Education

By Dan McCrory

Education should be treated as an investment in our future. Let's give students AND teachers the tools to succeed.

We need to examine the provisions of No Child Left Behind. It's time to erase the one-size-fits-all provisions of NCLB that are hurting students and labeling schools. The law needs to be rewritten and reauthorized so it truly supports teachers, schools, and students.

The shortfall in federal support since 2001 now exceeds $55 billion. It's wrong for Congress to make additional demands of our schools without providing the resources to meet those demands.

Change the law to use multiple measures to gauge student learning and school success. Currently the one-day snapshot of just two standardized test scores is an unfair, inaccurate, and misleading measure of student achievement. Under NCLB, time spent on testing and test preparation has decimated important programs like art, music, foreign languages, and physical education.

California ranks 49th in the nation in the number of teachers per student. Congress should restore and enhance the federal class size reduction program, with priority given to schools of greatest need. ESEA/NCLB should provide quality training to teachers and paraprofessionals, as well as incentives to attract and retain teachers in hard-to-staff schools.

There must also be a way to gauge - over time - how an individual student is progressing. Guidance counselors are able to look at the "big picture" and gauge a student's trajectory to success. I know when I was in school, I saw my counselor once, maybe twice in the three years I was in high school; I understand they have a heavy student load. I had a 3 to 3.5 grade point average and I was active in a lot of extracurricular activities - band, student government - but I think if there had been more oversight I would have had the support to go to college right after graduation. We need more counselors, librarians and nurses!

We must help those who don't choose college, too, to find a career. We need to raise awareness and support those who choose to follow a vocational route, without closing doors through our own perceptions of that child's chances at higher education. My brothers and sisters in the Building Trades have the answer: apprenticeship programs that move students from learning to earning.