No fast track for NCLB

The AFT is seeking members’ help in urging Congress to apply the brakes to the heightened push to get the No Child Left Behind Act reauthorized this year. Earlier this fall, the House Education and Labor Committee released a 1,000-page discussion draft of the bill and set a very short time frame for education interests to review it and make recommendations. This prompted speculation that Congress planned to fast-track the complicated legislation, which was problematic when it was passed five years ago, and has only worsened with time and inadequate funding.

Shortly after the draft was released, AFT executive vice president Antonia Cortese went to Congress to provide testimony. On Sept. 20, scores of other classroom educators and AFT activists dropped everything to come to Washington, D.C., to talk frankly with their representatives about the impact of NCLB on student learning and in the classroom.

The AFT is mobilizing all its constituencies to ensure that in this renewal of NCLB—formerly known as the Elementary and Secondary Education Act—Congress achieves the right balance of high standards, adequate resources and authentic accountability measures. That won’t happen if the job of legislating is done with a steamroller. As Cortese testified, when it comes to reauthorizing this bill that has posed such difficulties for students, teachers and schools, "the product, not the clock, should govern the process."

The AFT is deeply troubled by many provisions in the draft. It fails to address fundamental flaws in the current law that are hamstringing schools: hours spent on testing and test prep that steal growing numbers of weeks from the school year, a narrowing of the curriculum to just the basics, and an accountability system that denies credit for progress and punishes schools that need the most resources.

The AFT is calling on members and others who care about strengthening and improving public education to speak out at this time about NCLB. Visit the legislative action center at www.unionvoice.org/campaign/0907NCLBFix to learn what you can do quickly to make a difference.