Joint Organizational
Statement on No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act
October 21, 2004 (list of 144 signers updated April 8, 2008)
The undersigned education,
civil rights, religious, children's, disability, civic, and labor organizations
are committed to the No Child Left Behind Act's objectives of
strong academic achievement for all children and closing the
achievement gap. We believe that the federal government has a
critical role to play in attaining these goals. We endorse the
use of an accountability system that helps ensure all children,
including children of color, from low-income families, with disabilities,
and of limited English proficiency, are prepared to be successful,
participating members of our democracy.
While we all have different
positions on various aspects of the law, based on concerns raised
during the implementation of NCLB, we believe the following significant,
constructive
corrections are among those necessary to make the Act fair and
effective. Among these concerns are: over-emphasizing standardized
testing, narrowing curriculum and instruction to focus on test
preparation rather than richer academic learning; over-identifying
schools in need of improvement; using sanctions that do not help
improve schools; inappropriately excluding low-scoring children
in order to boost test results; and inadequate funding. Overall,
the law's emphasis needs to shift from applying sanctions for
failing to raise test scores to holding states and localities
accountable for making the systemic changes that improve student
achievement.
Recommended Changes in NCLB
Progress Measurement
1. Replace the law's arbitrary
proficiency targets with ambitious achievement targets based
on rates of success actually achieved by the most effective public
schools.
2. Allow states to measure progress by using students' growth
in achievement as well as their performance in relation to pre-determined
levels of academic proficiency.
3. Ensure that states and school districts regularly report to
the government and the public their progress in implementing
systemic changes to enhance educator, family, and community capacity
to improve student learning.
4. Provide a comprehensive picture of students' and schools'
performance by moving from an overwhelming reliance on standardized
tests to using multiple indicators of student achievement in
addition to these tests.
5. Fund research and development of more effective accountability
systems that better meet the goal of high academic achievement
for all children
Assessments
6. Help states develop assessment
systems that include district and school-based measures in order
to provide better, more timely information about student learning.
7. Strengthen enforcement of
NCLB provisions requiring that assessments must:
- Be aligned with state content
and achievement standards;
- Be used for purposes for which
they are valid and reliable;
- Be consistent with nationally
recognized professional and technical standards;
- Be of adequate technical quality
for each purpose required under the Act;
- Provide multiple, up-to-date
measures of student performance including measures that assess
higher order thinking skills and understanding; and
- Provide useful diagnostic
information to improve teaching and learning.
8. Decrease the testing burden
on states, schools and districts by allowing states to assess
students annually in selected grades in elementary, middle schools,
and high schools.
Building Capacity
9. Ensure changes in teacher
and administrator preparation and continuing professional development
that research evidence and experience indicate improve educational
quality and student achievement.
10. Enhance state and local
capacity to effectively implement the comprehensive changes required
to increase the knowledge and skills of administrators, teachers,
families, and communities to support high student achievement.
Sanctions
11. Ensure that improvement
plans are allowed sufficient time to take hold before applying
sanctions; sanctions should not be applied if they undermine
existing effective reform efforts.
12. Replace sanctions that
do not have a consistent record of success with interventions
that enable schools to make changes that result in improved student
achievement.
Funding
13. Raise authorized levels
of NCLB funding to cover a substantial percentage of the costs
that states and districts will incur to carry out these recommendations,
and fully fund the law at those levels without reducing expenditures
for other education programs.
14. Fully fund Title I to ensure
that 100 percent of eligible children are served.
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We, the undersigned, will
work for the adoption of these recommendations as central structural
changes needed to NCLB at the same time that we advance our individual
organization's proposals.
- American Association of Colleges for Teacher Education
- American Association of School Administrators
- American Association of School Librarians (AASL), a division of the
American
Library Association (ALA)
- American Association of School
Personnel Administrators (AASPA)
- American Association of University Women
- American Baptist Women's Ministries
- American Civil Liberties Union
- American Counseling Association
- American Dance Therapy Association
- American Federation of Labor – Congress of Industrial
Organizations (AFL-CIO)
- American Federation of School Administrators (AFSA)
- American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees
(AFSCME)
- American Federation of Teachers (AFT)
- American Friends Service Committee (AFSC)
- American Humanist Association
- American Music Therapy Association
- American Occupational Therapy Association
- American Speech-Language-Hearing Association
- American School Counselor Association
- Americans for the Arts
- Annenberg Institute for School Reform
- Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund
- Asian Pacific American Labor Alliance
- ASPIRA
- Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development
- Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN)
- Association of Education Publishers
- Association of School Business Officials International (ASBO)
- Association of Teacher Educators
- Big Picture Company
- Business and Professional Women/USA
- Center for Community Change
- Center for Expansion of Language and Thinking
- Center for Parent Leadership
- Center for Policy Alternatives
- Change to Win
- Children's Aid Society
- Children's Defense Fund
- Christians for Justice Action--UCC
- Church Women United
- Citizens for Effective Schools
- Coalition for Community Schools
- Consortium for School Networking
- Council of Administrators of Special Education, Inc.
