EDITORIAL
Federal school law pushes for huge change
The magnitude of the changes that will come to Hawai'i's public school system under the new federal education act continues to grow.
It will take combined and sustained effort by all stakeholders in our education system — including parents, teachers, administrators and policy-makers — to meet the sweeping demands of the law.
There is plenty to find fault with in the new law, nicknamed the "No Child Left Behind Act." But flawed as it is, it does drive us in the right direction: Toward better education for all public students.
Critics have suggested this new law is little more than a cynical attempt to "fail our way into vouchers" and the end of universal public education as we know it. If that's so, it is a plot that involves everyone from President Bush to Sen. Ted Kennedy.
And even if a voucher system is the endgame in some minds, our response must not be to capitulate, but to improve, improve until vouchers or other forms of privatization no longer appear as viable options.
Education writer Jennifer Hiller reported yesterday that high-poverty schools (those most directly in the sights of the No Child Left Behind Act) have found they are facing an escalating menu of mandatory "improvement" options.
More than 80 schools have been told they must offer their students transfers (with publicly paid transportation) to schools that are doing a better job of meeting state standards. When the latest round of standardized test scores come out next month, additional schools might be added to the list.
And many schools will find themselves on the second rung of the improvement timeline, which includes allowing parents to demand the school pay for state-approved supplemental tutoring.
Very quickly after that, schools that fail to continuously improve will be forced to change staff and curriculum or even turn management of the school to an outside expert. And finally, by four years out, schools that continue to fail to improve will face a complete takeover, either by a private contractor or as a charter school.
That may seem like a long way off, but remember some schools will open their doors this fall in the second year of that four-year program.
While there is some additional money that comes with the new federal mandates, it is far short of what will be needed. Inevitably, resources that are going now to help struggling students will be diverted into these other programs.
The schools most affected by these changes are those with the greatest challenges. They have high numbers of students in poverty, from broken homes or from homes where English is not spoken.
They deserve concentrated and concerted attention from the entire community, not just to meet the requirements of this latest law, but to meet and keep our promise to the children.
