zempel Scott Garrett Star Parker Stefania Lapenna Stephen Roberts Steve Chapman Suzanne Fields Terence Jeffrey Thomas P. Kilgannon Thomas Sowell Tim Chapman Tim Walberg Timothy Lee Todd Manzi Tom Borelli Tony Blankley Tony Snow Val Prieto Victor Davis Hanson W. Thomas Smith, Jr Walter E. Williams Wayne Grudem Wayne Winegarden William F. Buckley William F. Buckley William Perry Pendley William R. Maurer William Rusher Wynton Hall The Talk About This Article The Talk About This Article Waski BrianR 3/15/2007 NCLB not Constitutional, but Useful Waski_the_Squirrel 3/15/2007 Shameless plug BrianR 3/15/2007 Jeez, Thomas BrianR 3/15/2007 Do you have something to say?
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