Catholic schools give high marks to sweeping new federal education law

Obama officially replaced the No Child Left Behind act by signing Every Student Succeeds into law on Thursday at the Eisenhower Executive Building. President Obama and Congress are leaving No Child Left Behind policy and moving forward with the Every Student Succeeds Act.

For those in North Carolina who’ve followed the Leandro case, which mandated state improvement in low-performing schools to guarantee that “sound, basic education” the courts ruled kids were due, the revised law contains an important requirement.

The way the nation’s public schools are evaluated – teachers, students and the schools themselves – is headed for a major makeover, with a sweeping shift from federal to state control over school accountability and student testing.

States will still test students in grades three through eight and again in high school. Patty Murray, D-Wash., ranking member on the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee is at center.

A statement from the NCEA pointed out that during the past few years, it has been involved, along with representatives of the USA bishops and the Council for American Private Education, in discussions with congressional lawmakers about inequities in the No Child Left Behind Law “regarding participation of students and teachers in religious and private schools”. In Mississippi, after a fight in November over the education funding-formula at the polls and a new study reminding Mississippi that the state paid more per pupil in 2008 than now (15.4 percent more), state legislators, teachers, advocates and students will have to come together to implement and pave the way for Mississippi students to get the best education possible. “We expect them to live up to that, and that’s the promise of this bill”, Murray said after the vote. The new bill continues high standards for accountability, but allows districts to make their own decisions on to help struggling schools. “That’s the most critical testing that occurs in the overall continuum of education”, he continued.

That was the logic behind No Child Left Behind.

The goal of NCLB was admirable: to ensure that every child in Minnesota and across the country graduates high school with the skills they need to succeed.

On Common Core, education guidelines reviled by many conservatives, the bill says the federal government may not mandate or give states incentives to adopt or maintain any particular set of academic standards. Test data will still be created for minorities and poor students.

Over the past 13 years, we’ve learned a lot about what works in our education policies – and a whole lot more about what doesn’t work.