10 Years of NCLB

Jan. 8, 2012 marks the ten year anniversary of the No Child Left Behind Act. I participated in a conference call with RAND, to find out about research and trends in education today, ten years after NCLB went into effect. The RAND Corporation is a nonprofit institution that helps improve policy and decision making through research and analysis.

In the latest reports from the 2010-2011 school year, there has been a steady increase in the percentage of schools that did not meet adequate yearly progress (AYP) each year. Last school year, 48 percent of public schools did not make AYP resulting in corrective or restructuring action. Brian Stecher, associate director of RAND education, says that once schools fail to meet AYP, they continue to not meet AYP.

NCLB Waivers

The most interesting takeaway information was about the NCLB waiver process and the types of changes states are requesting. In September, President Obama announced that the federal government would offer flexibility to states demonstrating commitment to reform through plans to implement college- and career-ready standards, develop improved systems for teacher evaluation and create accountability systems for low-performing schools.

In a study by RAND Corporation of 11 states that have applied for waivers, states most often requested:

• Multiple performance levels for schools, such as low, moderate, advanced and excelling
• Track fewer subgroups by having rules apply to the entire student body or broad categories of disadvantaged students rather than each ethnic background and social economic status
• New ways to identify which schools would be low performing and need intervention and which are high performing and receive rewards by incorporating measures of student growth rather than AYP.

Daniel McCaffrey, senior statistician at RAND Corporation, says there is considerable interest in using student growth and achievement to look at a school, which would distinguish between what a student learns in school and what a student brings to school. However, you cannot fully distinguish students from teachers to measure teacher success. Would a student growth model eliminate some of the bad instruction that has come about during NCLB?

Behavior Changes Under NCLB

Laura Hamilton, senior behavioral scientist at RAND Corporation, shared information about how NCLB has impacted teacher and administrator behavior.

Desirable behaviors:

• Teachers focus more on student learning
• Teachers ensure curriculum is coherent across grades so there is a steady progression
• Increase in attention for students with disabilities and low SES

Undesirable behaviors:

• Educators have reduced time on untested subjects, such as social studies and art
• In reading classes, teachers assign fewer novels and more short passages with multiple choice questions
• Reduction in morale due to unattainable goals