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The law ‘ignores the realities we face as teachers’

Joan Prendergast applauds the concept of leaving no child behind. The veteran Oaklawn, Ill., teacher says that any effort to ensure that all children receive a first-rate education is well worth the time and money.

As a result of NCLB, the veteran teacher notes that staff at her elementary school are increasingly working in grade-level teams to coordinate what’s being taught, and the school is taking seriously the need to intervene on behalf of students who don’t test well.

But the law has brought its share of problems as well, notes Prendergast, who says key aspects of it “ignore the realities we face as teachers.”

The Southwest Suburban Federation of Teachers member is particularly critical of what she calls NCLB’s one-size-fits-all approach to testing.

“We should be using these tests to measure growth and to make sure students get the tutoring or other help they need,” she says. Instead, the law’s testing provision is putting undue pressure on teachers and students alike: “I feel like I have to teach to the test, because if my kids don’t do well, we’re all going to be graded and those grades will appear in the local newspaper.”

The law’s testing requirements fail to address the challenge of reaching kids from homes where English is not the first language, or those whose parents are too busy scraping together a living to help with school, or those with serious emotional problems. “We need more support systems in the schools, like guidance counselors and social workers,” says Prendergast. “I know that takes money, but it seems like some of the money we’re spending on the high-stakes testing could be better spent on providing teachers and schools with additional support staff.”

A love-hate relationship with schools

Rich Hodson sees the tortured irony behind NCLB as it affects schools like Belleville (Ill.) East High School, where he teaches. On one hand, Belleville East is considered a “compassionate assignment” by the U.S. Air Force, which means that personnel with students needing special education can be stationed at nearby Scott Air Force Base to use the school’s highly regarded program. On the other hand, heavy regional demand for special ed services has landed Belleville East on the school improvement list under NCLB, primarily because students with disabilities passed the 40-student threshold and can be counted as a subgroup under NCLB.

“The federal government, which has deemed our school a benefit to its military and society, now wants to abuse the school with NCLB,” says Hodson, a high school math teacher at Belleville East. The high school is a “choice” school under NCLB and must ask other local schools that have not received failing marks to accept its students.

“Some of those other schools do not have as high a percentage of overall students passing the test,” he notes.

Hodson strongly backs efforts by the AFT to help put some sense back into the AYP (adequate yearly progress) process for schools like his. Among them are efforts to better balance the need for information on academic progress for subgroups like special education with the need to administer appropriate tests.

Hodson notes that rigid rules about testing have wreaked havoc in the school community. Under current law, only 1 percent of special ed students can be exempted from the regular assessments given other students. The Department of Education recently announced new flexibility on this provision, allowing states to triple the number of students who can be assessed under alternate testing, and the change is a good one, Hodson says.

“When you have as many [special ed] students as we do, that [1 percent] exemption is insignificant,” he explains. The students and their parents know they have no chance of passing that exam. Many students get so frustrated, they cry and beat their hands on the table.

“NCLB has merit in some of its policies,” he notes. “However, many aspects of its implementation defy even the simplest of logic.”

Paraprofessional test anxiety

Flo Briner has worked as a paraprofessional in the Anchorage, Alaska, public schools for 15 years. During that time, she’s received good evaluations and positive feedback from students and parents, and has basically just done her job admirably. “I felt I was highly qualified, especially with my experience,” says Briner, a member of the TOTEM Association for Educational Support Personnel who works at North Star Elementary School.

Briner, however, mostly worked with younger students and those with special needs, so her use of higher-level math and reading on the job was limited. But under NCLB rules for paraprofessionals, she had to pass a test in those areas by January 2006 in order to keep her job.

“I graduated from high school in 1970, and it’s been a long time since I had to take tests,” she says, describing the whole NCLB experience as “very stressful.” After she failed the HELP test, as Alaska’s version is called, “it made me feel like I was stupid. And I know I’m not stupid.”

Fortunately for Briner and other TOTEM members, their union and the school district worked together to provide after-school classes, tutoring and other test preparation to give the paraprofessionals the extra boost they needed to pass. Briner succeeded on the third try, almost a year after first taking the test.

“Of course people need to be able to read and write and do math” to work as paras, she says. But requiring someone who works with kindergartners to pass a test that includes algebra and other complicated math makes no sense to Briner and others. “Why don’t people from Washington, D.C., come and follow me around and see what I do during the day and then tell me I’m not qualified,” she says. “Let’s see if they can handle all the things I do.”

