Taking the time to get it right
Members' meetings with congressional leaders help curb NCLB fast-track threats

Late last year, the biggest danger surrounding the No Child Left Behind Act was time. Prospects where high that this key legislation would be placed on a dangerously fast track—a short timetable leading up to reauthorization and a lost opportunity for educators to express their concerns about NCLB (the former Elementary and Secondary Education Act) and their ideas for fixing it.

That fast-track threat has now been checked, thanks in large part to grass-roots activism and the AFT’s Activists for Congressional Education program. ACE connects AFT activists to their members of Congress through personal meetings in their home districts, and dozens of ACE meetings in recent months have focused on NCLB. At these informal, off-the-record talks, AFT educators have shared their frontline experiences with NCLB and urged Congress to take the time necessary to look for substantive solutions. The ACE groups made their points by weaving in real-life examples of how well-publicized problems, such as NCLB-inspired overtesting, were jeopardizing teachers' ability to teach and their students' ability to learn.

Congress heard the message. After weeks of speculation about how NCLB could be finalized in the last, frantic days of the 2007 legislative calendar, congressional leaders acknowledged the need for more time, for a more thoughtful, deliberative process leading up to reauthorization of the law.

ACE helped change the tone of the debate, said AFT president Edward J. McElroy. "It is palpable to me that what you're doing back at home is making a difference," he recently told AFT state federation officers. "We'll continue to be forceful," he said, when it comes to securing a new NCLB that truly promotes teaching and learning in public education.

'Tests, tests and more tests'

The No Child Left Behind Act remains a "fundamentally flawed" piece of legislation, and much of the blame rests at the Oval Office door, AFT president Edward J. McElroy charged on Jan. 8, the six-year anniversary of the law.

"Tests, tests and more tests. Ask teachers what the No Child Left Behind Act has accomplished, and that is what you will hear," McElroy said in a statement. "Enacting a better law will require strong leadership from the White House, but President Bush refuses to acknowledge the law's flaws and was AWOL last year while Congress was attempting to rewrite NCLB.”

McElroy's comments came a day after a federal appeals court revived a suit charging that NCLB places unfunded mandates on schools. The case, Pontiac v. Spellings, should be a "reality check" for President Bush and others who refuse to acknowledge NCLB shortcomings, said McElroy, stressing that the problems with NCLB extend well beyond funding levels.

"By focusing exclusively on test scores and setting aside teacher judgment, the law has created a 'teach to the test' mania that is overwhelming American schools and narrowing the curriculum. Teachers and students need a law that supports good teaching, gives credit to schools when students are making progress, and offers real help—not unproven mandates—for struggling schools."