- Coalition of Essential Schools
- Commission on Social Action of Reform Judaism
- Communities for Quality Education
- Council for Children with Behavioral Disorders
- Council for Exceptional Children
- Council for Hispanic Ministries of the United Church of Christ
- Council for Learning Disabilities
- Cross City Campaign for Urban School Reform
- Disciples Home Missions of the Christian Church (Disciples of
Christ)
- Disciples Justice Action Network (Disciples of Christ)
- Division for Learning Disabilities of the Council for Exceptional
Children
(DLD/CEC)
- Education Action!
- Education Law Center
- Educate Not Incarcerate
- Episcopal Church
- Evangelical Lutheran Church in America
- Every Child Matters
- FairTest: The National Center for Fair & Open Testing
- Forum for Education and Democracy
- Gay, Lesbian, Straight Education Network (GLSEN)
- Gender Public Advocacy Coalition
- Hmong National Development
- Holmes Partnership
- Indigenous Women's Network
- Institute for Language and Education Policy
- International Reading Association
- International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE)
- International Technology Education Association
- Japanese American Citizens League
- Jobs with Justice
- Learning Disabilities Association of America
- League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC)
- Mental Health America
- Ministers for Racial, Social and Economic justice of the United
Church of Christ
- National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP)
- NAACP Legal Defense and Education Fund (LDF)
- National Alliance of Black School Educators
- National Association for Asian and Pacific American Education
(NAAPAE)
- National Association for Bilingual Education (NABE)
- National Association for the Education and Advancement of Cambodian,
Laotian and Vietnamese Americans (NAFEA)
- National Association for the Education of African American Children
with Learning Disabilities (NAEAACLD)
- National Association of Federally Impacted Schools (NAFIS)
- National Association of Pupil Service Administrators
- National Association of School Nurses
- National Association of School Psychologists
- National Association of Secondary School Principals (NASSP)
- National Association of Social Workers
- National Baptist Convention, USA (NBCUSA)
- National Coalition of ESEA Title I Parents
- National Coalition for Asian Pacific American Community Development
- National Coalition for Parent Involvement in Education (NCPIE)
- National Conference of Black Mayors
- National Council for Community and Education Partnerships (NCCEP)
- National Council for the Social Studies
- National Council of Churches
- National Council of Jewish Women
- National Council of Teachers of English
- National Education Association
- National Education Taskforce
- National Federation of Filipino American Associations
- National Indian Education Association
- National Indian School Board Association
- National Korean American Service & Education Consortium (NAKASEC)
- National Ministries, American Baptist Churches USA
- National Pacific Islander Educator Network
- National Parent Teacher Association (PTA)
- National Reading Conference
- National Rural Education Association
- National School Boards Association
- National School Supply and Equipment Association
- National Science Teachers Association
- National Superintendents Roundtable
- National Urban League
- Native Hawaiian Education Association
- Network of Spiritual Progressives
- Organization of Chinese Americans
- People for the American Way
- PFLAG National (Parents, Families and Friends of Lesbians and Gays)
- Presbyterian Church (USA)
- Promise the Children
- Progressive National Baptist Convention
- Protestants for the Common Good
- Public Education Network
- Rural School and Community Trust
- Service Employees International Union
- School Social Work Association of America
- Social Action Committee of the Congress of Secular Jewish
Organizations
- Sikh American Legal Defense and Education Fund
- Southeast Asia Resource Action Center (SEARAC)
- Stand for Children
- Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages, Inc. (TESOL)
- United Black Christians of the United Church of Christ
- United Church of Christ Coalition for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual &
Transgender Concerns
- United Church of Christ Justice and Witness Ministries
- United Methodist Church, General Board of Church and Society
- USAction
- Women's Division of the General Board of Global Ministries, The
United Methodist Church
- Women of Reform Judaism
- Young Men's Empowerment Network
(List of 144 signers updated April 8, 2008)
We encourage national organizations to sign the Joint Statement.
Email the endorsement to monty [at] fairtest [dot] org.
Send your organization's name along with contact person and that
person's email, phone and address, as well as organization's
website.
We also encourage state and local organizations to endorse
and use the Joint Statement, although we are not adding such groups
to the list of signers.
