U.S. Senator Ken Salazar

Member: Finance, Agriculture, Energy, Ethics and Aging Committees

 

2300 15th Street, Suite 450 Denver, CO 80202 | 702 Hart Senate Building, Washington, D.C. 20510

 

 

For Immediate Release

January 22, 2007

CONTACT:    Cody Wertz – Comm. Director
303-455-5999
Drew Nannis – Press Secretary
202-224-5852


  Sen. Salazar Releases Results of Colorado Statewide Survey Regarding No Child Left Behind Law

WASHINGTON, D.C. – This year, the landmark No Child Left Behind (NCLB) education bill expires and is up for reauthorization. An estimated 750,000 schoolchildren in Colorado are affected each year by this law, which directs federal funding to primary and secondary schools.

United States Senator Ken Salazar wrote to Senator Edward Kennedy, Chairman of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, regarding this upcoming reauthorization. In his letter to Chairman Kennedy, Senator Salazar provided results from his statewide survey of more than 2,000 educators, school principals and administrators, parents, education experts and others regarding their experiences and perspectives on NCLB.

“The benefits of No Child Left Behind should not be judged by the Department of Education alone,” said Senator Salazar. “The people who best understand the effects of No Child Left Behind are the people who interact with our students every day: teachers, administrators, parents of schoolchildren and others.”

Since the law’s enactment in 2002, No Child Left Behind has been under-funded by the Bush Administration and Republican Congress by more than $52 billion. This prompted one teacher from Colorado Springs to respond in Senator Salazar’s survey, “If we are required by law to meet the demands of NCLB ... there should be adequate funding provided.”

Many questions have been raised about NCLB’s focus on standardized testing to the exclusion of other forms of student evaluation and the difficulty schools face in trying to meet the complicated array of goals. Among the findings of Senator Salazar’s survey:

  • Teachers Are Forced to Focus on Testing Instead of Teaching: 81 percent of teachers responding reported they spend a minimum of 20 hours each month outside of work preparing students for standardized tests, and 87 percent of teachers said other subjects were being ignored because of testing;
  • Rural Schools Are Facing A Hiring Crisis: 34 percent of principals/administrators and 57 percent of superintendents and school district administrators said their school or school district has difficulty in recruiting highly qualified teachers/paraprofessionals due their rural location; and
  • NCLB Is Plagued by Unrealistic Goals: 85 percent of superintendents and district administrators, and 94 percent of school principals and administrators said they do not think the goal of all students reaching 100 percent proficient by the 2013-2014 school year is achievable.

Another teacher, from Fort Collins, responded of these unrealistic goals, “It is incredibly difficult to hit a moving target. One year, we fall short in special education at one school, so we work hard to meet that goal. The next year, we reach that mark, but fall short somewhere else. It is a losing battle to reach every goal every year and to have one low area, which regularly changes, bring us down.”

In his letter to Senator Kennedy, Senator Salazar wrote of the survey participants and their feedback, “Their collective wisdom and advice is useful when evaluating the past performance and future of NCLB.”

The results of Senator Salazar’s statewide survey can be viewed by clicking here. A copy of Senator Salazar’s letter to Senator Kennedy can be viewed by clicking here.

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