DiversityInc - July/August 2006

According to a 2005 study by Education Trust, a nonprofit organization that tracks academic achievement, state standards vary widely, creating confusion over who is “proficient” and who is failing. For example, 88 percent of eighth-graders in North Carolina were “proficient or better” in reading on state-provided tests, but when given the federal test, only 39 percent were considered “ proficient.” The report shows the inconsistency of the term “proficient,” as states are allowed to define it themselves. With the pressure to avoid federal sanctions, states may have too low a standard.

A 2006 report by the Civil Rights Project at Harvard University confirmed this when it found that the Department of Education has allowed state-initiated policies—changes that were negotiated on a state level, with no national guidelines and a state interpretation of the adequate yearly progress (AYP). Or as the report puts it, “these behind-the-scene agreements further eroded consistency in how the law was being applied across states.”

The elephant in the room is whether NCLB has ended up, like other means of standardizing educational metrics, overlooking the very children who need the most help. Still, the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) found some positive results, as the disparity between reading scores of white and black 9-year-olds decreased from 44 points in 1971 to 26 points in 2004. Within the same age group, the reading gap between white and Latino students decreased from 34 points in 1975 to 21 points in 2004. Positive results occurred in mathematics as well, where the gap between white and black 9-year-olds dropped

from 35 points in 1973 to 22 points in 2004. The gap between white and Latino students decreased from 35 points in 1973 to 23 points in 2004 for 13-year-olds.

So these test scores show progress, but anecdotal evidence indicates the inequities are not being addressed as aggressively as they should. Teachers and school administrators complain bitterly about the Bush administration cutting NCLB funding after implementing the law.

“I don’t think No Child Left Behind is going to do it. Because my question would be, ‘George Bush, have you ever been to the ’hood?’” says Mariama Sesay, a literacy coach at Malcolm X Shabazz High School in Newark, N.J. “Have you ever been to Newark and spent a day in the schools? Have you ever spoken to the parents and students … maybe an hour, but that’s surrounded by Secret Service and pre-selected students for you to speak to. He’s talking about No Child Left Behind … whose children are you talking about? Because these children have already been left behind.”

Sesay grew up in the suburbs of Chicago surrounded by as many black students as white—all from middle-class to upper-class families. In stark contrast, Shabazz High School is 98 percent black and 2 percent Latino, with 90 percent of the students receiving free or reduced lunches. Sesay, who has a master’s degree in English from Rutgers University, chose to be at Shabazz because she “wanted to teach kids that look like me, and I know they need a whole lot of help.” Now in her sixth year, Sesay is the first to come to the

“In most urban systems, there were not enough
high-scoring schools to which the children of a
failing school could transfer.”
Jonathan Kozol, author

Newark school from Teach for America, an organization that places college graduates in urban or rural public schools for two-year stints. Although it was Sesay’s choice to commit to a longer term, she believes there are myriad factors working against her students, and NCLB is not easing the process.

In contrast, Margaret Spellings, U.S. Secretary of Education, stated at the National Education Data Summit, “We’re already seeing … the early returns on No Child Left Behind. Across the country, academic achievement has risen significantly in the early grades, with math scores at all-time highs, including among African-American and Hispanic students.”

Still, in testimony this year before the House Committee on Education and the Workforce, Spellings appeared to admit to the shortcomings of the current education system, stating, “Currently, our 15-year-olds rank 24th out of 29 developed nations in math literacy and problem solving.” Spellings also pointed out that nearly all the jobs today require education beyond high school, and yet “fewer than half of our students graduate from high school ready for college-level math and science.” The outlooks for black and Latino students were even bleaker, as Spellings stated that “nearly five out of 10 African-American and Hispanic 9th graders don’t graduate from high school on time.”