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Broader Approach Sought to Aid Low-Achieving Children
David J. Hoff
Education Week
June 18, 2008
Vol. 27, Issue 42

K-12 schools won’t be able to produce dramatic changes in student achievement without the help of programs giving low-achieving children access to health care, preschool, and a variety of other services, a group of prominent education researchers and policymakers says in a statement released today.

“Despite the impressive academic gains registered by some schools serving disadvantaged students, there is no evidence that school improvement strategies by themselves can close these gaps in a substantial, consistent, and sustainable manner,” the informal group says in a manifesto titled "A Broader, Bolder Approach to Education."

Although the three-page statement lacks specific policy recommendations, it says that poor children should have access to “developmentally appropriate and high-quality” early education, “preventive and routine” health and dental care, and enrichment activities after school and during summer vacations.

The federal government and the states also should continue efforts to improve the quality of schools, especially for children from socioeconomic and racial groups that have historically had below-average student achievement.

“Our notion is that schools can’t do it alone,” Helen F. Ladd, a professor of public policy studies and economics at Duke University and one of the three co-chairs of the group, said in an interview. “That has been missed in the education debate.”

The 63 people who signed the statement include five former Clinton administration officials, two former advisers to President George W. Bush, and a key education adviser in the presidential campaign of Sen. Barack Obama of Illinois, the presumptive Democratic nominee.

Well-known researchers, health-care advocates, and religious leaders also signed the document.

Right Goals, Wrong Policy
The group’s decision to produce the policy statement came after conversations among its leaders about their criticisms of the federal No Child Left Behind Act, Ms. Ladd said.

The 6-year-old law has been successful in holding schools accountable for the success of students in various income, racial, and ethnic groups, Pedro A. Noguera, a professor of sociology at New York University and another co-chair of the group, said in an interview.

But the NCLB law “doesn’t even acknowledge that” much of the achievement gap between minority and white students “is caused by inequities of [school] funding and the high needs of impoverished kids,” Mr. Noguera said.

Federal policies need to be changed to help schools lower their class sizes—particularly in the lower grades—and to ensure that high-quality teachers work in hard-to-staff schools, the statement says. Policymakers should continue to pursue existing efforts to “use assessments that provide guidance to teachers and principals,” to improve the quality of professional development, and to coordinate K-12 policies with preschool experiences and higher education, it says.

Schools should continue to be held accountable for improving student achievement, Ms. Ladd said, but the goals in such an accountability system should be attainable and should measure more than achievement in reading and mathematics, as the NCLB law does.

“We don’t want to let schools off the hook,” Ms. Ladd said. “But we need to work on these other fronts as well.”

Former Clinton administration officials who signed the document include: Thomas W. Payzant, a former Boston superintendent who was an assistant secretary in the Department of Education; Marshall S. Smith, a former deputy secretary of education; former Attorney General Janet Reno ; former Surgeon General Joycelyn Elders; and Peter Edelman, who was an official in the Department of Health and Human Services during President Clinton’s first term.

John J. Dilulio Jr., a former White House director of faith-based and community initiatives under President Bush, and Susan B. Neuman, an assistant secretary of education during Mr. Bush’s first term, also signed the document.

Linda Darling-Hammond, a Stanford University professor of education who is advising Sen. Obama’s campaign, also signed the statement.

The text of the statement was to appear as advertisements in The Washington Post and The New York Times. The statement also is available at www.boldapproach.org.

http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2008/06/18/42nclb.h27.html
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