Advocacy for Substantial Revisions to the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (No Child Left Behind)

AS-2786-07/TEKR (Rev) - March 8-9, 2007

RESOLVED: The Academic Senate California State University (ASCSU) urges California’s federal congressional representatives to advocate for substantial revisions to the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (No Child Left Behind); and be it further

RESOLVED: That the punitive measures of No Child Left Behind including sanctions, deprivations imposed against schools, and denigrating public disclosures be deleted or modified until this important legislation becomes an enabling and supportive policy that sustains our national commitment to public education; and be it further

RESOLVED: That California’s federal congressional representatives give due consideration to the lengthy and substantial concerns regarding No Child Left Behind issued by California’s Superintendent of Public Instruction, the Association of California School Administrators, the California School Boards Association, the California Teachers Association, and related California educational and professional entities concerned with the welfare of California’s public school students; and be it further

RESOLVED: That the Chancellor and campus presidents, during their visit to Washington D.C. in March, 2007, state their objections to the punitive and unfeasible aspects of No Child Left Behind in the strongest possible terms as they endorse this resolution of the faculty and the position statements of the aforementioned California educational entities; and be it further

RESOLVED: That the ASCSU recommend that the colleges, schools, and departments of Education concurrently provide the leadership in representing the CSU in advocating for substantial and required changes to No Child Left Behind.

RATIONALE: The Elementary and Secondary Education Act, enacted by congress in 2001 as No Child Left Behind, includes regulations and requirements that are harmful to public education in California. When parents exercise their constitutional right to withhold their children from state standards testing, the children are still counted as "non-participants" to the detriment of the school district that enrolls them. The focus of state standards testing on math and language arts in grades three through eight as required by No Child Left Behind, has led to a diminution in the teaching of science, social studies, and the humanities in these grade levels. The significant enrollment of English Language Learners in California’s schools make achievement of all content standards in English for these students by the year 2014 an impossible goal. The law needs extensive revision and improvement.