Obama’s NCLB Proposal Features College Readiness
NCLB is essentially a program for grades 2-10, and never had a postsecondary orientation. President Bush tried to change this in 2007, but Congress ignored him. Now Obama proposes to make college readiness part of the core of NCLB. Presumably, this will work through the common core standards, and other incentives. His proposal makes me wonder how postsecondary education will participate in the NCLB reauthorization. Colleges had little input when NCLB was passed, and tend to ignore these kind of k-12 political battles. This would be a mistake, and we need to recreate NCLB as a k-16 initiative. For example, California”s only high school test for NCLB compliance is an exit exam with standards set at the grade6-8 level.
College readiness is, indeed, important. However, as a teacher of over two decades in a large metropolitan system I realize it is not for everybody. Nor will college ever be successful for every entrant. I truly hope our congress-people will also realize that and not create some broad-sweeping legislation forcing educational subdivisions to prepare everyone for college – leaving yet even more children behind. That would manifest even more problems upon current school systems.