Are U.S. Schools at Their Breaking Point?

Education Secretary, Arne Duncan calls No Child Left Behind a slow-motion train wreck. This statement expresses his frustration with the current state of the U.S. educational system. Parents and educators agree with him. Combine the on-going NCLB problems with cheating scandals and massive budget cuts in education, and you are left with a sad state of affairs.

No Child Left Behind

The core of NCLB is mandatory testing. Standardized tests have their place'"to be used as a tool to judge where a student is academically. NCLB takes the standardized test and makes it a basis for funding. Schools that perform well get more money than schools that perform poorly. How well an individual school performs is based on test scores. The scores must show improvement year over year in all areas in order to meet NCLB mandates. This sets up a situation for cheating'"not by the students--by teachers and administrators. Once you tie money to test scores, it opens the door for all sorts of unprofessional behaviors.

Currently, it is estimated that 80 percent of U.S. schools will fail to meet NCLB mandates in 2012. A high failure rate means that some teachers and administrators will face losing their jobs due to poor performance. One of the solutions the Obama administration proposes as a fix to NCLB is to offer bonuses to teachers whose students perform well. This shifts the problem of financial gain from school districts to the individual teachers, but it does not resolve the problem of linking money to test scores.

Budget cuts and a slow economy

The Center for Education Policy released a report on June 29, 2011, titled Strained Schools Face Bleak Future: Districts Foresee Budget Cuts, Teacher Layoffs, and a Slowing of Education Reform Efforts . As the title implies, this report shows the negative impact of cutting funds to schools. The report addresses seven key points: the majority of U.S. schools are facing budget cuts; districts are compensating by cutting staff; all districts across the board face budgetary issues; most districts have exhausted their funds from the ARRA (American Reinvestment and Recovery Act of 2009) and Education Jobs fund; districts used extra ARRA funds for Title 1 schools to create jobs; districts believe that they are better off for receiving ARRA and Education Jobs funds.

The main point of the report is that budget shortfalls combined with the loss of funding is creating a situation where school districts are having to cut staff and reduce benefits in order to meet budgetary guidelines. In Northwest Arkansas, three of the major school districts; Bentonville, Rogers and Springdale, have opted to give higher paid, more experienced teachers early retirement buyouts in order to reduce staff numbers. Less staff results in larger classes and fewer resources for the students.

Cheating

" Dear Governor Deal... We have determined that cheating occurred throughout the school district. Our investigation found organized and systematic wrongdoing in the APS [Atlanta Public Schools] well before the administration of the 2009 CRCT [Criterion-Referenced Competency Test]..." states a letter sent to Georgia's Governor Nathan Deal from the Special Investigators assigned to look into a potential cheating scandal.

The Christian Science Monitor reported on July 6, 2011, about the largest cheating scandal in U.S. history involving standardized test scores. According to the report, Atlanta Public Schools in Georgia had such widespread cheating that law enforcement is getting involved. A total of 178 teachers and principals were charged with tampering with test scores. District Superintendent Beverly Hall, U.S. Superintendent of the Year for 2009, claims that she had no direct knowledge of any cheating and put the blame on individual administrators and teachers.

Atlanta schools are not an isolated incident. Schools in Baltimore, Washington D.C., Chicago and Michigan have had cheating scandals but none have involved law enforcement. The Atlanta School District is the only one so far where teachers and administrators are facing charges.

Cheating on standardized tests involves erasing incorrect answers and replacing them with correct ones. While some erasures are expected due to students changing their answers, widespread erasures indicated a problem. Usually, this involves a teacher, administrator or other staff making corrections. Herein lies the problem with basing funding or teacher bonuses on test scores--it promotes and encourages cheating.

Has the current U.S. school system reached its breaking point? Arne Duncan seem to think it is heading in that direction. Widespread cheating and budget cuts work against creating a high quality school system. There are no easy answers to solving the problems faced by the U.S. educational system. What is evident is that a major overhaul of the current system is required.

Sources:

July 5, 2011 Atlanta Journal-Constitution; Volume 1 of Special Investigation into CRCT Cheating at APS: Overview, Interviews and School Summaries, Letter to Governor Deal from Special Investigators Micheal J. Bowers, Robert E. Wilson and Richard L. Hyde dated June 30, 2011.

July 6, 2011, Christian Science Monitor; Atlanta cheating scandal: Should educators face jail for robbing kids? by Patrik Jonsson