Sharing the frustration

When it comes to understanding the challenges surrounding NCLB and the law’s impact on educators, Poughkeepsie (N.Y.) Public School Teacher Association president Barry Kaufmann knows he can count on school board member Ellen Staino. In her second stint on the board, Staino wears another hat as well—she teaches in a nearby school district.

“I feel the [Poughkeepsie] district’s and teachers’ pain when it comes to this federal law and how it’s being implemented,” says Staino, an AFT member and a building representative for the Marlboro Faculty Association—which, like the Poughkeepsie local, is an affiliate of the New York State United Teachers.

Staino has several problems with NCLB, including what she considers the law’s overemphasis on standardized testing. But her biggest gripe is with NCLB’s unfunded mandates, which are forcing districts like Poughkeepsie to come up with resources they simply don’t have.

Kaufmann shares that frustration. The union president says that, while he supports the intent of the law, the NCLB requirement that the district provide money for supplemental educational services, more staff development and transportation for students who transfer out of a “needs improvement” school has exacerbated “an already tenuous budget situation.”

“We’re looking at having to make more than $3.25 million in budget cuts,” says Kaufmann, noting that that figure will increase if Poughkeepsie voters fail to approve a 9 percent tax increase.

“There’s no way we can cut $3.25 million without cutting staff and services that our kids really need, like our early childhood education programs,” says Kaufmann, who serves on the AFT Teachers program and policy council.

Where credit is due

Washington Middle School in Albuquerque, N.M., has made great academic strides in recent years, and teacher Michael Gallegos takes justifiable pride in his school’s achievements. Washington has posted some of the district’s highest growth rates in certain academic areas, despite the fact that all students at Washington qualify for federal lunch assistance and the school serves large numbers of English language learners.

“We had a group of sixth-graders who came into our school, and only 16 percent were scoring at the proficient level,” remembers Gallegos. “When they reached the eighth grade, 38 percent were scoring proficient.”

But that was 2 percentage points shy of the 40 percent threshold set as the No Child Left Behind Act’s benchmark for adequate yearly progress. What people remember about Washington, he says, is that it’s a “probationary status” school under NCLB, a school that falls just short each year because one subgroup or another just misses the numbers needed to get off the list.

“They continue labeling our school and continue publishing scores on the news,” Gallegos says. “We hardly ever get recognized for our outstanding growth. It’s hurt the climate, particularly since we’re compared to other ‘high performing schools’ whose scores have actually dropped but remain above the 40 percent mark.”

It’s a big reason why Gallegos applauds union efforts to put the “progress” back into adequate yearly progress. Steps the AFT has supported, such as adding a “partially proficient” measure that would reflect growth among students, would be welcome relief and fairer treatment of Washington and other schools that serve some of the most disadvantaged communities in the nation.

“This shouldn’t be a game of ‘gotcha,’” he says. “It should be about positive change.”

Reducing class sizes would be real reform

Like most teachers, Scott Pittman relishes seeing the light go on in his students’ eyes when they grasp a difficult lesson. A middle school teacher and member of the AFT-affiliated United Teachers of Wichita, Pittman knows that helping children reach their full potential is job one. For that reason, he supports many of the goals of NCLB, especially high standards for all students and help for struggling ones.

But other aspects of the law make Pittman’s blood boil. Take the “highly qualified teacher” provision, for example. Pittman, a social studies and math teacher, says that after some confusion at the state level, he was able to show that he met the law’s “highly qualified” rating. But he’s concerned about colleagues, many of whom are outstanding educators, who for one reason or another still haven’t reached that threshold.

“I’m bothered by the letter that is sent home to parents saying that their child’s teacher is not highly qualified. It’s almost like a witch-hunt,” says Pittman, adding that some parents’ reaction “will be to take their child out of that teacher’s class.”

However, Pittman’s chief concern is one that NCLB does not address: class size. The United Teachers of Wichita building representative says he’s disappointed that the law says nothing about class size, which he considers a critical factor in educating children. “They keep telling us that we need to get to know our children and their backgrounds so that we can be more effective at teaching them,” says Pittman. “I have five separate classes with 32 students each. When you have that many students in your class, there’s no way you can provide the one-on-one attention that some of them need.”

The AFT member has a suggestion for elected leaders who really want to reform public schools: “Fund education at a level that will allow schools to reduce class sizes to a more manageable level, like 22 students.”