As you return to your classroom, the U.S. Congress is returning to Washington, D.C., to reauthorize No Child Left Behind. This is the most crucial education policy facing America today. In early September, the AFT will send this letter to members of the U.S. Congress. At the same time, we are urging you to take action and send the enclosed post cards to your senators and representative to tell them exactly where you stand.

Dear Senator/Representative:

Our members, who teach in America’s classrooms every day, have now worked under the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) for five years. They know the law’s strengths and its weaknesses. They wholeheartedly agree with Rep. George Miller, chairman of the House Education and Labor Committee, when he concludes that "throughout our schools and communities, the American people have a very strong sense that the No Child Left Behind Act is not fair, not flexible, and is not funded. And they are not wrong."

As we look to reauthorize the law, let’s make sure that it is fair, that it is flexible and that it is funded.

Based on the experiences of our members, the AFT has shared with your office our recommendations, which can be found at www.aft.org/nclbrecs.pdf.

First and foremost, we need a bill that focuses on the intended goals of the original Elementary and Secondary Education Act. It should provide resources to our schools and students with the highest need, to level the playing field so that they, too, receive a world-class education. At the same time, the bill must establish standards for all our schools so that all our children receive an education that is framed by a strong curriculum and taught by highly qualified teachers in schools and districts that have the resources to meet those standards.

Furthermore, we need a bill that provides real, research-backed interventions for struggling schools. The first responses to struggling schools should be supportive interventions tailored to students’ needs. Students in these schools need a broad range of complementary interventions, such as research-based professional development for school staff, as well as proven instructional strategies that include an extended school year, reduced class size, extra reading and math instruction, and access to high-quality early childhood education. Scientific evidence does not support the premise that NCLB’s current "school improvement" provisions, including school transfers or unmonitored supplemental educational services, are effective means of improving student achievement.

The bill also should ensure that tests are designed to improve instruction. Reauthorization must result in a law that has one central goal for assessments: helping teachers teach and students learn. In many states and districts, NCLB’s reading and math assessment requirements have led to a brutal testing schedule and an obsession with test preparation. As a result, students are losing valuable instructional time to prepare for tests and are receiving less instruction in social studies, science, art, music and physical education.

Any new legislation should provide credit for the progress that schools and students make. The next version of the law must include a fair and accurate accountability system for determining which schools need intervention and help. The current law’s adequate yearly progress (AYP) formula targets too many schools for sanctions, in part because it does not fully recognize gains made in student achievement by schools that have started furthest behind.

Five years under NCLB have provided many "teachable moments" that can help Congress create new legislation that reflects the realities of the classroom and delivers the necessary help for students, their teachers, their schools and their communities. Congress has an opportunity—and an obligation—to learn from those teachable moments and get this law right.

Sincerely,

Edward J. McElroy
AFT President