By Tom White
Last week my school district sent out letters to every family in our school, informing them that our school is failing. This week we learned that fourteen of our students will be going to a different school. One that isn’t failing.
I can’t tell you how upsetting this is. I have worked at Lynnwood Elementary for the past 25 years and it’s become part of my soul. I have worked with an entire generation of that neighborhood and now I’m beginning to work with the children of former students. In fact, one of my former students is now a teacher at my school. We have nearly 600 wonderful, diverse students from all over the world, taught by a faculty of bright, caring professionals, dedicated to their work. Although we have plenty of room for improvement, ours is not a failing school by any stretch of the imagination.
To be told by someone in Washington DC who has never set foot in my school that we’re failing is about the most ridiculous characterization I can think of. We’re not alone, of course; over 90% of the schools in our state are “failing.”
Here’s why:
In 2002 George W. Bush signed No Child Left Behind (NCLB) into law. This was a reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA), which previously gave states and districts block grants with which they could fund special education and other programs designed for at-risk students. NCLB was supposed to make schools more accountable for student learning; they had to make steady progress over the course of the next twelve years, culminating in 2014 – last year – at which point every kid in every school in America was supposed to be performing at grade level or risk sanctions.
That goal, of course, was preposterous. When President Obama took office there was some talk about rewriting the law so that it made sense. That talk didn’t go anywhere. Consequently, the Obama administration decided to use the threat of NCLB and its sanctions as leverage for certain education reforms by granting “waivers” from the law to those states that complied. One of those reforms was the use of student test scores as part of teacher evaluations.
The Washington State Legislature decided not to go along with that particular “reform.” So the feds revoked our waiver, which means that we’re still bound by NCLB. And since it’s now 2014 and since some of our kids failed to meet standard on the last standardized test, our school is classified as “failing.”
What makes this particularly stupid in the case of our school is that the scores used are actually two years old; we piloted the new SBAC last year (tied to the Common Core) and therefore our scores weren’t even recorded.
So here we are. The letters went out, parents read them and some decided to pull their kids out of our school and have them bused – at the school district’s expense – to the nearest “not failing” school.
What happens next? I can think of five possibilities, presented in the order of least likelihood:
1. Congress rewrites NCLB/ESEA so that it makes sense and actually serves at-risk students by providing financial support to their schools. This is obviously the best solution. It’s also the least likely to happen.
2. Every student suddenly performs at grade level. This is, of course, also highly unlikely. The only reason I didn’t put it first is because our students, their parents and their teachers are at least trying to make it happen, whereas the people charged with rewriting NCLB/ESEA aren’t.
3. The Federal Department of Education decides they’ve made their point and reinstates Washington State’s waiver. There’s actually been movement in this direction, but I get the sense that they’ve chosen to make an example of our state, especially because of the role that our teacher’s union played in swaying the legislature. But it could happen.
4. Our legislature decides to change our teacher evaluation system to include student test scores. Although the WEA will put up a strong fight, this could also actually happen. Our evaluation system won’t be as accurate or as meaningful as it is now, but at least we’ll be waived of NCLB’s sanctions.
5. Nothing. This is probably what will happen. Congress won’t act. Our students will improve, but they won’t all pass their state tests. The feds won’t back down. Our legislature won’t change the evaluation system.
And my school will still be “failing.”
Thank you TOM!!
I have never read something that is so true. Your ideas and truths are being discussed in small and large groups of educators. It is ridiculous the mandates enacted by those individuals who know nothing about being in a “failing school”. I don’t understand what the government does not git about being a classroom teacher. I see a student for only 45 – 50 minutes a day for less than 180 days. I am expected to make huge leaps of success for “all” my students. In no other profession than education are there the expectation for a 100%. Now , add into the equation that we are talking about humans beings. It is even more ridiculous now those ignorant few. We are not producing widgets!
Great points, Mark. I agree, lawmakers need to see the negative impacts of their inaction before they act. But it hurts to see it first-hand.
As for the families of those 14 kids,they did find a “non-failing” school in the district. Unfortunately for them, that school will definitely “fail” next year, which means they’ll have to either re-enroll in our school (if we have any room) or figure out a way to get their kids across town to their new school, since the district doesn’t have to provide transportation from one failing school to another.
This whole mess is like a Joseph Heller novel.
I’m surprised there is a school that isn’t labeled as “failing” for those 14 kids to go to. They must only be in step one of improvement, or that weird pre-step? Or their “n” is so small that their scores were not considered?
I know I’ve been on the other side of this issue from the get go, Tom, and I still support that we did not change our evaluation law–one flawed policy plus another flawed policy doesn’t make sound policy.
We know that NCLB is flawed policy that ultimately hurts kids. Unfortunately, until there is proof that the policy hurts kids, we’re easily dismissed as just a bunch of whiny teachers. Now, when the policy can be enacted as written we can finally, unfortunately, have proof of its ridiculousness. Is it right that this is what has to happen for policy to change? No. Is adherence to flawed policy going to actually leave more kids behind? Absolutely. It’s an injustice. BUT I am very, very confident that if Washington st. had caved and agreed to tie state test scores to teacher evaluations, we wouldn’t be seeing the movement like what we see in the article you linked. It’s a stupid political game, and some kids are going to suffer in the meantime.
We need to tell the stories, like you are, of the suffering and the negative impact on students that following this law will have. Without that reality, we only would have philosophy and conjecture to stand upon. Now, sadly, we’ll have real stories instead of hypotheticals and maybe a dose of reality is what is needed to make flawed policy go away.