No Child Left Behind Act needs fixing, NEA chief tells aspiring teachers at UVa

By Barney Breen-Portnoy

Published: April 9, 2008

The No Child Left Behind Act is underfunded and needs to be reformed, the president of the National Education Association told a class of soon-to-be teachers at the University of Virginia’s Curry School of Education on Tuesday.
Reg Weaver’s critique of No Child Left Behind was only part of a lively one-hour speech in which the gregarious 30-year teaching veteran also stressed the importance of engaging students, reaching out to parents and closing the “achievement gap.”
“If you want to engage your students, you cannot be dull and cannot be boring,” Weaver said.
With 3.2 million members, the NEA is the largest union in the country. Weaver has led the organization since 2002.
That was also the year that No Child Left Behind went into effect. The law, which passed with bipartisan support, enacted a strict system of accountability for schools, based on performance on standardized testing in reading and math.
Weaver believes that lawmakers had good intentions when No Child Left Behind was passed but that the implementation of the law has exposed many “unintended consequences.”
One of Weaver’s main concerns with No Child is that he thinks the federal government underfunds it, leaving school divisions to pick up the tab.
“You cannot have reform without resources,” he said. “It’s crap.”
Weaver also believes that too much emphasis has been placed on testing as a means to measure student achievement.
“One ultra high-stakes test should not determine the future of a child,” Weaver said.
According to Weaver, needed reforms to No Child Left Behind include:
l increasing the numbers of ways to measure student achievement;
l creating a different assessment for limited English speakers and special needs students;
l restoring smaller class sizes; and
l instituting pay incentives for people who work in hard-to-staff schools and people who have national board certification.
A push to reauthorize, and possibly reform, the law has begun to percolate in Congress but Weaver said he does not think anything will get done before the upcoming presidential election.
Weaver believes that smaller class sizes and the hiring of more qualified and certified teachers would help narrow the achievement gap between different races and ethnic groups.
“We cannot allow human capital to be devastated in such a fashion,” he said, after citing data showing that 50 percent of blacks, Hispanics and Native Americans drop out of school before graduating.
Carol Anne Spreen, who teaches a class called Contemporary Issues in Education, said she invited Weaver because of his focus on equity and social justice.
“I think this is a good audience to share that message with,” Spreen said.
Spreen’s students seemed to appreciate the chance to hear Weaver speak.
“I really liked it,” fifth-year education student Tim Mein said. “And [Weaver] is very funny and entertaining.”