While textbooks and exams may be far from the minds of many parents, teachers and school students in Iowa who are enjoying the summer break, Congress has been hard at work hammering out education reforms aimed at improving school accountability and erasing the achievement gap to ensure no child is left behind in an American classroom.
In the first major overhaul of the nation’s federal education policy in 35 years, Washington is taking the steps necessary to ensure that the U.S. education system makes the grade in the 21st century. Tomorrow’s leaders should be guaranteed a world-class education that allows them to perform to the best of their ability. For those struggling on the down side of advantage, a good education is the surest way to climb up the ladder of success. Literacy is an indispensable tool that will lead to a lifetime of opportunities regardless of one’s racial, ethnic or socio-economic background. Mastering the basics in math and reading at the earliest grade levels are critical building blocks necessary to open up opportunities later in life.
Measuring student progress also puts schools to the test. Are they providing the right environment, challenging curriculum and level of expectations for students to learn what they need to know?
In an effort to steer mediocre schools in the right direction and keep blue-ribbon performers on the right track, the Senate passed legislation in June that would require by 2005 annual tests in reading or language arts and math for every student in grades three through eight. And by 2007, states would be required to administer tests on science.
These annual assessments would serve as a report card for each school and school district. Schools with failing scores would be given extra federal aid after the first year to make improvements. Two years of inadequate scores would trigger a provision that would allow students to transfer to another public school. And after three years with no improvement, the students in a failing school would be eligible to use federal education dollars for tutoring or travel expenses to attend another public school.
But a one-size-fits-all mandate from Washington isn’t going to solve what’s wrong with schools in inner city New York, rural Appalachia or even suburban Iowa. That ’s why each state will be charged with developing and implementing its own assessments. In fact, Iowa already tests grades 3-8 with the Iowa Test of Basic Skills. In Iowa and in other states, the U.S. public education system prides itself on local control. The closer to home policy decisions are made, the more accurately they reflect the real challenges facing students and teachers in the classroom. It takes different strokes for different folks. One school may need more bilingual education programs. Another may need help tapping into new technology. And other school districts need help attracting and retaining qualified teachers.
That’s why schools need spending flexibility. Federal tax dollars account for seven cents out of every public education dollar spent. Taxpayers would get the most bang for their buck if local school boards were given maximum flexibility to put these dollars where shortfalls exist. The education reform bill pending before a House-Senate conference committee would give schools more spending leeway in return for participating in the annual assessments.
Putting in place standards of achievement will raise the bar in classrooms across the country. By focusing on achievement and accountability, this policy seeks to help students get better grades by ensuring the schools they attend can make the grade.