Rigidity is leaving children behind

Shirley Carey

All students, regardless of circumstances, deserve an education that

prepares them to succeed later in life. In California, we’ve already

taken the initiative to implement a demanding accountability system.

Having two accountability systems as the No Child Left Behind Act now

requires is confusing for parents and very demoralizing for schools.

The No Child Left Behind Act has made several additional

requirements of schools, and districts face unique challenges in

meeting these goals. The daunting task of hiring enough highly

qualified teachers to staff the various programs in kindergarten

through 12th grade continues to be a vexing problem. This is

especially difficult for small districts, where teachers are often

required to handle classes in more than one subject and therefore

must have a degree or pass exams in their subject areas.

Likewise, developing appropriate programs and services to comply

with the act’s requirements costs districts more than the federal

government provides -- or in the case of No Child Left Behind,

doesn’t provide. The No Child Left Behind Act does nothing to help us

build more classrooms, expand special education programs or find and

hire quality teachers.

The gap between the program’s worthy intentions and the reality of

implementing its rigid requirements widens by the day. If the

policymakers fail to make the necessary changes to the program so

that it works in concert with, rather than contrary to the state’s

existing efforts, all schools in California are at risk of being

labeled failures for circumstances entirely beyond their control.

Hold us accountable for results? Absolutely. But hold us

accountable for the decisions the community makes -- not for the

one-size-fits-all decisions that federal officials make for us. Give

us the tools we need to provide a quality education for all of our

children, and then get out of the way.

* SHIRLEY CAREY is a member of Huntington Beach City School

District/ California School Board Assn. and a Huntington Beach

resident. To contribute to “Sounding Off” e-mail us at

hbindy@latimes.com or fax us at (714) 965-7174.