Why Spellings's sudden change of heart?
The final straw for Spellings may have been LAUSD's and Compton's howler of a response, which was made all the more ridiculous by the results of a recent poll. Of the 409 parents surveyed:
- 86% do not know their children are in a failing school
- 2% report to have received a letter from their school informing them of the school’s failing designation
- Of the 46 parents who knew their child’s school was failing, only 9 of them (19%) had received written notification from the school
- 54% were not aware that their child is eligible to transfer to another school
- 63% would transfer their children if money was not an issue
- 82% would transfer their children in they were eligible to exercise the “parent choice” provision of NCLB
- 73% are likely to transfer their child knowing that the child qualifies to transfer to a different or better school at no cost
In light of numbers like these, you'll forgive our skepticism at this statement from LAUSD superintendent Roy Romer from the NPR story:
Why Spellings's sudden change of heart?
http://www.edspresso.com/2006/07/why_spellingss_sudden_change_o.htm
Alexander Russo looks at the USDE's ultimatum to California to make good on NCLB transfer provisions, notes that the USDE had pretty much given up enforcing NCLB choice, and asks, "So what I want to know is are they going after other states about lack of choice -- I'm told they haven't -- and what prompted the action now? Was it the threat of lawsuits, a fit of self-improvement, or what?"
As to whether they are going after other states, we certainly can't say. But our administrative action in Los Angeles and Compton might have been part of what got Spellings moving. As Clint pointed out at the time, “The No Child Left Behind Act isn’t worth the paper it’s written on so long as children are forced to remain in failing schools."
posted by Whitney Tilson at 12:35 PM
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