June 2005

Labels Don't Help Children Learn

Reg Weaver
President, NEA

The season of high-stakes standardized tests is moving into the season of unfair labels slapped on our public schools. The U.S. Department of Education is leading the way by telling parents across the country that their children and schools have failed to meet the demands in the so-called No Child Left Behind law.

Already on the failing schools list are about 11,000 public schools that are losing federal funding and local control because of these labels. It's estimated this list will grow by the thousands before the next school year begins. All this will be happening while the federal government is actually cutting education funding for most schools. Just at the time when, according to these labels, schools need more help, the federal government will be giving them even less.

To put the absurdity of the situation in perspective, here are some facts about the federal labels put on public schools by the so-called No Child Left Behind law:

Labels are arbitrary and don't mean anything.

Just a few weeks ago, U.S. Education Secretary Margaret Spellings granted Florida's request for "flexibility" in how the state labels schools as either failing or making progress. This decision was made after only 23 percent of Florida's schools met the standard set in the federal education law.

The Tallahassee paper referred to the secretary's action as "the wave of a hand" that suddenly changed the labels of about 400 Florida schools. It wasn't that the tests or test scores changed. But rather, the Secretary of Education was granting a favor to the state. This doesn't help any parent learn about their child's achievement level, and only causes confusion as to why these labels are put on schools in the first place.

Labels are damaging to schools and children.

We know that in the federal law, there are 37 different ways for any school to get slapped with a "needs improvement" label. We also know that in many communities that translates to failure.

Despite a wide variety of ways for schools to be labeled "failing," there are only a few narrow methods the law allows for fixing schools' problems. This just doesn't make sense. Federal funding becomes more restricted when the labels are put on schools, making it even harder for schools to hire reading teachers, for example.

Labels don't help students achieve success in school or in life.

The lack of clarity that surrounds these labels only manages to confuse parents and demoralize teachers, principals and school employees. Furthermore, it takes away precious school funding from classes and projects that actually help students learn.

It's estimated that it cost the state of Connecticut $8 million a year to develop and administer the federally-required testing and school-labeling system. These are taxpayer dollars that could be invested in things that work like smaller class sizes, high quality teachers and up-to-date classroom materials. Investments in proven reforms and not labeling will make a difference in the way students learn.