Published: July 07, 2007 12:24 pm      

Parents, educators criticize ‘No Child Left Behind’ to Rep. Hill

Nancy Beaty drove 100 miles Friday to give U.S. Rep. Baron Hill a piece of her mind about No Child Left Behind.

Beaty, a Shelby County resident whose 10-year-old daughter Dannielle has cerebral palsy, told the congressman that her daughter is being denied the technology she needs in order to take the standardized tests she is required to pass if she ever hopes to attend college.

According to Beaty, her child is being left behind, thanks in part to a 5-year-old piece of federal legislation which was supposed to do just the opposite.

“It’s a great idea if you don’t know anything about children and education,” Beaty said. “It’s simple.”

Beaty wasn’t alone in a conference room at the Jeffersonville City Hall voicing disdain for No Child Left Behind on Friday.

Michele Ferree, director of special education for New Albany-Floyd County Consolidated School Corp. used a personal anecdote to illustrate that success can’t be measured on test scores alone.

A mechanic who recently fixed her car, she said, wasn’t able to score high marks in high school, but still found success in a highly technical field.

“We’re lumping that mechanic with everyone else and we’re saying that school is a failure because of a gifted mechanic,” said Hill, D-Ind., responding to Ferree’s example.

About 16 people attended the lunchtime meeting, many voicing criticisms that have been commonplace in the five years since the controversial legislation was enacted. The word “ludicrous” was the choice adjective of the day.

“I kind of look at it as the teacher that punishes the whole class,” said Teresa Perkins, assistant superintendent for curriculum at NA-FS schools.

Perkins noted that Indiana already had an accountability system that tracks individual student progress. The federal accountability system compares test scores from year to year in each grade level to determine whether a school is making progress.

State Sen. Connie Sipes, D-New Albany, said the federal method of determining a school’s and an individual student’s success is one of the most “offensive” features of the mandate.

“A lot of times I don’t understand what we’re doing,” said Sipes, a retired elementary-school principal. “As an educator, I don’t understand how we’re comparing third graders last year to third graders this year and we’re judging the school on that.”

Hill — who voted for the measure because he said another bill he supported was inserted into the legislation — expressed a similar concern.

The lawmaker also took particular issue with the erosion of local control he said has occurred.

“My feeling as a member of Congress is scrap NCLB and return (accountability) to the local school corporations,” said Hill, whose congressional district includes Clark and Floyd counties.

Hill took a softer approach in concluding his remarks, stating that the meeting only helped to solidify his own concerns and reasons he would at the very least push for an overhaul.

No date has been set for a vote on reauthorization, but it is expected to come by year’s end.

“Unless there are some major changes made, I’m going to leave this meeting thinking I’m going to vote against,” Hill said.

Signed in January 2002, the No Child Left Behind Act established a series of accountability measures for states, schools and school districts. The act requires all teachers to be “highly qualified” and gives parents a public school choice when benchmarks are not met.