Progress is Result of Hard Work of
Students and Teachers

by Edward J. McElroy
AFT President

There is good news to start off the new school year: American students are making tremendous progress in math and reading achievement. Recently released data show impressive gains among white and minority students, and the achievement gap between these groups is closing. This is cause for celebration—and for some, an opportunity to spin the results.

The U.S. Education Department has hailed these gains as proof that No Child Left Behind is working. But is this the case? The data, formally known as the 2004 National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) Long-Term Trends in Academic Progress, reflect trends in achievement going back well before NCLB.

The changes that are a part of NCLB may have helped spur student achievement; but in no way do these NAEP results prove that point. That’s because the law was enacted in the 2001-02 school year, and NCLB regulations came much later. The NAEP trends reflect, at most, only one year during which NCLB was fully in effect. In fact, as the Council of the Great City Schools has noted in its “Beating the Odds” reports, student achievement in New York, Cleveland and other cities rose steadily in the years before NCLB was enacted. 
What we can deduce from these NAEP results is that teachers are doing a great job and students are working hard. Independent studies already have shown that research-based reforms like class-size reduction are producing positive results. These initiatives must be supported for such progress to continue. There is still much more room for growth—and AFT members will continue to strive to provide a quality education for all children.

NCLB, with its focus on accountability and high standards, is an outgrowth of the decades-old standards movement. The AFT strongly supports the underpinnings of this law, but we recognize that NCLB has a number of very serious flaws, which if left unaddressed will prevent its goals from ever being achieved.

Jack Jennings, president of the Center on Education Policy, spoke about NCLB at AFT’s QuEST conference this past July. The center has produced several authoritative reports on NCLB that have detailed some of its positive as well as problematic aspects. Among the problems is the emphasis on testing for public accountability as opposed to testing for diagnosis, which really helps teachers and students. Others include blunt accountability that does not distinguish between schools where one group of students has problems and schools where many groups fail; lack of funding to offer programs to help students do better; and the definition of “highly qualified” teacher, which does not get at what constitutes being a good teacher.

The AFT has launched a campaign to try to fix problems with the No Child Left Behind Act. The theme of the campaign, “NCLB—Let’s Get It Right,” reflects our union’s commitment to accountability and high expectations for students, staff and schools. During the initial phase of the campaign, we are meeting with policymakers in Washington and advocating for constructive changes to the law, mobilizing state and local leaders and members to get the word out about the problems with this law, and running print and radio advertisements. The stakes are too high for us to wait until the 2007 reauthorization of NCLB before we focus on the necessary improvements to this law.

While the AFT will continue to work at the federal level to try to make the necessary changes to NCLB, much of the work will also have to be done at the state and local levels. Local AFT leaders and members have begun meeting with their congressional and state representatives to discuss important issues, including fixing NCLB. State NCLB plans and local implementation of those plans are often where the rubber meets the road.
Undoubtedly, the Bush administration’s claims for the law’s effect on the latest NAEP results stem from the administration’s high hopes for it. But the administration is wrong to assert that NCLB is the driving force behind results that in fact are the fruit of other long-standing efforts. The laudable goals of NCLB will be realized only if significant changes are made to the law, something that the AFT pledges its full support to help bring about.