The 2008 budget for education sets aside $56 billion for U.S schools. This sounds like an adequate amount of money, but don’t forget the growing clock in the corner, $502 billion and counting. So what is Bush’s big idea in his last year in office, that is going to reverse all the harm he’s already caused on our schools? Forcing every student to be proficient in reading and math by 2014 based on No Child Left Behind standardized testing. You, didn’t really think he was going to do something right, did you? I mean why would the President abolish an act that the majority of teachers and schools around the country hate. I guess the White House didn’t get the memo, because they quote, “Under NCLB, States and local school districts have made enormous strides in putting these reforms in place, and the first returns are promising...show that we have reversed a decade of stagnation in student achievement, with scores rising significantly in both reading and math in the early grades”(http://www.ed.gov/about/overview/budget/budget08/summary/edlite-section1.html) My favorite part about this quote is how obvious it is, that other than improving scores for younger students, the No Child Left Behind failed miserably. It gets better, $24.5 billion of the $56 billion dollar budget goes towards No Child Left Behind. This is the same act that FairTest Executive Director said is, “Aggravating, not solving, the real problems that cause many children to be left behind.” The extensive study you can find at
<> outlined key problems with the act including,
•The law falsely assumes that boosting test scores should be the primary goal of schools, an approach that has not improved education when implemented by individual states;
• Widespread school "failure" is an inevitable outcome of NCLB's one-size-fits-all design because of rigid "adequate yearly progress" provisions, which set unrealistic goals for academic gains, punish diversity, and ignore measurement error;
• NCLB's school transfer policy undermines ongoing reform programs and disrupts the lives of students and teachers. Heavier sanctions required for schools that do not boost test scores have previously been shown to be counter-productive;
• The requirement that limited English proficient students score "proficient" on English exams is self-contradictory, as is the provision that most children with special needs demonstrate competency in the same manner as other students;
• Education is being damaged as students are coached to pass tests rather than taught a rich curriculum that will help prepare them for life in the 21st Century; and
The federal government has failed to adequately fund the law.
Now all of these points seem very familiar, it could be that if you type in No Child Left Behind in google, you get thousands of articles and interviewers from teachers, students, and just about everyone else urging it be abolished. Let’s recap, there is no evidence it succeeded at all, Bush is trying to require all students by 2014 to pass its tests, people from all corners of the country are speaking about how much it has hurt our schools and not helped them, and of the $56 billion dollars dedicated to schools in 2008, $24.5 billion goes to No Child Left Behind. This is all very strait forward, easy to understand. It is obvious No Child hasn't been successful and the majority of educators are against it, and yet we just allowed half of the 2008 budget slip back into its grips. As the American Federation of Teachers put it, “Flaws in the law are undercutting its original promise. Guidance for states has been unclear, untimely and unhelpful, and the U.S. Department of Education's attempts to make the law more flexible have brought about only minimal improvements”
•Enhancing Education Through Technology: $273.1 million
•Even Start: $111.6 million
•Tech-Prep Education State Grants: $104.8 million
•State Grants for Innovative Programs: $99.2 million
•Smaller Learning Communities: $90.4 million
•Physical Education: $72.7 million
•Leveraging Educational Assistance Partnerships: $64.5 million
•Teacher Quality Enhancement: $59.9 million
•Byrd Honors Scholarships: $40.6 million
•Parental Information and Research Centers: $39.6 million
•Arts in Education: $35.3 million
•Elementary and Secondary School Counseling: $34.7 million
•Civic Education: $29.1 million
•School Leadership: $14.7 million
•Ready to Teach: $10.9 million
•Comprehensive School Reform: $10.1 million
•Gifted and Talented Education: $9.6 million
1 comment:
It is great that you have the budget breakdown here, since this in not something most of us would ever see.
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