George F. Will Gets Beyond NCLB

From tomorrow's Washington Post George Will writes:

No Child Left Behind, supposedly an antidote to the "soft bigotry of low expectations," has instead spawned lowered standards. The law will eventually be reauthorized because doubling down on losing bets is what Washington does. But because NCLB contains incentives for perverse behavior, reauthorization should include legislation empowering states to ignore it.

NCLB was passed in 2001 as an extension of the original mistake, President Lyndon Johnson's Elementary and Secondary Education Act, which became law in the year of liberals living exuberantly -- 1965, when Great Society excesses sowed the seeds of conservatism's subsequent ascendancy. ESEA was the first large Washington intrusion into education K through 12.

NCLB was supported by Republicans reluctant to vastly expand that intrusion but even more reluctant to oppose a new president's signature issue. This expansion of Washington's role in the quintessential state and local responsibility was problematic for three reasons.

First, most new ideas are dubious, so the federalization of policy increases the probability of continentwide mistakes. Second, education is susceptible to pedagogic fads and social engineering fantasies -- schools of education incubate them -- so it is prone to producing continental regrets. Third, America always is more likely to have a few wise state governments than a wise federal government.

With mandated data collections -- particularly tests of "adequate yearly progress" in reading and math -- NCLB was supposed to generate information that would enable schools to be held accountable for cognitive outputs commensurate with federal financial inputs. Bad data would make schools blush and reform.

Fourteen months ago, the president said, "The gap is closing. . . . How do we know? Because we're measuring." But about those measurements . . .

NCLB requires states to identify, by criteria they devise, "persistently dangerous schools." But what state wants that embarrassment? The Post recently reported that last year, of America's approximately 94,000 public schools, the "persistently dangerous" numbered 46. There were none among the 9,000 schools in amazingly tranquil California.

NCLB's crucial provisions concern testing to measure yearly progress toward the goal of "universal proficiency" in math and reading by 2014. This goal is America's version of Soviet grain quotas, solemnly avowed but not seriously constraining. Most states retain the low standards they had before; some have defined proficiency down.

So says "The Proficiency Illusion," a report from the Thomas B. Fordham Institute, which studies education reform. Its findings include:

The rationale for standards-based reform was that expectations would become more rigorous and uniform, but states' proficiency tests vary "wildly" in difficulty, "with 'passing scores' ranging from the 6th percentile to the 77th." Indeed, "half of the reported improvement in reading, and 70 percent of the reported improvement in mathematics, appear idiosyncratic to the state test." In some states, tests have become more demanding; but in twice as many states, the tests in at least two grades have become easier. NCLB encourages schools to concentrate their efforts on the relatively small number of students near the state test's proficiency minimum -- the students who can most help the state meet its "adequate yearly progress" requirements.

Rep. Peter Hoekstra, a Republican who represents western Michigan's culturally cohesive Dutch Calvinist communities, opposed NCLB from the start because he thought it would "tear apart the bond between the schools and the local communities." He believes the reauthorized version of NCLB will "gut" accountability. He is gloomily sanguine about that because he thinks accountability belongs at the local level anyway and because removing meaningful accountability removes NCLB's raison d'etre. He proposes giving states the option of submitting to Washington a "Declaration of Intent" to reclaim full responsibility for K-12 education. Such states would receive their portion of K-12 funds as block grants.

But Rep. Scott Garrett, a New Jersey Republican, warns that Washington, with its unsleeping hunger for control, steadily attaches multiple strings to block grants. He proposes to allow states to opt out from under NCLB's mandates and regulations and to give residents of those states tax credits equal to the portion of their taxes their state would have received back in federal funds for K-12 education. Garrett thinks that this could be a template for states to escape many entanglements with Washington.

NCLB intensified what Paul Posner of George Mason University calls "coercive federalism." Kenneth Wong and Gail Sunderman of Brown University and the Harvard Civil Rights Project, respectively, say NCLB "signaled the end of 'layer cake' federalism and strengthened the notion of 'marble cake' federalism, where the national and subnational governments share responsibilities in the domestic arena." Hoekstra's and Garrett's proposals would enable states to push Washington toward where it once was and where it belongs regarding K through 12 education: Out.

Ever since I was a young TeenWonk, I've observed that no matter which political party was in charge in Washington, the federal government just got bigger.

And that was true even when Ronald Reagan occupied the White House in spite of the fact that he publicly expressed his desire to abolish the Department of Education.

If past behavior is the best indicator of future performance, I think that I know what the future holds for the vast Washington EduCracy that has sprung up ever since Jimmy Carter created this Administrative Empire Department back in 1980.

It's just going to get bigger still while becoming ever more intrusive and dictatorial. All the while the Department will continue loudly screeching about the need to hold others (especially those who actually work with children) "accountable" for what goes on in the classroom. Meanwhile they will continue exempting themselves from any accountability whatsoever when it comes their own regrettable lack of substance or success.

U.S. Students Not Comparing Well With Others

It seems as though American students continue underperforming when compared to many of their international peers:

Finland and South Korea have topped the world in a new student ranking survey.

According to the OECD, the two countries lead the world when it comes to education, especially in reading and science.

In particular, Finnish students ranked top in science, while South Korean teenagers were first for reading.

The results come from the 2006 Program for International Student Assessment, which yearly tests 400,000 15-year-olds in 57 countries.

The students are tested on mathematics, literacy, and particularly on their knowledge of science.

The United States, Spain and Italy were among the 32 countries whose education was found to be below the average.

Over at the National Center for Education Statistics, they have this:(emphasis added)

Highlights from PISA 2006: Performance of U.S. 15-Year-Old Students in Science and Mathematics Literacy in an International Context

This report summarizes the performance of U.S. students on the Program for International Student Assessment (PISA), comparing the scores of U.S. 15-year-old students in science and mathematics literacy to the scores of their peers internationally in 2006.

PISA, first implemented in 2000, is sponsored by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), an intergovernmental agency of 30 member countries. In 2006, fifty-seven jurisdictions participated in PISA, including 30 OECD jurisdictions and 27 non-OECD jurisdictions.

The results show the average combined science literacy scale score for U.S. students to be lower than the OECD average. U.S. students scored lower on science literacy than their peers in 16 of the other 29 OECD jurisdictions and 6 of the 27 non-OECD jurisdictions. Twenty-two jurisdictions (5 OECD jurisdictions and 17 non-OECD jurisdictions) reported lower scores compared to the United States in science literacy.

On the mathematics literacy scale, U.S. students scored lower than the OECD average. Thirty-one jurisdictions (23 OECD jurisdictions and 8 non-OECD jurisdictions) scored higher on average, than the United States in mathematics literacy in 2006. In contrast, 20 jurisdictions (4 OECD jurisdictions and 16 non-OECD jurisdictions) scored lower than the United States in mathematics literacy in 2006.

Differences in student performance based on the selected student characteristics of sex and race/ethnicity are also examined. Following the presentation of results, a technical appendix describes the study design, data collection, and analysis procedures that guided the administration of PISA 2006 in the United States and in the other participating jurisdictions.

Get the full report at the bottom of this page.

Not surprisingly, Queen Of All Testing And Classroom Teacher Accountability U.S. Education Secretary Margaret Spellings is not happy with the results:

The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) today released results from the Program for International Student Assessment (PISA). PISA assesses science, math and reading skills of 15-year-old students in the principal industrialized countries every three years. In 2006, all 30 OECD-member countries and 27 additional countries and other jurisdictions (e.g., Hong Kong) participated in PISA.

Regarding the 2006 PISA results, U.S. Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings today made the following statement:

The PISA results released today offer additional data on how America's students are stacking up against their peers in other countries. With scores flat since 2003, the U.S. continues to score below the OECD average and in the middle of all countries assessed.

While disappointing, it speaks to what President Bush has long been advocating for: more rigor in our nation's high schools; additional resources for advanced courses to prepare students for college-level studies; and stronger math and science education. In fact, students are being assessed in science under No Child Left Behind this school year. And, the President has proposed making science assessments an element of states' accountability calculations.

Through such initiatives as the Academic Competitiveness Council and National Math Panel, we're bringing research-based strategies and best practices into our classrooms. By equipping educators with more data to customize instruction, we're laying the groundwork to strengthen math and science education. It's the right course for our students and our workforce.

We're surprised that Queen Secretary Spellings didn't incorporate her pet phrase "In God We Trust All Others Bring Data" into the Department of Education's press release.

Here's a thought: Maybe someone should hold her accountable for this chronic underperformance...

Not likely, given this administration's demonstrated propensity to overlook poor performance at the top.

It seems as though those of us who serve in the classroom are the only ones who get hammered for low test scores "underperformance."

The Spellings Report: Pushing NCLB

The nation's report card has just come out and Queen of All Testing U.S. Education Secretary Margaret Spellings is positively giddy over the news:

"Student achievement is on the rise," said Secretary Spellings. "No Child Left Behind is working. It's doable, reasonable and necessary. Any efforts to weaken accountability would fly in the face of rising achievement."

Spellings noted that 48 states and the District of Columbia either improved academically or held steady in all categories.

"To those who would suggest that No Child Left Behind is not working, our nation's 4th- and 8th-graders and their teachers just proved the naysayers wrong," Spellings added. "Math scores for 4th- and 8th-graders and the reading scores for 4th-graders are at historic highs and the biggest gains were made by African American and Hispanic students."

More than 700,000 students nationwide participated in the 2007 Nation's Report Card on reading and math, and they represented a diverse student population, including one-third minority students and a growing proportion of English language learners.

"At a time when our student population is becoming more diverse, educators and students are rising to the challenge and excelling in the classroom," Spellings said. "I'm pleased with the progress but not satisfied. As we inch closer to our goal of having every child on grade level in reading and math by 2014, we need to continue to pick up the pace. I am confident that our nation's schools and teachers can get the job done."

Spellings emphasized that today's results prove once again that moving away from accountability would send us in the wrong direction.

"What President Bush has proposed in his reauthorization plan for No Child Left Behind is the right direction," said Spellings. "It provides parents more information and options to make the right educational decisions for their children; it gives states and schools more effective ways to target resources and interventions where they're needed most; and it gives educators more incentives to teach in our most challenging educational environments.

"Bottom line: No Child Left Behind is empowering parents and students by infusing accountability into education—and the Nation's Report Card shows that it is working on behalf of our nation's children," said Spellings.

Naturally enough, these results will provide useful ammunition for those who are battling for the reauthorization of NCLB.

Did you notice that last paragraph? As with most of her utterances, the Secretary expounds the need for public educators to be held accountable for the success of the public education system.Far from it.

As professionals, we do need to be "held accountable" for our classroom performance and its effectiveness.

What we've always had a problem with is that when Spellings and her ilk mention accountability, it's nearly always the classroom teachers and site administrators who are held wholly accountable for students' academic progress; she rarely, if ever, mentions the need for parents and students to also be responsible for at least making an effort to achieve success.

Is This How To Build A Better NCLB?

The federal No Child Left Behind Act is up for reauthorization, and among the interested parties the jockeying for position has begun:

Rep. George Miller, D-Calif., the chairman of the House education committee, says he hopes to steer a bill renewing the federal No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) through the House this fall, and one of the key changes he plans to propose is incentives for states and schools to develop more rigorous standards that reflect the need for 21st-century skills.

August 6, 2007—Proponents of educational technology for years have been saying that schools need to focus more on teaching so-called "21st-century skills," such as problem solving, critical thinking, and collaboration. Now, it appears that momentum is finally building on Capitol Hill to encourage just such reforms: The chairman of the House education committee says he hopes to push legislation renewing the federal No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) through Congress this fall, and one of the key changes to the law he plans to propose is incentives for states to develop more rigorous standards that reflect the needs of 21st-century learners.

"In so many meetings I have had in my district and elsewhere, employers say that our high school graduates are not ready for the workplace. Colleges say that our high school graduates are not ready for the college classroom. This is unacceptable," said Rep. George Miller, D-Calif., in a July 30 speech outlining his vision for reforming the nation's education law.

"In my bill, we will ask employers and colleges to come together as stakeholders with the states to jointly develop more rigorous standards that meet the demands of both. Many states have already started this process. We seek to build on and complement the leadership of our nation's governors and provide them incentives to continue. This requires that assessments be fully aligned with these new state standards and include multiple measures of success.

"These measures can no longer reflect just basic skills and memorization," Miller continued. "Rather, they must reflect critical-thinking skills and the ability to apply knowledge to new and challenging contexts. These are the skills that today's students will need to meet the complex demands of the American economy and society in a globalized world.

"Schools must no longer prepare our students to be autonomous problem solvers. The workplace they enter tomorrow will increasingly require them to work in teams, collaborating across companies, communities, and continents. These skills cannot be developed solely by simple multiple-choice exams.

"For too long, we have settled for standards and assessments that do not measure up to the high goals we have for our kids or the skills they must achieve. But let none of us for a moment believe that our students will be able to participate in this interactive and participatory culture and workplace if they cannot read, write, and understand math. Therefore, the bill will say that if states take this step and commit to the students of their state that they will prepare them for the universities and jobs of the future, then we will provide them with incentives and assistance to do so."

Focusing more on 21st-century skills was just one of several ideas Miller has for revising NCLB. Others include more fairness and flexibility, including new ways to measure a school's success; merit pay for teachers and administrators; and more funding to implement the law's requirements.

Miller said NCLB has brought about several positive developments in its nearly six years of implementation--but "we didn't get it all right when we enacted the law," he acknowledged.

"Throughout our schools and communities, the American people have a very strong sense that the No Child Left Behind Act is not fair, that it is not flexible, and that it is not funded," he said. "And they are not wrong. The question is, what we are going to do next?"

Miller said it's his goal as chairman of the House Committee on Education and the Workforce to pass NCLB renewal legislation in September. He said the law, as currently written, places too much emphasis on the math and reading tests, although those are still important indicators. Other tests, and measures such as graduation rates, also should be used to judge how schools are doing, he said.

Teachers unions have called for that kind of change, but the Bush administration and some Republicans in Congress say it could weaken the law.

Miller also said the law should pay teachers extra for boosting student achievement and for working in high-need areas--an idea generally opposed by the national teachers unions.

Republicans were unavailable for comment on Miller's proposals before press time. However, Rep. Howard P. McKeon, R-Calif., the senior Republican member of the House education committee, issued the following statement on the reauthorization of NCLB:

"No Child Left Behind is the law of the land because it balances real accountability with state and local flexibility and expanded parental choice like no education law before it. Changes to the law that weaken any of these three pillars of NCLB--accountability, flexibility, and parental choice--will be met with strong opposition from House Republicans and are likely to be a fatal blow to the reauthorization process."

Massachusetts Democrat Sen. Edward Kennedy, who chairs the Senate education committee, said he hopes the bill gets through his committee in September.

Senator Edward "Chappaquiddick" Kennedy's involvement notwithstanding in both the original NCLB Act and the "new and improved" version, I think it ironic that the original No Child Left Behind Act is about the only piece of domestic legislation that the Administration has pushed through that will leave a lasting mark on our society.

Nevertheless, as a traditional conservative, I'm opposed to federal mandates. Public education is a matter best best decided by state governments and locally elected (and therefore accountable to the people) school boards. ---------------------------------See our latest entries.

President Bush: The Reasoning Behind NCLB

President Bush tells us why he pushed N.C.L.B. in the first place: all he wanted to do was help public schools:

President Bush, acknowledging public frustration over his No Child Left Behind Act, said Thursday the point of the law is not to punish schools that fall short, but to help them.

Bush suggested the White House and its allies must do a better job of explaining the goal of holding schools accountable.

Congress is working on renewing the law, which remains unpopular in many districts nationwide.

"It is important for all of us to make it clear that accountability is not a way to punish anybody," Bush told supporters of the law in a meeting at the White House. "It's an essential component to making sure that our system, our education system, frankly is not discriminatory."

Bush got unified support from the group of business, education and civil rights leaders he invited to the Roosevelt Room. They spoke of economic competitiveness and social justice.

But even his friendly audience pointed out flaws in the law.

The most common concern was that some states -- free to determine their own academic standards -- are manipulating the law by setting the bar too low for students.

"There have been some states that have been attempting to skirt the act by, in effect, dumbing down their curriculum," said Paul Vallas, CEO of the Philadelphia School District.

No Child Left Behind, approved by Congress early in Bush's first term, is the biggest federal act in a generation. Politically, it is also vital to Bush's agenda and his legacy.

Schools that receive federal aid face sanctions if they don't show yearly progress among their students, including poor children, minorities and limited-English learners.

The result is that schools must give more attention to kids who often struggle the most.

Yet where Bush sees accountability, others see punishment.

Many parents and teachers say schools put too much emphasis on getting kids to pass tests. Bush's support of private-school vouchers has also made critics suspicious of his intentions.

The president seemed aware of these perceptions.

"It's really important for the citizens to understand that I'm a huge believer in the public school systems," Bush said. "I believe our public schools have really made America."

The White House allowed two reporters to sit in on Bush's meeting.

Bush appears to have enough bipartisan support to get the law renewed with its core elements intact, although conservative Republicans oppose it on grounds that it is a federal intrusion.

The law orders states to test children in reading and math in grades three through eight, and once in high school.

Bush offered no commitment on the issue of getting states to raise their standards. Instead, he defended local control and opposed the idea of judging schools based on a federal test.

The status quo, though isn't working, Bush was told time and again. State standards are a hodgepodge nationwide, although many states have committed to improve those standards.

Jeanne Allen, president of the Center for Education Reform and a participant in the meeting, said after that Bush realizes the law needs work -- without being weakened.

"He was familiar with the rhetoric, and with the fact that it's very difficult for parents to negotiate No Child Left Behind," Allen said. "He knows the challenges and the perceptions."

For the record, we don't have anything against holding people accountable for their performance. Far from it.

But it just seems to us as though America's classroom teachers are the only folks that the Washington crowd this Administration seems eager to make "accountable."

They certainly don't seem to hold themselves (FEMA, Department of Defense, GSA, Customs/Immigration, Congress etc.) "accountable" for anything. ------------------------------------See our latest EduPosts.

NCLB And The New EduReality

With the federal No Child Left Behind Act up for renewal this year, Democratic control of Congress has changed what was once a given into a somewhat likely:

President Bush's signature No Child Left Behind education law is headed for fundamental changes as Congress rewrites it this year, including a likely softening of do-or-die deadlines.

School administrators long have complained about the annual deadlines, which punish schools that do not make adequate progress toward having all children perform at their grade levels.

School officials also have rebelled at requirements that students with limited English ability or with learning disabilities perform as well as their grade-level peers.

Now, those complaints are being taken up by lawmakers spanning the political spectrum.

Key Democrats who control the federal purse strings are demanding changes. Moderate Republicans say the law must be more flexible. On Thursday, they were joined by dozens of GOP conservatives who want an even more radical overhaul.

Lawmakers say a major flaw is that schools that miss achievement targets by a little are treated the same way as schools that miss those goals by a lot. Schools then are labeled as needing improvement and face the same penalties.

"We can't have one-size-fits-all," Rep. Peter Hoekstra, R-Michigan, said Thursday. He led a group of House and Senate lawmakers in introducing legislation that would let states opt out of No Child Left Behind requirements without losing federal education money.

Currently, any state that does not adhere to the requirements of the $23 billion program cannot get the federal dollars that come with it. The requirements include annual testing in math and reading in grades three through eight, and once in high school. The tests must show steady yearly progress toward a goal of getting students working on grade level by the year 2014.

House Republican Whip Roy Blunt of Missouri is supporting the conservatives' bill, even though he voted for the law in 2001.

"The overriding intrusion in No Child Left Behind is too large to deal with unless you fundamentally change the legislation," Blunt said.

A former education secretary, GOP Sen. Lamar Alexander of Tennessee, said, "That's a visceral reaction to too much federal involvement in local schools."

Alexander is not backing Hoekstra and Blunt in their effort but said their concerns must be taken into account when the law is rewritten.

Education Secretary Margaret Spellings has testified on Capitol Hill this week, hearing from Republicans and Democrats who want changes.

Rep. James Walsh, a senior member of the House appropriations subcommittee that oversees education spending, wants the law loosened for schools that are failing due to the performance of immigrant students who do not speak English fluently.

The government exempts students who are just learning English for less than a year from taking reading tests. After that time, those students have to be tested and schools are held accountable for their scores.

"We've gotta find a better way to test the progress of these kids," said Walsh, R-New York, who expressed the popular view that a year is not long enough.

When groups of children, such as those learning English or special education students, fail to meet the law's achievement goals, entire schools can be labeled as failing and could face consequences such as having to fire their staffs -- which lawmakers say is unfair.

Rep. Betty McCollum, D-Minnesota, also on the committee that oversees education spending, told Spellings she was upset that some states have lowered the requirements for what students must be able to do on reading and math tests to avoid the law's penalties. That creates a situation where some states look like they are performing well when they may not be.

"We look like we're doing a poor job when compared to states that set the bar low," McCollum said.

The issue has led some lawmakers to call for national educational standards to be included in the law when it is rewritten.

Spellings heard criticism from Wisconsin Democratic Rep. David Obey, chairman of the House Appropriations Committee, and Iowa Democratic Sen. Tom Harkin, who heads the Senate Appropriations subcommittee that oversees education spending. Both said they were upset about the law's $1 billion reading program called Reading First.

An Education Department inspector general's investigation found that people in charge of running the program and reviewing grants had conflicts of interest and steered money toward certain publishers of reading curricula.

Spellings expressed concern that the program might be in jeopardy, saying, "I hope we don't throw the baby out with the bath water."

Rep. George Miller, D-California, and Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Massachusetts, who lead the committees in charge of rewriting the education law, have indicated they support the reading program but intend to make changes to it.

My gut instinct on NCLB says that its renewal is likely (A law putting 100% of responsibility for 100% of student success on schools and 0% on parents voters is soooo politically sexy.) but that there will likely be changes, most likely a one or two-year extension on the deadline by which each and every single child in a given school must be reading, calculating, and know science at or above grade-level.

Some educators might think of any short postponement of these deadlines as a "stay of execution" which merely postpones the Day of Reckoning when a teacher will be labled as "underperforming" if a single child in his or her class fails to achieve either of the mandated minimum scores of "proficient or advanced" on a state-adopted-federally-approved standardized test. -----------------------------------See our latest EduPosts.

The NCLB Files: The Day Of Reckoning Approacheth

The Day of Reckoning is rapidly approaching for a number of Florida public schools:

DADE CITY - It's the last day of FCAT testing, and folks at Cox Elementary are breathing a sigh of relief as they give the final makeups and pack up the materials.

But worry tinges the air. The school has yet to make adequate yearly progress, or AYP, under the federal No Child Left Behind law. If this year's results don't improve, the school's teachers could find themselves looking for new jobs.

"We are trying to prepare ourselves for what may be, and we don't know what may be," said principal Leila Mizer. "All we can do is hope and pray that we make AYP."

Cox is not alone. Eight other Pasco County elementary schools, all serving high percentages of low-income children, face similar sanctions.

They're trying to keep a positive outlook nonetheless.

"At the last faculty meeting I told the teachers, 'You've done the very best. You've prepped the kids as much as you could. It will be what it will be,'" said Terri Mutell, principal at Marlowe Elementary, another of the possibly affected schools.

Pasco County has 20 schools that receive Title I federal funding because of high levels of low-income students. Those are the only schools that suffer the consequences of No Child Left Behind.

If they missed AYP two years, their students could choose to attend a different school. After three years, the schools had to provide tutoring from outside vendors. The fourth year meant entering "corrective action," such as implementing a new curriculum or hiring a consultant to advise the school staff.

They've all done that.

It's the fifth year that has them spooked.

The law calls for districts to plan "restructuring" the schools at that point, and so next year could be one of preparing for a whole new world at these nine campuses. The five options are:

-Reopening the school as a public charter school.

-Replacing all or most of the school staff.

-Hiring a private management company.

-Turning operation over to the state. (State education officials have said they do not want to take over schools.)

-Other major restructuring of the school's governance that makes "fundamental reforms."

The menu is clear, acknowledged Elena Garcia, the district's Title I supervisor.

"But what does it mean? And how is it going to be implemented by the state?" she asked. "That is unknown."

The state Department of Education has provided little guidance.

Garcia noted some new rules have floated around in draft form that might lighten the load on schools that score well in the state's grading system but fail on the federal guideline. That could be good news for Marlowe, which earned an A last year, and Lacoochee, Pasco and Schrader, which earned B's.

An A-rated school like Marlowe can miss AYP if students in just one demographic group don't reach set academic goals. In Marlowe's case, it was a handful of students with disabilities who didn't do well enough in math.

Marlowe principal Mutell had only muted optimism.

"If we stay true to how we performed last year, we should be fine," she said. "But until it all comes out of draft, it leaves you in a quandary of what will come."

Already, the schools have taken several steps to improve.

Cox, for example, brought in consultants to evaluate its programs. It began using data more rigorously, with the results guiding instruction decisions. It implemented afterschool tutoring, started testing children more frequently, and trained teachers in new methods.

The work isn't always easy, though, as English is not the first language for more than 60 percent of the students. Reading was the top priority, then the school's math scores started to slide, so Cox made math a priority, too.

"We have tried to prepare the kids without panicking them," Mizer said. "We have made clear to them that they don't have to be perfect, but they have to do their best."

Ruth Reilly, assistant superintendent for elementary schools, said there's enough anxiety to go around in the district as everyone waits for the test results, which aren't due until June. Whatever the outcome, though, she added, the schools will not stop seeking to improve.

"Regardless of whether those schools make AYP or not, those schools still have needs, and we will still be keeping to our corrective actions," Reilly said. "There's still a lot of work to be done."

According to the mandates of the federal No Child Left Behind Act, all 100% (including special education students) of pupils attending public schools in the United States must be reading, calculating, and know science, at or above their respective grade levels by the year 2014.

Or else.

Look for many more schools throughout the county to be facing this type of angst as NCLB's Day of Reckoning draws nigh. --------------------------------See our latest EduPosts.