AUGUSTA — The U.S. Department of Education this week announced that 10 states had received approval to bypass oft-maligned provisions of the federal No Child Left Behind law.
The state of Maine may soon attempt to join them. A spokesman for the state DOE said Friday that Commissioner Stephen Bowen will announce Monday whether Maine will apply Feb. 21 for the next round of waivers from the law.
Bowen has been an outspoken critic of the 10-year-old law, in particular, provisions that assign school effectiveness ratings to student math and reading proficiency based on their performance on standardized testing. Bowen has said student achievement should be measured by individual growth, rather than by how many students test at their grade level.
“Let us begin looking at where was the student when he or she came through the door,” Bowen told the Sun Journal last year. “Let’s track that growth, and let’s assess the success of teachers and administrations based on how much growth” students had.
Other education commissioners agree, as do many state superintendents.
President Barack Obama announced Thursday that Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Indiana, Kentucky, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New Jersey, Oklahoma and Tennessee were exempt. If Maine attempts to join them, it will have to establish its own accountability system that measures student progress, teacher and administrative evaluation standards tied to student achievement, and methods of tracking school performance.
DOE spokesman David Connerty-Marin said that unlike the states that received waivers this week, Maine has never had an established accountability system.
“We would have to essentially build one from scratch,” he said.
Earlier this week, Bowen and Gov. Paul LePage unveiled a four-pronged education reform plan that includes teacher evaluation.
Maine would have to take additional steps to achieve a NCLB waiver.
In March 2010, the Obama administration submitted a “blueprint for reform” to Congress. The blueprint includes states adopting college and career-ready standards, evaluation methods that go beyond standardized testing and include peer review, student work or parent and student feedback.
In a press release, U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan said the current law drives down standards, weakens accountability, causes narrowing of the curriculum and labels too many schools as failing.
“Rather than dictating educational decisions from Washington, we want state and local educators to decide how to best meet the individual needs of students,” Duncan said in prepared remarks.
Ten of the 11 states that applied during the last cycle received waivers. The application by New Mexico was denied. Several states received conditional waivers that will require additional collaboration with the federal government.
See more from the Sun Journal at sunjournal.com
Bowen will ask for a bypass on No Child Left Behind law and well he should because it has always been one of several huge wastes of time, money, and effort dumped on Americans by the Bush Administration.
Sadly the “NEW” big plan by Mr. Bowen and conservatives all over the country include nothing but more wasted time, money, and effort. Schools choice will dismantle public schools. Sure giving vouchers to attend religious schools sounds appealing to conservatives but will probably lose some appeal when their little local schools that were once doing ok start closing down because so many students will be taking their vouchers with them to attend Muslim, Mormon, or Jewish schools.
Oh ya, and lets start cracking down of teachers who obviously can’t teach and administrators who can’t administrate because we all know they are the one’s primarily responsible for raising our children, teaching them to be respectful, hardworking, and having high aspirations and self-respect. Don’t you parents worry one bit, “The Next Big Plan” has you covered. All you need do is sit back and continue to do nothing…just keep your wallets and purses out and open because having others (Especially conservatives) take control of your children’s lives will (Like everything else they do for average citizens) come at a very-very high price.
No Child Left Behind is a terrible program that forces educators to teach for a test and not reality. We need well rounded graduates whom can problem solve. Knowledge is knowing where to find the necessary information and then how to properly use that information to solve an issue. That said, any new plan by the Maine DOE should be presented to schools, teachers and parents for comments before it is instituted. The problems we continually face are due to some politician believing they know what is best for us.
Does NCLB need to be eliminated ? No. But does it need to be modified given the pace of educational change and technology’s impact on both how our children learn and the world they’re going to face when they enter the workforce ? No doubt it does. But it is beyond question that our kid’s need to be able to not just learn the basic’s but that they learn the need to keep on learning thru their entire lives. That need is now being seen in the different technologies that are being introduced here in Maine (solar, wind, differing agricultural products and method’s and home building technologies) in both consumer goods, the various commercial and industrial parts of the State’s economy. The State’s economy is so rapidly changing, and in some area’s staying the same but speeding up, that the kid’s need to be able to adapt quickly. And that’s the big thing that needs to be either added to the NCLB requirements or modifed under any type of waiver. It also calls for a more directed investment in the ‘hands-on’ Vo-Tech and Trades educational sector’s.
