Happy 10th Birthday NCLB... Let's Celebrate by Fixing It

If I had a dollar for every press release I received from an education advocacy organization expressing angst over the delay in reauthorizing the Elementary Secondary Education Act—known to most as No Child Left Behind (NCLB)—I could most definitely buy the new iPhone 4s I’ve been stalling on.

Educators have cried for years to fix the broken federal mandate signed into law by President George W. Bush in 2002. Their criticisms of the law’s emphasis on standardized testing, unfunded mandates, and harsh sanctions are legitimate and universal.

How fast four years can go. Since the passing of the torch from President Bush to President Obama, little progress has yet to be made.  Albeit, the greatest economic collapse since the Great Depression, unemployment, and the mass hysteria that ensued around the phrase “universal healthcare” may have tied lawmakers’ hands for some time. But surely, surely, they could have found some time on Capitol Hill to begin to get their NCLB ducks in a row?

It’s now 2012, and no such luck, it appears.

Nearly one year ago I attended the Association of American School Administrators conference in Denver where I listened to Noelle Ellerson, the organization’s assistant director of policy analysis and advocacy, discuss timelines laid out by both the House and Senate for their proposed bills.

I spoke with Ellerson and she said she genuinely believes lawmakers are putting forth a good faith effort to get the bill fixed, but not nearly quickly enough. It was February when I met with her. She had hoped the bill would be tackled by the start of the new school year. Worst case scenario, she reasoned, states could make a plea for regulatory relief from sanctions. The school year kicked off with no NCLB traction made and states applied individually for waivers. It’s now winter again, and so begins another year of watching educators’ painstaking crusade to help their schools.

And around, and around, and around we go.

Although I’m nearly positive such a big election year will muddle any chances of this law rising as a priority in Washington, I hope I’m wrong.