Monty Neill on the choice of the frying pan or the fire: NCLB vs. RTTT
Cross -posted at the National Journal .
If US Secretary of Education Arne Duncan has his way, states will have to “choose” between the frying pan of No Child Left Behind (NCLB) and the fire of Race to the Top (RTTT). Or so it seems from his vague language.
The frying pan: Under NCLB, ever more schools will face “in need of improvement” (INOI) status and then ever-escalating sanctions as they fail to make “adequate yearly progress.” Once in that status, schools must spend money on “supplemental services” that haven’t proven to help and student transfers that are rarely available. Should they fail to make the ever-increasing AYP requirements, they’ll move on to additional mostly ineffective options – ones Duncan