While Missouri schools show progress,
No Child Left Behind needs fixing and funding
“The hard work of Missouri educators over many years
is paying off,” says Greg Jung, a fifth grade teacher
in the Ritenour School District and president of the 32,000-member
Missouri National Education Association. “But we need
more resources and more flexibility from the federal government
in order to make the promise of the so-called No Child Left
Behind law a reality for all children.”
Results on Missouri Assessment Program (MAP) tests taken
last spring show more schools achieving “adequate yearly
progress” in math and reading this year. Some 100 more
Title I schools made AYP this year than last year. (Title
I schools receive federal funding to support the learning
of low-income children.) However, 254 Title I schools did
not make AYP for a second year on the basis of their students’
test scores and are now labeled as “needing improvement”
under NCLB.
“The law forces districts to pay for transportation
for any students in Title I schools ‘needing improvement’
who want to transfer to another school within the district,
though Missouri is receiving $9.3 million less this year in
these much-needed Title I funds than last year,” Jung
notes.
“It’s not fair nor accurate nor helpful to children
to judge and label the quality of their schools based solely
on the scores on two tests taken once a year,” Jung
adds.
“NCLB’s rigid one-size-fits-all approach assumes
that all students learn in the same way and at the same rate,
despite their individual differences,” the MNEA president
says. “Instead of providing teachers and schools with
the resources they need to succeed—smaller class sizes,
well-paid and well-trained teachers, modern facilities and
up-to-date textbooks and materials—it saddles them with
more bureaucracy, paperwork and standardized tests.”
“Unless federal officials demonstrate the flexibility
and commitment needed to meet the promise of NCLB, Missouri
and other states risk losing the progress we’ve made
since the mid-1990’s in strengthening our schools,”
Jung adds.
MNEA represents teachers, education support professionals,
students studying to be teachers and those retired from teaching
in school districts and on college campuses throughout the
state. It is the Missouri affiliate of the 2.7 million-member
National Education Association, the largest organization of
educators in the nation
For further information:
Carol
K. Schmoock
573-634-3202
August 19, 2004
News
release from the Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary
Education |
