News Releases
Town Meeting To Focus On How High Stakes Tests Impact Education Throughout Bucks And Montgomery Counties
Why Former Blue Ribbon Schools Can Be Designated as Failing Under No Child Left Behind
MONTGOMERYVILLE, Pa.—Oct. 10, 2005—Three out of four schools in Bucks and Montgomery counties will be designated as “failing” by 2014, the year by which federal regulations require all schools to reach 100 percent proficiency in standardized testing, according to a recently released study from the non-profit Communities for Quality Education. A town meeting on Thursday, Oct. 6, at Indian Crest Junior High School, 139 Harleysville, Pike, Souderton, focused the community on the ramifications of the No Child Left Behind Act and provided a forum for parents to discuss the issue with government, community, national and local school leaders and consider changes to recommend prior to the act’s reauthorization in 2007.
Sponsored by The Council for the Advancement of Public Schools (CAPS), the public discussion was led by Daniel Gottlieb, Ph.D., clinical psychologist, WHYY “Voices in the Family” host, and Philadelphia Inquirer columnist. Panelists included Becky Pringle, Chair, Elementary and Secondary Education Act/No Child Left Behind Advisory Committee, National Education Association (NEA); Dr. Lisa Andrejko, superintendent, Norristown Area School District; Chris Munchak, president, Pennsylvania PTA; and Jerry Oleksiak, special education teacher, Upper Merion Area School District.
"Current estimates project that 75% of Bucks and Montgomery counties' public schools, many of which have previously been identified by the federal government as high-performing Blue Ribbon Schools, will receive failing labels by 2014. This is a 'false negative' that will divert attention and badly needed classroom resources from our schools and students who are truly struggling," said Jerry Oleksiak of Upper Merion Area School District. “While we support strong accountability standards, the law’s sole reliance on test scores and rigid regulations will result in counter-productive and unnecessary sanctions against good public schools instead of providing help to students who need it most,” he added.
According to Becky Pringle of the NEA, “We all support strong accountability standards, but the federal law relies solely on standardized tests and inaccurately labels otherwise good schools as failures due to the way it collects and aggregates data. Tests should be used to diagnose needs, and students and schools should be judged based on numerous performance measures including classroom work over time, attendance, graduation rates, SAT scores, the number of students taking advanced placement and honors course, and post-secondary education plans,” added Pringle. “We need to make changes to No Child Left Behind so that it helps us to close the achievement gap rather than penalizing schools and taking resources from the classroom", she noted.
For more information about the study conducted by Communities for Quality Education, log on to www.qualityednow.org.
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Students in Conshohocken Elementary School's Bell Choir, part of Colonial School District, performed during the CAPS Public Education Celebration held at Montgomery Mall. Community members had a chance to see first-hand the quality of education provided daily in our public schools. The event was sponsored by the Council for the Advancement of Public Schools and the Pennsylvania State Education Association, Mideastern Region.
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