Since public law 107-110 (the No Child Left Behind Act) became law in 2002, accountability has dominated the national discussion of education reform. This focus has been entirely on public k-12 schools, of course: schools and teachers have been made accountable for student learning and, of course, how public money is spent. And the degree to which a school or system is considered to have met the accountability standard is measured, for the most part, by a single method - the standardized test which, here in Georgia through the eighth grade, takes the form of the Criterion-Referenced Competency Test or CRCT.
Now, accountability in and of itself is a good thing. In the past, many school administrators were in the habit of ignoring the educational needs of students with disabilities, and as a special ed teacher, I can appreciate that my kids *can't* be ignored any more. (The impossibility of moving a child with a disability up three years in reading level in one year so that he can *pass* the test is, of course, one of the downsides of the law, but that's another thread.)
But now comes the next part with the business of accountability. Given the increasing number of schools placed on "needs improvement" lists as the bar for meeting "adequate yearly progress" rises every year, we're hearing again about vouchers - public funds put toward "scholarships" to help students attend private schools. Remember what the ultimate stated goal of NCLB is: by 2013-2014,
all American children will be proficient in reading and math by grade level.
All. So, in response to the failure to meet that impossible goal, we hear that we need to send kids to private school. John McCain has already endorsed the use of vouchers.
Leave aside for a second the automatic assumption that private school kids do better than public school kids. What happened to accountability? Private schools receive no governmental oversight. Georgia Governor Sonny Perdue signed into law last year a bill that creates "scholarships" for students with special needs to attend private schools...but acceptance of the money, and I quote, "shall have the same effect as a parental refusal to consent to services pursuant to the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, 20 U.S.C.A. Section 1400, et seq." (
http://www.legis.state.ga.us/legis/2007_08/versions/sb10_AP_18.htm) In other words, say you have a child who has a severe learning disability in reading comprehension. You want to send her to a private school because you're dissatisfied with the services she receives at the public school. If you take the scholarship money from the state to make it possible to send her to the private school (and you're responsible for getting her there, by the way),
you have automatically, and possibly without even knowing it, taken her out of special education. Not only is the private school not obligated in any way to provide her with any kind of extra support, she's not even considered under the law to have a disability any more. And it's done with public funds.
Where's the accountability?
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