Here we go again: Fed Ed Secretary Announces Another Federal Initiative

Fed Ed Secretary Arne Duncan announced this week that the U.S. Department of Ed is initiating a multifaceted new strategy to ensure every American public school child will have equal opportunities to learn. This despite the fact that provisions of No Child Left Behind (NCLB) regarding training "highly qualified teachers" and reporting on teacher/student ratios has been required since the federal legislation passed in 2002.

Under NCLB Wyoming was required to verify that poor and minority students were not being taught by unqualified teachers at a higher percentage than other students – thus ensuring an equality of opportunity for every child. In February 2007, Wyoming filed a state teacher-equity plan with the U. S. Dept. of Education to ensure it was fulfilling its duties and educating vulnerable students using teachers classified as "highly effective" under provisions of NCLB.

Duncan said in a letter to all of the Chief State School Officers, "we need a broad and systemic focus on supporting and improving teaching and learning; especially in our highest-need schools and for our highest-need students, including students with disabilities and English learners…. The best efforts will not only include recruiting, developing and retaining great educators with the skills to teach all students, but will also build strong school leaders, create supportive working conditions, and address inequities in resources and supports for teachers."

In what can only be seen as a doubling down of the failed provisions of this federal mandate, Duncan goes on in his letter to admit the failures of NCLB, while touting a change in direction for his new federal initiative. Duncan said, "This is not the first time that states, districts, and the federal government have tried to grapple with the complex challenge of ensuring equitable access to excellent educators, but previous efforts have not fully addressed the challenge."

Two questions should be asked.

First, why should states be sucked into yet another federal plan, when failure has been the only legacy of federal involvement in education? No Child Left Behind's teacher equity provisions have not led to a significant closing of the gap for poor and minority learners. And yet the federal government is once again getting involved in something it clearly has no ability to improve, using more failed tactics and dictates from on high.

And second, why should states continue down the road of training "highly effective teachers" as defined in NCLB when so many studies have shown that this definition does not lead to improvements in student outcomes? One such study from Georgetown University is entitled "Do Qualifications Imply Quality? The Relationship between Highly qualified teachers and student achievement in Reading and Math in Elementary School."

The study concluded, "The findings from this paper indicate that there is no statistically significant relationship between "highly qualified" teachers and the achievement of students in reading and math and suggest that the 3 qualifications that comprise a "highly effective teacher" designation do not necessarily identify the traits of effective teachers."

When Arne Duncan tells states that they have not "fully addressed a challenge" in education, states had better beware. More federal strong-arming, bribing and coercion are on the way; to the detriment of real learning in the classroom. Wyoming needs to disentangle itself from the black hole of federal education policy, because this latest federal meddling seems to be pointing toward even stronger control of education by a federal administration that has a track record of seeing parents and teachers as mere inconveniences to implementing their agenda. For more information on this topic, please listen to Podcast #7 on our Podcast page.