While I may not agree with LePage a lot, this area is one that he is dead on as far as a needed skills education program is required. Plumber’s, electrician’s, carpenter’s, mechanics of all type’s are all in very short supply, more so here in Maine as the kid’s we have now leave the State as soon as they graduate. That or when they enter the military, which has among the best training program’s ever known, they see the world beyond Maine and decide their’s not a whole lot to keep them here. These Vo-Tech program’s, and the availablity of the returning Vet’s to both practice and teach them, is a major advantage that Maine has. To see that advantage wasted is not just a shame but a major blow to both Maine as a State but also to our kid’s future. And any advantage that Maine has needs to be pushed, moreso in light of the economy. The big question is does Maine have the guts to make the case and fight for it for the benefit of all of Maine, not for the sake of scoring of political brownie point’s for either Party ? Our kid’s future calls for nothing less, What is so tragic is, on the other hand, the need being so clear and yet ignored. As has been said, ‘If you think education is expensive, look at how expensive ignorance is’. ‘Nuff said.
The military is definitely beneficial on giving a better view of life and a solid work ethic (usually, not all veterans are of the same caliber). As far as education, it is hit or miss. My military training didn’t carry over to civilian life and my GI Bill was lost years ago when I left the National Guard for eight years of active duty military. I would recommend the military for discipline but it is no guarantee of civilian employment. It gives a foundation but not always transferable skill sets. Maine needs to work more on blue collar skills, it is simply irrational to try and give everyone a college degree in a state that offers few business opportunities.
If George Dub-ya Bush promoted it, you knew it was wrong from the git go.
No child left behind!
All children will be mandated to be above average or we will stop funding their school!
Opps! that ain’t working,
Lets just stop funding their schools by giving the funding to private schools!
All those left behind we will appoint as School Janitors!
This must be Lake Wobegon if all children are above average.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zk6Rs2MgGMI
Leave it to Republicans and your kids will Become Proffesional Mop handlers!
Certainly won’t be easy to do, but makes a lot more sense (and attainability) than NCLB.
This will be great for maine if they can get out of it. The schools are passing children now that still need to be in the same grade. I have witnessed several occasions at a Bangor Elementary School. Its time for a change and let them keep them back without parents permission
Maine may try to opt out of NCLB…..
Just as they’ve opted out of paying the STATE MANDATED payments of 55% of Essential services to public education!!
Don’t PRETEND that education is important in this state and then wonder why jobs and workforce development aren’t following predictable pathways!!
Honestly Augusta–if you don’t get it yet, you likely never will. Ever!
Yes, Maine should try to be exempt from Every Child (Oops, No Child) Left Behind. Tragic that Maine does not already have an accountabity system. That said, do I trust LePage and Bowen (and their corporate and shadow backers) to come up with a good one? Not really and whatever is instituted better be well vetted by all of us. Also, the latest LePage/Bowen plan needs to be shot down with several of its provisions.
Now this is a good Idea if they follow through. We need to focus on keeping kids in school Teaching them useful things to they can be productive. it is not all about the test scores. When i look at the test scores and the drop out rate at some schools like Bangor. Makes me wonder if the extra pressure on test doesn’t contribute to the higher drop out rate. Not all kids should or will get a college degree . Most the top kids will do well no matter what the at risk kids should have a little more realistic focus about what they can or will do. A lot of them will end up in Jail or welfare.
Teachers that make the most difference in kids life are not always the testers that get the highest test scores. I would much rather see test score drop a few points and have kids educated on useful things and finish high school. a kid who finished high school a 3 or 4 IQ points lower than a GED counterpart kid who dropped out. The one with the diploma will do better in life most the time.
Maine will jump on the “school choice” bandwagon as it’s the most attractive promise going right now. Take some time and read up on school choice, charter schools and such and how over time they have made no real statistical difference, except for inner city schools where children were allowed to learn in a safe environment. Many of the most ardent school choice supporters have backed away from this idea; Sol Stern, Howard Fuller, even Diane Ravitch wrote a book, “The Death and Life of the Great American School System”, in which she withdrew her support of the idea—good book. I don’t know the answer, but when studies have been done that show programs not working in other places, why will it work here?