Swift & Change Able

Three weeks ago, we launched a debate here about whether or not NCLB has narrowed school curricula. Best place to start may be: "Dumb Down, Drill & Kill, Full Circle" but the beginning, with anecdotes, was "Urban Schools Leaving NCLB Behind".

We merely pointed out that many urban schools are barely talking about test scores any more. Instead they’re focused on college prep (and this includes such things as visits to college campuses) and AP classes. Moreover, Ivy League Schools, which are generally not known for being stupid, have increased their active recruitment of urban students.

So it is possible to have good scores on what are very basic math and reading tests, and move on (What a concept. You wouldn’t think this would be an argument you’d have to have with education policy advocates, who insist that all high schools have become "test factories." But it is). And Harvard, Yale, and Duke seem to think there’s more going on at these high-performing urban schools as well.

But we apparently hit a nerve, setting off a debate most notably with Eduwonkette. (I’m lobbying for a name change, btw, something less diminutive. Eduwonkyn?).

Most recently, Andy Rotherham and ‘Ette went at it last Friday at Eduwonk. Forget the Potomac Primary. This was the I-95 Knockdown (See "No End In Sight").

I thought Andy got the better end of the argument. Here’s why:

‘Ette asserts that she approaches education policy through the lens of social science. But she’s already made up her mind that NCLB is bad, and so works backward from there. She’s not the only one. Most ed school types and members of the liberal orthodox church treat NCLB the same way. She’s at least got the strength of her own convictions enough to engage in a dialogue on the topic. That’s healthy.

But as social scientists know, nothing is ever caused by a single variable. The only explanations that work when one actually looks at the data (rather than draw hasty conclusions from it) are ones that take into account multiple factors.

Ette’s hypothesis that NCLB has caused schools to become drill & kill factories is refuted by the available data. She notes that half of schools report they have narrowed curriculum. But it’s also true that half (actually more than) have not.

And the data "Ette" is citing is weak. It’s self report. It’s retrospective rather than longitudinal. It isn’t even a correlation. (And, remember Stats 101? Correlation does not mean causation).

Some schools are doing smart, constructive things in response to the data they get from NCLB to improve education for poor and minority students, English Language Learners, and those with disabilities. And some, I think we would all agree, are not. But blaming NCLB for the mindless response of some schools to achievement data is like blaming Fox News for the final score of the Superbowl.

What we should be doing is taking the best practices from the schools that are showing success and trying to disseminate and implement them in schools that aren’t (Brilliant huh?). No one ever said NCLB was going to solve all the problems in America’s education system. Don’t be too impressed when people knock around that straw man. It’s a sideshow.

It says something about America’s education system that this is the level (below basic) of discussion that we have to have. Which is why NCLB came to pass in the first place.