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In Our View: Pull Together on Education

Both federal, state lawmakers must find consistent approach for public schools

The Columbian
Published: June 11, 2015, 12:00am

Leave it up to Congress.

That is what Washington lawmakers have effectively said in abandoning efforts to regain the state’s waiver from the federal No Child Left Behind Act. Yet while the lack of action is open to debate, it further points out the need for some consistency and progress in how the nation approaches public education.

Last year, Washington became the first state to lose its waiver from the 2002 law that revamped education standards. When the Legislature declined to follow a federal mandate and require standardized tests to be used in the evaluation of teachers, the U.S. Department of Education revoked a waiver that provided Washington some leeway within the law. The practical impacts were that 88 percent of the state’s schools were deemed as “failing” because they were unable to meet the absurdly stringent requirement of all students passing grade-level tests, and that school districts lost autonomy over how to spend about $38 million in federal grant money.

That led to a half-hearted effort in the Legislature this year to make test results a mandatory part of teacher evaluations. The bill passed in the Senate, but it never advanced out of the House Education Committee. Among the roadblocks is the fact that Congress is considering a bipartisan bill put forth by Sens. Patty Murray, D-Wash., and Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn., to revamp the No Child Left Behind Act.

This would be no small feat, considering that No Child Left Behind expired in 2007, and Congress has been unable to agree on a way to update it. “If the bill is signed into law, Washington state would no longer need a waiver from No Child Left Behind,” Helen Hare, a spokeswoman for Murray, said of the Senate bill. “That would restore some certainty.”

At this point, some certainty would be welcome. School districts have been swamped in recent years with debates over standardized tests and teacher evaluations and the issue of local control vs. federal oversight — all of which have detracted from the paramount duty of educating students. The Murray-Alexander bill, which has cleared a Senate committee, would allocate more money for poor-performing schools; give districts options for evaluating teachers; and make the controversial Common Core curriculum optional. It also would contain provisions to quash a growing movement in which parents are having their children opt-out of standardized tests, and that could prove to be the downfall of the proposal.

Many parents complain that standardized exams diminish local control of schools and lead instructors to teach to the tests, to the detriment of students. As Emmett McGroarty wrote for the conservative TownHall.com, “Now is the time for all the senators and representatives who support local control of education … to stand up and get rid of the federal dictates on how often and in what subjects our children are tested.”

The problem with this thinking is three-fold. First, many states and districts across the country have appalling standards and low expectations for their students. Second, standardized tests have proven effective and important in identifying poor-performing schools, and ignoring the results is a method for leaving many underprivileged students behind. And third, international studies have demonstrated that public schools in the United States are average at best when compared with other developed nations.

Whether it comes from Congress or state legislators, now is the time for the U.S. educational system to demand more from its students and to stop haggling over the minutiae of how to achieve that.

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