Whether it be financial or curriculum decisions, the more local the control in school decisions the better.
That is why it was welcome news last week that the Bush administration is softening how No Child Left Behind works. Six states last week received the OK to come up with their own solutions - rather than follow federal guidelines - to assist underperforming schools. Under a pilot program, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Maryland and Ohio will be allowed to implement their own plans for schools that are not meeting federal student performance standards.
"We expect to see a closer fit between the causes of school underperformance and a focused attention at repairing those sources of failure," Margaret Raymond, director of an education think tank at Stanford University and the chairman of the panel that reviewed state proposals told the Associated Press.
A closer fit is possible because states are likely to know better than the federal government what will work in their particular schools. Actually, local school districts themselves would know best, but state authority is probably necessary to monitor progress and hold individual schools accountable.
The premise of No Child Left Behind always has been sound - to challenge schools to have their students meet basic performance standards, requiring those that fail to measure up to get better. The follow-through on that premise has been flawed in many ways, including the federal approach to treat all schools the same regardless of circumstances or how close or far they are to meeting standards.
Some of the measures the states chosen for the pilot program will take are:
• In Florida, schools with low-performing students likely will be assigned teachers with experience working successfully with similar students.
• Maryland will work on training principals in failing schools rather than simply firing them.
• Georgia will allow schools to become charter schools earlier than currently called for.
The federal education department will closely monitor the results of allowing some states to choose their own corrective paths. Most likely, it will find the states chosen will fix problem schools more quickly. Then, rather than scrapping No Child Left Behind, a state-driven system can be implemented nationwide.
That is why it was welcome news last week that the Bush administration is softening how No Child Left Behind works. Six states last week received the OK to come up with their own solutions - rather than follow federal guidelines - to assist underperforming schools. Under a pilot program, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Maryland and Ohio will be allowed to implement their own plans for schools that are not meeting federal student performance standards.
"We expect to see a closer fit between the causes of school underperformance and a focused attention at repairing those sources of failure," Margaret Raymond, director of an education think tank at Stanford University and the chairman of the panel that reviewed state proposals told the Associated Press.
A closer fit is possible because states are likely to know better than the federal government what will work in their particular schools. Actually, local school districts themselves would know best, but state authority is probably necessary to monitor progress and hold individual schools accountable.
The premise of No Child Left Behind always has been sound - to challenge schools to have their students meet basic performance standards, requiring those that fail to measure up to get better. The follow-through on that premise has been flawed in many ways, including the federal approach to treat all schools the same regardless of circumstances or how close or far they are to meeting standards.
Some of the measures the states chosen for the pilot program will take are:
• In Florida, schools with low-performing students likely will be assigned teachers with experience working successfully with similar students.
• Maryland will work on training principals in failing schools rather than simply firing them.
• Georgia will allow schools to become charter schools earlier than currently called for.
The federal education department will closely monitor the results of allowing some states to choose their own corrective paths. Most likely, it will find the states chosen will fix problem schools more quickly. Then, rather than scrapping No Child Left Behind, a state-driven system can be implemented nationwide.
