ESEA blueprint frustrates members

Published June 2010 Voice

In March the Obama Administration proposed its “blueprint” for revising the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA), more commonly called No Child Left Behind (NCLB) in its current life cycle. But this blueprint is closer to a retread than a rewrite.

It fails to shrink NCLB’s heavy testing schedule; fails to offer budget fixes for the long term; continues to base evaluations at least partly on standardized test scores; continues its competition-based doling-out of dollars, perpetuating the “win-lose” scenario among schools; and continues with punitive, rather than positive, plans for the lowest-scoring schools.

All of which has left PSEA members confused, discouraged, frustrated . . . and often angry.

Here’s a sample of what you and your fellow members have told us:

“All children are not alike, nor should they be. . . . We are leaving all our children behind by reducing the value of an education to a standardized test score.”
 – Mary Catherine Knafelc, Ambridge Area EA

“We cannot continue to penalize poor school districts for being poor. They need help, not punishment.”   
– Nancy Ranieri, Cheltenham Township EA

“This mandate is a speeding train that will soon run out of track. And then what? Do we just close up all of our schools because they can no longer reach AYP (Adequate Yearly Progress)? Do we fire all the staff at every school?”
– Matthew Deller, Donegal EA

“I am tired of reading about teacher competency. . . . The most gifted teacher cannot reverse 100 percent of the other factors that impede a child’s learning. . . . If this continues, the best teachers, when given the most needy students, will, on paper, be considered poor teachers!”            
– Margaret Helms, PSEA-Retired

“I wish we could get rid of the win-lose aspect of NCLB and work together for the good of all. Teachers are an easy target for legislators.”                    
– Gail P. Jones, Gettysburg Area EA