Make No Child more like Florida model?

Want to fix No Child Left Behind? Then copy what Florida is doing, suggest a couple of highly regarded education researchers in this recent commentary in Education Week.

Thomas Toch, co-director of Education Sector, and Douglas N. Harris (left), a former FSU professor now at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, write that No Child has led states to lower their standards because it doesn't give schools enough credit for improvement.

A better way, they say, would be giving schools credit for how many students reach proficiency and for how many students made gains, whether they reached proficiency or not. That's exactly what Florida does with its school grading formula.

"Holding schools accountable for both types of performance would preserve the law's commitment to getting low performers up to proficiency, while giving schools meaningful incentives to improve the achievement of all students," they write.

Ron Matus, state education reporter

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Comments

[dh]

OOPS! These two men failed to investigate before incorrectly endorsing a failed accountability system. It is not accurate or fair.

Not an uncommon 'oops'.... It's rare to see stories that accurately reflect what is happening in schools. For instance, wouldn't you expect some coverage when a major public employer knowingly violates the contract of a large group of workers?
Apparently, what is happening in schools is not important to the paper and/or its readers.