WASHINGTON, D.C.—We applaud our country’s teachers and students for the upward trend in test scores, noted in the report released today by the Center on Education Policy (CEP).  However, as CEP’s Jack Jennings points out in the press release accompanying the report, “There should be no rush to judgment as there may be many factors contributing to the increased achievement.”  We agree.  Test results reflect the accumulation of many years’ work.  The upward trend dates from before the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB), and we believe it is likely that these results primarily reflect standards-based reforms put in place in the 1990s.

Regrettably, some of the factors that contribute to increased test scores may detract from the quality of education overall.  We fear that the excesses that are now clearly a part of NCLB will set back standards-based reform. Our members tell us that the overemphasis on testing and test preparation, which has intensified since NCLB’s passage, has led to a narrowing of the curriculum. 

We urge Congress to take heart in these results but also to be thoughtful about what brought them about. The AFT is committed to strengthening the nation’s public schools, and our recommendations for reauthorizing NCLB, available at http://www.aft.org/nclbrecs.pdf, offer a blueprint for an improved law that would help provide a better and more comprehensive education for America’s children. 

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