Like NCLB, new education law makes promises that will be hard to fulfill
Almost 14 years ago to the day, on Jan. 2, 2002, former President George W. Bush signed the No Child Left Behind law that is now widely maligned, and in many quarters reviled.
“Today begins a new era, a new time in public education in our country,” Bush declared in the sweeping rhetoric that typically accompanies presidential signings of this kind. “As of this hour, America’s schools will be on a new path of reform, and a new path of results.”
His rhetoric was matched by the Democratic authors of the bill, who also trumpeted the transformational promise of NCLB. “This is a defining issue about the future of our nation and about the future of democracy, the future of liberty, and the future of the United States in leading the free world,” the late Sen. Edward Kennedy proclaimed. “No piece of legislation will have a greater impact or influence on that.”
Obama’s legslation was similarly launched with grand expectations. Calling it a “Christmas miracle,” Obama declared, “I’m proud to sign a law that’s going to make sure that every student is prepared to succeed in the 21st century.”
Sen. Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn., the principal Republican author of the bill, said the law would “inaugurate a new era of innovation and excellence in student achievement by restoring responsibility to states and classroom teachers.”
Whether it will or won’t is, at this stage, unknown.
American Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten recalled a few years ago that she had “high hopes for NCLB when it was enacted in 2002.”
“I was not alone in being optimistic and heartened by the renewed federal commitment to supporting public education,” she said. “In particular, those of us committed to seeing all our students succeed, no matter their ZIP code, applauded the focused attention on eradicating the achievement gap.”
But, she noted, “hope, no matter its wellspring, can falter under the weight of reality.”
“Faith in the power of education has had both positive and negative consequences,” wrote David Tyack and Larry Cuban in “Tinkering Toward Utopia: A Century of Public School Reform.” “It has helped persuade citizens to create the most comprehensive system of public schooling in the world. But overpromising has often led to disillusionment and to blaming schools for not solving problems beyond their reach.”
The problem with both NCLB and the Every Student Succeeds Act is that both laws are not made up of a set of reforms that have been carefully tested and Like NCLB, new education law makes promises that will be hard to fulfill | EdSource: