Re-Writing No Child Left Behind Should End "Teaching to the Test" and It Should Take a While

So one of the priorities of the new GOP Congress is re-writing the "No Child Left Behind Act." This is a laudable and applaudable goal for them. The pursuit of an actual policy goal like this is what we elect Congress to do, and to see them do their job is a nice thing these days.

NCLB is not a small piece of legislation though. It takes a while to work through. It takes thousands of pages, something the Republicans in Congress decry every chance they get. It takes months of hearings, and listening to expert testimony. It takes time to balance out the different goals. We're talking about the education of children, not a political football.

Despite the outgoing Congressional giant George Miller's pleadings, any re-write should end "teaching to the test," either through a creative solution, or just ending testing. The creativity is out of teaching, it rewards teaching to a test, and it doesn't give us anywhere near a complete picture. I get that the business community and some misguided civil rights leaders love the idea of "accountability," but I question if that is in any way a worthy goal. Great, we know which classrooms are doing well, but do we know why? Are some teachers teaching kids who come from much worse beginnings, are they teaching different talent levels, are they teaching kids who have different cultural experiences and knowledge to begin with, and frankly, are reading and math the only things we should be testing? I question if there is really any value at all in these accountability standards, and frankly, I don't see it. I see the Atlanta cheating scandal. I see the best teachers fleeing the worst schools. Rather than seeing accountability helping our most needy students, I see them being told they are failing, at a time when many (especially here in Pennsylvania) are starved of resources. I see the testing scheme as a thinly veiled avenue to charter schools and vouchers, and other ways to strip down the idea of our education as a public good. Frankly, I see it as a thinly veiled way to eliminate union rights for public sector workers. Even worse? I see it as a thinly veiled way to declare our most needy schools as failing, and to replace them with unaccountable, ideologically compatible to the wealthy and well-heeled's liking. I'm not sure the era of testing and "accountability" has really moved the needle.

So what should we do? Expand early childhood education, especially for our poorest citizens, so we can close the opportunity gap, which is much more possible than closing the achievement gap. If we're going to have testing at all, make the students themselves accountable- make the tests a pre-requisite to promotion. Pay our teachers more. Re-vamp off of our agriculturally based education calendar (yes, no more "Summer totally off"). Make sure every student has text books, and yes, make sure those books teach real science, real history, and real civics (not hack, idealogical garbage). Push students towards their talents, even if those talents aren't STEM subjects that are so popular to the President and others today. In short, scrap what we've been trying for the last decade or two, and re-invest in our PUBLIC system of education, and stop worrying ourselves sick over testing.

I know, that's not easy. I know, that isn't something you can complete by February like some would like to do. That's fine. Take your time. Get it right. You have two years to do this in the new Congress. If you worry a little bit less about optics and politics, Washington, you might have time to worry about children a little bit more.