Voter opinion polls leading
up to the November election consistently cite education as one of the most important
presidential issues. The highly controversial No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB)
is at the center of the election-year debate on education reform. The law is
designed to hold public schools accountable for closing the achievement gap
between students with different backgrounds. Now, almost three years since President
Bush signed NCLB into law, science teachers are starting to see the effects
in the classroom.
President Bush and Education Secretary
Rod Paige (at far left) celebrate the second anniversary of the No Child Left
Behind Act at West View Elementary School in Knoxville, Tenn., where students
have made significant improvements in reading and math test scores. Image courtesy
the White House.
At the heart of NCLB are several key measures, including annual student testing.
Currently, states must test students in grades three through eight in reading
and math. The results of the tests are available to parents, teachers and school
officials who can assess their school’s strengths and weaknesses. Carolyn
Snowbarger, the director of the Teacher to Teacher Initiative at the Department
of Education, says that “teachers will be able to look at the scores of
their students and tailor their teaching practices to individual students’
needs.”
Once students are tested, their math and English (and eventually science) scores
are separated by subgroup (low-income, minority, limited English and disabled).
If any one subgroup (which can be further divided by individual states into
multiple categories) does not meet the standards, the federal government designates
the school as in need of improvement. “For the first time Congress is holding
schools accountable for all groups of students, not just the average,”
says Kevin Carey, a senior policy analyst at the Education Trust, a nonprofit
group that advocates for closing achievement gaps. Students at struggling schools
can request extra tutoring or school transfers. If a school continually fails
to make improvements, the federal government will take more drastic steps such
as school takeovers.
Annette Sieve, an eighth-grade science teacher at Francis Howell Middle School
in St. Charles, Mo., says she supports the goals of NCLB, but does not know
if the new testing will have a noticeable effect in the classroom. “We
are already doing all we can to make sure every student succeeds,” Sieve
says. Schools and teachers take many steps to ensure that no student falls behind,
she says. EllaJay Parfitt, a seventh- and eighth-grade science teacher at Southeast
Middle School in Baltimore, Md., agrees, saying that NCLB just puts in writing
what teachers have been doing all along.
For elementary school teachers, however, who teach all subjects including science,
the current focus on reading and math may detract from science education. “Because
of the upcoming tests, elementary teachers are reducing science in the curriculum
and in some cases removing it completely,” says Jodi Peterson, the director
of legislative affairs at the National Science Teachers Association. Carol Bauer,
a fourth-grade teacher at Grafton Bethel Elementary in York County, Va., says
that she feels the pressure from NCLB. “Knowing that the kids are going
to be tested, we have to focus on that material,” Bauer says. “There
are so many wonderful and cool science experiments out there and when you have
to spend so much time preparing for tests, you don’t always have time for
them.”
In some cases, however, shifting the focus to math and reading “may be
appropriate,” Carey says. Indeed, Harrison Collier, a teacher and math
coach at Washington Park Elementary School in Cincinnati, Ohio, says that science
is fundamentally about reading and math skills and “if you shore those
areas up first, then the other areas will fall into place.” He adds that
teaching reading, math and science are not mutually exclusive and in the ideal
scenario, teachers integrate science into the reading and math curriculum.
Such integration has been inevitable with NCLB, Parfitt says. “Teachers
have become very good at finding creative ways to incorporate science into their
teaching.” For example, second-graders study the life cycle of butterflies
in reading class and then “confirm their observations with the science
literature and incorporate that into their writing,” says Michael Szesze,
the program supervisor for science at Montgomery County Public Schools in Maryland.
NCLB requires that states begin testing for science by the 2007-2008 school
year. Parfitt says she hopes the new science testing will “turn around”
the declining emphasis on science education.
In addition to testing students, NCLB requires all teachers to be “highly
qualified” by 2006. Highly qualified teachers must possess a bachelor’s
degree, have state certification and demonstrate knowledge in the subjects they
teach. Having highly qualified teachers in the classroom is one of the most
significant factors in improving student achievement, Snowbarger says.
For states, teacher qualification is also one of the most significant challenges.
Reports in 2003 and 2004 by the Education Commission of the States, a Denver-based
group that advises state leaders, show that although the numbers are improving,
no states are on track to meet teacher quality standards by 2006. In response,
the Department of Education extended the deadline for rural teachers, who often
teach more than one subject, to become highly qualified in subjects they teach.
But that may not be enough.
Daniel Kaufman, a spokesman for the National Education Association, a teachers
union with over 2.7 million members, says that other groups of teachers, such
as urban and special education teachers, face similar problems but do not receive
any relief. “There’s already a shortage of science teachers,”
he says. “Some additional flexibility is needed.”
“Many teachers have approached us and said they are afraid they won’t
meet the new standards,” Peterson says. “One of the areas of greatest
concern is middle school teachers, many of which are teaching with elementary
school credentials.” Parfitt says that “some [teachers] have to rely
on what they themselves took in high school.” Middle school teachers seeking
to become highly qualified must compete with other teachers for limited professional
development funds.
Limited funding is one of the largest impediments to teacher training, Peterson
says. Before NCLB, the federal government allocated specific funds for science
and math teacher development. Under the new law, that money is combined with
other funds and “is at the states’ and districts’ discretion
as to how to be spent,” Peterson says. Most states try to support teacher
development programs in science, but “in some instances, that money is
being spent on reading programs, since that is what schools are going to be
tested on,” she says. “Teachers used to depend on that money.”
For example, Maryland, which was already struggling with its budget, decided
to reduce some science teacher training programs, Parfitt says. “A lot
of professional development programs for science in Maryland did not get funded
or were only partially funded.” The issue of funding is receiving a lot
of attention on the national stage. Many Democratic politicians like Sen. Ted
Kennedy (Mass.) and Sen. Christopher Dodd (Conn.), who fervently supported NCLB
at its signing, are now critical of the Bush administration’s level of
funding. On the campaign trail, presidential hopeful Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.)
routinely accuses Bush of denying public schools the money they need to succeed.
The White House counters that overall funding for public schools has increased
by almost 50 percent since Bush took office.
Kaufman says that the extra money the schools receive is quickly used up to
meet the requirements of NCLB. Bush’s budget requests have also been well
below what Congress authorized, Kaufman says. The Kerry-Edwards campaign has
pledged to “ensure that NCLB works for schools, states and teachers,”
but it is unclear exactly what changes they would make. “It is anybody’s
guess what is going to happen after the election,” Peterson says.
Most teachers realize that NCLB is here to stay and are taking the bad with
the good. “Teachers like the spirit of the law,” Szesze says, but
“find it challenging to meet its demands.” Collier says that “[NCLB]
has caused a lot of stress for teachers,” but it has also “heightened
the awareness of the achievement gap.” At a fundamental level, Collier
adds, “NCLB has empowered children to become the stewards of their own
education.”
Or, as the great American writer, Mark Twain, once said, “I have never
let my schooling interfere with my education.”
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