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No Child Left Behind Is Forum's Focus

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By RONNIE BLAIR, The Tampa Tribune

Published: September 14, 2007

LAND O' LAKES - With Congress poised to reauthorize the federal No Child Left Behind Act, educators and parents in Pasco County say they want to see changes that better reflect the realities they encounter in the classrooms.

'We need some flexibility,' said Monica Verra, the Pasco County school district's director of exceptional student education.

Verra was one of about a dozen speakers who a panel of state and federal education officials heard from Wednesday evening at a No Child Left Behind workshop in the Pasco County School Board meeting room.

'I would be the first to admit there is room for improvement,' said Dennis Bega, a senior policy adviser with the U.S. Department of Education's Atlanta office.

U.S. Rep. Ginny Brown-Waite, R-Brooksville, sponsored the forum and was supposed to attend, but with Congress still in session she remained in Washington, her aides said.

Each of the roughly 100 people in attendance, though, received a copy of a letter from Brown-Waite in which she said she is 'aware of the mixed results NCLB has achieved.'

Brown-Waite said components of No Child that will be addressed by Congress include the intense focus on reading and math, the use of just 'one test on one day' to assess student achievement, school crowding, inflexibility in the assessment of a school's performance, teacher performance pay and teacher recruitment-retention.

No Child Left Behind was one of President Bush's first initiatives after he took office in 2001. He signed it into law in January 2002.

The act attempts to hold schools accountable for student learning gains, in part by measuring how well subgroups of students perform on standardized tests.

The subgroups are based on race, disabilities and economic status. Each year, a report is issued saying whether a school has made adequate yearly progress. If any subgroup performs poorly, then the entire school fails.

Title I schools, which receive extra federal funding because they serve large populations of low-income children, face a series of sanctions if they continue to fall short.

For example, after failing to meet adequate yearly progress three years in a row, a school must offer supplemental services such as tutoring for students who qualify.

Pasco educators and parents said they see problems with the act, such as unrealistic expectations in testing some students with severe disabilities.

Heather Fiorentino, Pasco's school superintendent, said something needs to be done about discrepancies between Florida's A-plus education plan and the federal act.

It's difficult for principals to explain to parents how a school can earn an A under Florida's plan but be labeled failing by the federal government, she said.

Pam Smith, the state's deputy chancellor for curriculum, instruction, student services and secondary reform, said among the positive aspects of No Child Left Behind is that the act has pushed education to the forefront. 'We do want to tweak it because there are some things I think can make it stronger,' Smith said.

Reporter Ronnie Blair can be reached at (813) 948-4218 or rblair@tampatrib.com.

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