On Jan. 28, 2002, President Bush signed into law the No Child Left Behind Act, the purpose of which is to “ensure that all children have a fair, equal and significant opportunity to obtain a high standard of education and reach, at a minimum, proficiency on challenging state academic achievement standards and state academic assessments.”
Part of the current mission to improve “failing schools” (where student scores fall beneath state standards in reading and math), No Child Left Behind has been implemented at Wichita’s Anderson Elementary School. Mara Alagic, WSU assistant professor of curriculum and instruction, and Randy Ellsworth, professor of education and associate dean of WSU’s College of Education, are among the Wichita State staff working with elementary school teachers to help boost the quality of instruction at Anderson — an effort that is being funded by a three-year grant from the Kansas State Department of Education, Anderson: Professional Development for Quality.
While those in the education community are aware of Bush’s plan, Ellsworth points out that a recent Gallup Poll indicated 69 percent of Americans say they are unfamiliar with details of the program, which has been called the most comprehensive education legislation passed in the last 40 years. “They see the acronym, NCLB,” Ellsworth says, “but a lot of people still feel they know too little about it.”
The program’s push to improve the quality of education has what Ellsworth describes as “a heavy focus on children.” Alagic (who also is involved with a second NCLB-related program called Bridges, which focuses on mathematics education) explains that NCLB is based on the concept that “every child can learn. They may not learn on the same day as their peers or at the same pace, but opportunities need to be provided.”
For “failing schools” that show progress, NCLB provides bonus packages of up to $1,800 for staff members. But schools continuing to fail are required to offer students the option of transferring to a successful school within the same district. After five years of inadequate yearly progress, schools can be closed or restructured.
“Anderson Elementary,” says Alagic, “is in their second year with the program, and they’re showing improvement. They have one more year in this plan.” Although the grant that Ellsworth and Alagic are part of has the potential to create a kind of schism between WSU faculty who oversee the program and educators in the schools, Ellsworth allays fears about the role of the university by stressing collaboration: “You have to say, ‘We’re not here to fix you. What can we help with?’ We’re not going in with the answer. It has to be a collaborative effort.”
Penny Longhofer ’76/90, Anderson’s principal, says, “The approach to ‘teaching us’ has been more about what our strengths are and building on those.” Despite Anderson’s measured improvement, whether the goals of NCLB can be fully met remains to be seen. Skeptics cite a series of similar programs that have been tried — and failed.
However, says Alagic, NCLB differs from the older programs in fundamental ways. For instance, NCLB calls for children to take yearly state assessment tests from third until eighth grade, then one in 10th and again in 12th grade, rather than the current plan of tests being conducted only in fourth and seventh grade, which, she notes, doesn’t give as strong a sampling of student abilities.
Yet a number of NCLB critics argue that the emphasis on reading and math gives an incomplete picture of a school’s overall ability to educate its students. A school with achievement in other areas could conceivably be closed because of learning deficits in the two areas. Despite NCLB’s skeptics, Longhofer, Alagic and Ellsworth see potential for success. In particular, the three see the growing connection between the university and local schools as a source of optimism for improving teaching methods.
At WSU, Ellsworth and Alagic collaborate with teachers in the field, but also focus on educating the teachers of tomorrow. What educators learn about effective teaching through NCLB will ultimately benefit WSU students and, even more directly, elementary and secondary students. “They’re the students that our students will end up teaching,” Ellsworth says. “The more we know, the more prepared we are.”
