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BY CHRIS LAFORTUNE Local school officials voiced their displeasure with the federal No Child Left Behind law at a forum organized by U.S. Rep. Danny Davis, D-7th, at Oak Park-River Forest High School. Local educators were critical of the law in testimony Nov. 11 following presentations by state and federal education department officials regarding the law, approved in 2001. River Forest School District 90 Superintendent Tyra Manning started off the testimony with her concerns that the law demands special education students are held to the same academic standards as other students. While the No Child Left Behind Act requires all students to meet the same standard, the federal Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) requires schools to develop plans for students that meet their own individual needs, Manning said. The federal government is looking at the special education requirements and how the IDEA law fits in, said forum panelist Mary Davidson Cohen, Region Seven representative with the U.S. Department of Education. Cohen said she did not know how the matter might be reconciled. "I think that they're certainly taking a good, hard look at it and will be revising a number of programs," she said. Similar requirements are in place for students with limited English language proficiency, Manning said. Recognizing students as limited in English shows they cannot perform at the same level as other students fluent in English, she said "The fact that this group of children's scores . . . could result in sanctions being put on districts if adequate yearly progress is not made is disheartening," she said. There are also no provisions made in the law for gifted children, Manning said. Ultimately, she said, schools will end up using money to meet the needs of those not learning, taking away money from those who are. "We must include every student in the highest standards, not settle for the lowest common denominator," Manning said. In implementing the federal law, Illinois not only has taken out all mention of gifted education students, but has also taken away the $19 million that was available for gifted education programs, said forum panelist Gail Lieberman, federal liaison with the Illinois State Board of Education. "Those kids are going to get bored and distracted and move on to other things," Lieberman said. Janiece Jackson, curriculum and instruction director with Bellwood School District 88, said her district has concerns over accountability measures included in the federal law. Districts can face sanctions based on results of a single round of tests, she said, and district are being asked to do more with less funding. The No Child Left Behind Act requires schools deemed as failing to offer students the option to transfer to another school in the same district. But that may not solve the problem, Jackson said. "Are we transferring the problem from one place to another?" she asked. Randolph Tinder, superintendent for Forest Park School District 91, said the magnitude of the requirement that every child must perform at the same level is overwhelming. "To believe you can put every child on any level flies in the face of progressive education," he said. But no part of the law calls a school that does not progress failing, Cohen said. Instead, if a group of students is not performing at an acceptable level, if gives the school an opportunity to look at how it is educating its students. It "forces a school to take a look at every child," she said. When the No Child Left Behind Act became law in 2001, supporters heralded it as landmark education reform, said Barry Greenwald, Oak Park-River Forest High School District 200 trustee. But many have spoken against the law, he said. Rather than using standardized tests, a truer picture emerges by looking at a school's drop-out and absentee rates, and a how many students participate in advanced placement testing, he said. And, Greenwald added, state and federal legislators have provided no additional money for schools to comply with the law. "Mandates without funding from the state or federal level become wishes without substance," he said. The forum emerged from a meeting this summer hosted by Davis and state Rep. Karen Yarborough, Davis said. The congressman said he agreed with much of the testimony from local school officials, and plans to use their written statements in his own arguments on the law in the U.S. House of Representatives. "What it does for me is reinforce my positions," Davis said. Lieberman and Cohen said they would return to their departments with information gathered from last week's forum, and forward them on to their chief officers. |