Keeping the No Child Left Behind mandate on track

A “slow-motion train wreck.”

That’s what Secretary of Education Arne Duncan calls the Elementary and Secondary Education Act.

You probably know that 10-year-old piece of legislation as No Child Left Behind. But we’ve noticed that, in the midst of a nationwide mutiny over the law’s provisions, many have abandoned the act’s far-more recognizable nickname.

Could that be because these educators, administrators and politicians would rather forget that, a decade into this federal exercise in education reform, they have indeed left so many children behind?

Congress was first scheduled to review and revise the law four years ago. It punted. Again and again.

Now Duncan has warned that upwards of 80 percent of America’s schools are in danger of failing to meet the act’s goals. So, with an avalanche of harsh interventions ready to come down on hundreds of school districts across the United States, legislators will be working under the gun. That’s no way to make good policy. And instead of a thoughtful revamp, it seems likely that Congress will simply offer the nation’s failing school districts a measure of relief from the law’s harsh penalties.

Alas, that has to be done. But if it’s all that gets done Congress will have completed a wholesale abandonment of the goals it set forth in 2001, when 90 percent the House and Senate agreed it was time our nation committed itself to ensuring every child has access to a high-quality public education.

If we’re still committed to that goal, relief needs to come with continued reforms — and those reforms should take advantage of what we’ve learned about education in the past decade.

In our work with dropouts and other at-risk students across the United States we see the real-world effects of our nation’s failure to make good on its promises — especially among students of color, who suffer disproportionately in "dropout factories" and other schools that don't have the resources to adequately support at-risk students.

But we also see undaunted hope and ambition. In spite of the failures of their leaders, America’s students are still willing to do their part to fulfill even the loftiest of goals. What they need is flexibility, accountability and support (and not just one or two of those things, with lip service to the rest, but all three.)

Coincidentally, those are also the three qualities we need in a comprehensive education reform package.

Meaningful reform should lay a legislative foundation for schools to offer multiple pathways to high-quality education, acknowledging and taking advantage of the modern ways in which we learn and communicate.

As it embraces the digital revolution, reform should also hold schools accountable to high standards regardless of the model or models they use to serve their students. In other words: Students should walk away from a brick-and-mortar classroom with the same academic competencies as they would have from any other educational setting — and those standards should be set high.

And finally, reform should support students and schools by removing barriers that stand in the way of effective educational programs. As a start, that means getting rid of archaic “seat-time” rules, eliminating funding models that fail to support transient students, extending or ending age-limits for publicly funded K-12 education and abolishing policies that punish school leaders for having the audacity to serve at-risk students.

It’s been encouraging to see that not everyone has forgotten the mandate that Congress gave itself to leave no child behind. By co-sponsoring the Secondary School Reform Act, Senators Kay Hagan and Sheldon Whitehouse have recognized a vital opportunity to meaningfully reform our broken education system. In sponsoring a bill that would support evidence-based reforms in schools with high dropout rates, the senators have demonstrated that they are not willing to let this train off its tracks. Now they’ll need to convince others of the act’s merits as part of the negotiations to reform No Child Left Behind — and they’ll need to continue to seek out flexible, supportive and accountable ways to lift our students up.

Duncan’s right: After a 10-year nap, it’s time for Congress to wake up and get serious about education reform once again. It’s time to stop pretending that No Child Left Behind is a swear word — and start acknowledging that it’s an unfulfilled mandate.

It’s time to stop this train wreck.

Gregg Rosann and Rebekah Richards are president and chief academic officer, respectively, of The American Academy, which works with school districts nationwide to provide high school dropouts an opportunity to complete their educations. For more information on The American Academy, visit nodropouts.com