“No Child Left Behind”: An Opened Door
No Child Left Behind has been a good basis from which we will create the right kind of public sector mandates that will provide for equitable and high quality K-12 schools for all children. While the original NCLB initiative has a range of shortcomings, it definitely swung the door open for what will be the eventual education landmark that will transform how we educate elementary and secondary students in this country. The funding and programmatic insufficiencies that have been exposed during the early years of NCLB implementation provide the basis for how the legislation must be enhanced going forward. Although the mandates have been rendered both controversial and revolutionary, what’s certain is that the benchmarks and standards imposed by the program as a whole paved the way for educators, policymakers, and everyone else to really get serious about drafting public policies that are designed to truly transform K-12 teaching and learning. At the end of the day, we can credit the roll out of NCLB for pushing us toward embracing more innovative and meaningful reforms and solutions. Given the timetables and accountability measures that are being enforced, school leaders seem to be more willing to move beyond the rhetoric of the past and embrace innovations of the future as they jockey to protect their schools and teaching professionals.
The academic success of schoolchildren depends on the capacity of the adults in their lives to be the change agents and innovators that they need them to be. We owe it to our young people to employ the kinds of leadership and vision that will give them platforms and opportunities to excel in the classroom and beyond. They deserve a lot more than what we are giving them in some of our homes, schools, and communities. It is in fact the grownups who must decide whether they can muster the will and commitment to move beyond their own immaturity, personal and political agendas, insecurities, and fears to begin to seriously respond to the weaknesses and failures in classrooms and schools everywhere. So then the real challenge for the adults is to steward and nurture the academic, intellectual, artistic, and athletic interests of students in ways that will allow them to grow and develop the whole range of their gifts, talents, and abilities. America’s students and the public at large are counting on the adults in the room to stand up and finally make a difference in the grand scheme of public education delivery in elementary and secondary schools. We’ve already established a public policy foundation that can elevate the standards and accountability of students and schools, now all we need is for parents, teaching professionals, and school leaders to do the hard work to refine existing legislative mandates in ways that achieve equitable and accessible schools for young people across the learning spectrum.
The transition to a new year always gives us pause because only then do we come face to face with the reality that we’ve either failed to move closer to where we had hoped to be at year’s end or accomplished what we set out to do since the beginning of a year. This year has allowed us to see the good, the bad, and the ugly pertaining to public school leadership, operations, and management. In too many places, school boards are like a circus instead of a deliberative group of professionals whose only concern is educating the students. Far too many parents are still not engaged enough in their children’s academic performance. The body of excellent teaching professionals is still being dogged by reports of classroom teachers who lack the competence, ethics, and professionalism to teach our children. While these are a few examples of what still plagues K-12 schools, measurable academic progress has been made in schools that have been failing miserably for a lot of years. We can all be proud and hopeful about the academic gains being witnessed in some of the toughest learning environments across the nation. There is a plethora of reform initiatives and movements that have been initiated to elevate student academic achievement, teacher competency and compensation, as well as school management and leadership. The nonprofit, private, public, and religious sectors are all more engaged in helping to transform how teachers teach and students learn. The growth of collaboration among sectors and professions as a means for improving the efficacy and delivery of K-12 education has the potential to produce the creativity, innovation, and flexibility that we desperately need to ensure higher academic standards and greater accountability in our schools.
The academic success of schoolchildren depends on the capacity of the adults in their lives to be the change agents and innovators that they need them to be. We owe it to our young people to employ the kinds of leadership and vision that will give them platforms and opportunities to excel in the classroom and beyond. They deserve a lot more than what we are giving them in some of our homes, schools, and communities. It is in fact the grownups who must decide whether they can muster the will and commitment to move beyond their own immaturity, personal and political agendas, insecurities, and fears to begin to seriously respond to the weaknesses and failures in classrooms and schools everywhere. So then the real challenge for the adults is to steward and nurture the academic, intellectual, artistic, and athletic interests of students in ways that will allow them to grow and develop the whole range of their gifts, talents, and abilities. America’s students and the public at large are counting on the adults in the room to stand up and finally make a difference in the grand scheme of public education delivery in elementary and secondary schools. We’ve already established a public policy foundation that can elevate the standards and accountability of students and schools, now all we need is for parents, teaching professionals, and school leaders to do the hard work to refine existing legislative mandates in ways that achieve equitable and accessible schools for young people across the learning spectrum.
The transition to a new year always gives us pause because only then do we come face to face with the reality that we’ve either failed to move closer to where we had hoped to be at year’s end or accomplished what we set out to do since the beginning of a year. This year has allowed us to see the good, the bad, and the ugly pertaining to public school leadership, operations, and management. In too many places, school boards are like a circus instead of a deliberative group of professionals whose only concern is educating the students. Far too many parents are still not engaged enough in their children’s academic performance. The body of excellent teaching professionals is still being dogged by reports of classroom teachers who lack the competence, ethics, and professionalism to teach our children. While these are a few examples of what still plagues K-12 schools, measurable academic progress has been made in schools that have been failing miserably for a lot of years. We can all be proud and hopeful about the academic gains being witnessed in some of the toughest learning environments across the nation. There is a plethora of reform initiatives and movements that have been initiated to elevate student academic achievement, teacher competency and compensation, as well as school management and leadership. The nonprofit, private, public, and religious sectors are all more engaged in helping to transform how teachers teach and students learn. The growth of collaboration among sectors and professions as a means for improving the efficacy and delivery of K-12 education has the potential to produce the creativity, innovation, and flexibility that we desperately need to ensure higher academic standards and greater accountability in our schools.
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