THE PUBLIC EDITOR SAYS...
Stories to do, and story don’ts by Linda Perlstein

A sanction that’s not
It’s repeated so often that by now it has the ring of truth: Under No Child Left Behind, schools lose funds if they don’t make adequate progress enough times in a row. That assertion is made not just by the general public but by journalists, as in this excerpt from a major daily: "Schools that fail to show improvement risk losing federal money for programs to help the students most likely to fail."
But such statements are misleading, when they’re not outright wrong.

There’s nothing in the federal law saying that schools lose money for falling short on test scores. Of course, schools and districts may have to reallocate some Title I funds to tutoring and transporting student transfers when those sanctions take effect. They can be given less flexibility in how their money is spent. And if students transfer out from schools that are funded on a per-pupil basis, they can lose funds that way.

But throwaway lines about schools losing money, generally used in the context of how high the stakes are for standardized tests, usually imply something more: a flat-out financial penalty for failure. And that’s simply not the case. If anything, schools stand to get money, in the form of school improvement funds the federal government requires states to dole out. (Though a recent GAO report shows the allocation of such funds has been inconsistent.)

On the flip side, NCLB does not require schools that score well be given bonus funds, although some states and districts do provide such rewards.

Be careful, and don’t repeat this "urban myth," as Mike Petrilli at Fordham put it when we spoke.

A reward rescinded
Ask why teachers go through the arduous, yearlong process of obtaining National Board Certification—which involves tests, portfolios and a heck of a lot of work—and they probably won’t tell you it was for the fun of it. Or even really the prestige. In many states and districts, National Board Certification is the only way for teachers to earn extra money, beyond longevity and advanced degrees. So it’s worth checking in with teachers who are in the middle of the process or who recently won certification to see what they think of the decision, in many jurisdictions facing tight budgets, to remove or reduce bonuses for National Board Certification.

The National Board for Professional Teaching Standards, which administers the certification, keeps track of the incentives offered nationwide. You can look on their website for that information, as well as to find state contacts.

The road to proficiency
The Center on Education Policy released a report in May explaining the crunch that many states are in because they backloaded their AYP improvements. In creating timetables for what percentage of students must pass state tests in order to make adequate yearly progress, about half of states set the bar progressively higher each year, on the way toward the requirement that 100 percent of students pass in 2014. The rest of the states set the passing requirements low for the early years, and now must make huge annual jumps in order to get where they need to in six years.

It could be that when a new president is elected, and No Child Left Behind is reauthorized, or rewritten, or relegated to the trash heap of history—the last being unlikely, if you ask me—this 100 percent requirement may not be in force. But while it’s laughed at in private, no politician has seemed willing to stand up and say what most insiders concede: There’s almost no way the goal will be met. So it very well remain in a new version of the law.

It’s worth it to see how your state spaced out its targets, and how your schools and districts have been progressing. For a jumpstart on the issue, check out Nancy Zuckerbrod’s recent Associated Press article.

High-stakes in name only?
In an eye-opening piece in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution in late May, Alan Judd and Heather Vogell wrote that 36,000 eighth-graders over two years failed the state’s math test supposedly required, by law, to move on to high school. But the state doesn’t track the results, and it’s assumed most of those students were promoted anyway.

You might want to check on your state and districts. Of the students who failed tests required for promotion, how many moved on to the next grade anyway?

Linda Perlstein had baby Milo Henry Miller at 5a.m. on June 11- he was 7lbs., 13 oz. and 21 inches long. She is on maternity leave until September. To be put in touch with an interim public editor over the summer, contact Mesha Williams at 202-452-9830 or publications@ewa.org, or contact them directly.