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Cynical NCLB causes crisis in TUSD

In 2002, Congress reauthorized the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, dubbed "No Child Left Behind" by President Bush.

Sold as public school reform, with phony standards, false accountability and an unfilled promise of millions more federal dollars, NCLB creates a moral dilemma for leaders of school districts across the nation.

Do they enforce this amoral law dutifully - even if it sets statistically unattainable benchmarks that ultimately will embarrass and perhaps destroy the public schools?

Or will they take a stand out of higher principles?

Unfortunately, leaders of Tucson Unified School District, like their counterparts across the country, have embraced the NCLB agenda.

Districts' compliance with NCLB diverts funds intended for teacher compensation, creates unnecessary budgetary pressures and promotes bureaucracy rather than educational excellence.

What gets lost in all the rhetoric is that all public schools will be deemed "failing" by 2014, no matter what they do to comply with NCLB.

As the list of "failing" schools grows, and as media attention legitimizes NCLB standards and student test scores in the eyes of the taxpayers, public opinion will more and more turn against the public schools.

Why do TUSD and other districts play a game they cannot possibly win? Because it is easier to conform to an amoral law than to challenge it.

Bush sold NCLB as a deterrent to "the soft bigotry of low expectations."

Is opposition to NCLB also opposition to high standards and equality? Is NCLB protecting children from teachers with low expectations?

By intervening with uniform standards to protect students, NCLB proponents claim they will bring accountability to public schools.

This cynical policy has serious flaws. It assumes that all children learn at the same rate, and it sets standards that are naturally exclusive.

When "Adequate Yearly Progress" is among the 144 standards, some students will not pass.

If a 100 percent passing rate is the benchmark for a school to avoid "failing," one must conclude that the NCLB agenda is not to improve public schools but to embarrass them.

For years, professional educators have realized that standards do not ensure quality schools.

Good education is relative; it is based upon the child's individual needs.

Because local teachers and their professional organization, the Tucson Education Association (TEA), are resistant to NCLB, they become an easy target when students do not meet the standards.

In TUSD's case, over the past year, the diversion of dollars from Proposition 301, passed in 2000 primarily for teacher pay; the taking of the governor's money intended for teacher compensation; and the blaming of the budget crisis on a recent 3 percent raise for teachers all have roots in the hidden cost of NCLB compliance.

NCLB compliance also has led large districts such as TUSD to adopt one-size-fits-all remedial programs that actually push out high-performing students.

At many schools, remedial classes have replaced advanced courses, and bureaucrats enforce districtwide curriculum regimentation.

As a result, parents take their higher-performing students out of TUSD. They do not want their kids subjected to the remedial program.

And if TUSD achieves unitary status, the number of high-performing students leaving will likely increase as more options become available to parents.

The integrity of any individual or institution is the ability to do the right thing even when it is most difficult to do.

School district leadership consists of good people who, by dutifully enforcing an unjust law, are hurting the schools.

Public criticism of NCLB, especially at a time when it is up for reauthorization in Congress, is necessary to maintain professional and institutional integrity.

It is time for TUSD leadership to join with TEA in publicizing NCLB's damaging impact.

Paul Karlowicz is a history and political science teacher at University High School. He was president of the Tucson Education Association from 2003-2005.