President Bush last week renewed his pledge to expand educational accountability in U.S. high schools, promising to seek as much as $1.5 billion in his next budget for improvement in those grades.
Barely more than a week before his second inauguration, Mr. Bush used a visit to a suburban Washington high school to show that the education proposals he outlined at the Republican National Convention last summer remained high on the domestic agenda for his new term that begins Jan. 20.
鈥淭his is one of the first stops in the year 2005 for me,鈥� the president said on Jan. 12 to students, teachers, and invited guests in the gymnasium here of J.E.B. Stuart High School, which has 1,400 pupils from more than 70 different countries. 鈥淎nd there鈥檚 a reason it鈥檚 one of the first stops. ... [w]e are dedicated to doing everything we can at the federal level to improve public education.鈥�
The backbone of his 鈥渉igh school initiative鈥� is a plan to require reading and mathematics tests in 9th, 10th, and 11th grades. The federal No Child Left Behind Act, the signature education initiative of President Bush鈥檚 first term, requires testing in those subjects predominantly in the elementary and middle grades. The law currently requires testing only once at the high school level, and states are allowed to pick which grade is to be tested.
During his 40-minute speech, Mr. Bush spoke with passion at times about his administration鈥檚 refusal to retreat from the accountability demands of the 3-year-old federal law.
鈥淟isten, I鈥檝e heard every excuse in the book not to test,鈥� he said. 鈥淢y answer is, how do you know if a child is learning if you don鈥檛 test?鈥�
The White House said the president鈥檚 fiscal 2006 federal budget proposal, which is likely to be released in early February, would contain the request for $1.5 billion for the high school initiative. Not all of that money would be new, as the initiative would roll some existing programs in with the proposals Mr. Bush announced last year and campaigned on in the fall.
The president said the plan would provide $250 million in the next fiscal year to the states for the additional testing, which aides to Mr. Bush have had to clarify in the past would be neither an exit test nor a federally designed test. (鈥淏ush Test Proposal for High Schoolers Joins Wider Trend,鈥� Sept. 15, 2004.)
The initiative also proposes funding for teachers to analyze the grades of incoming 9th graders so that an individual learning plan could be created for students at risk of falling behind their peers.
Focused Instruction
In addition, the initiative includes the president鈥檚 request to increase funding for his Striving Readers program, an adolescent-literacy program, to $200 million. The money would be used to help more than 100 school districts train teachers in methods to teach literacy to middle and high school students. Mr. Bush requested $100 million for that program for the current fiscal year, but Congress approved only $24.8 million.
Another $120 million will be proposed to improve high school math by training math teachers in methods that Mr. Bush said in his speech were 鈥減roven to succeed.鈥�
In his speech, Mr. Bush frequently referred to his host school, Stuart High, which is in the 166,000-student Fairfax County, Va., school district. The school struggled with low test scores and poor achievement several years ago, but now is meeting all state and federal education standards.
鈥淏y focusing on results and stressing the importance of reading, by making sure that the measurement systems focus on each individual child, by not tolerating excuses for failure, this school has been turned around,鈥� Mr. Bush said, to applause. 鈥淎nd how do we know? 鈥� I know because you measure.鈥�
He added, 鈥淚 want other schools who have got a student population as diverse as a Stuart High School to know that success and excellence is possible.鈥�
Education advocates said last week that they supported a focus on improving high schools.
More Bureaucracy?
鈥淓ven if we give kids a strong start, we need to continue with good teaching and rigorous content through middle and high school,鈥� said Susan Traiman, the director of education and workforce policy for the Washington-based Business Roundtable, an association of chief executive officers of many of the nation鈥檚 largest corporations.
鈥淲e are encouraged by the fact that he has turned his attention to secondary education,鈥� Michael Carr, the associate director of public affairs for the Reston, Va.-based National Association of Secondary School Principals, said of the president. The literacy program and individualized plans for students who have below-grade-level skills are also positive initiatives, Mr. Carr said.
However, Mr. Carr and Reg Weaver, the president of the National Education Association, said last week that more testing along the lines required by the No Child Left Behind Act was problematic.
鈥淎ll it does is put in place more paper and more bureaucracy,鈥� said Mr. Weaver in an interview.
Mr. Carr said that measuring students in the same grade from year to year does not help teachers improve, because the same group of students is not being measured.
鈥淭hat is where No Child Left Behind has not gone far enough,鈥� he said. 鈥淚 would have to guess this initiative isn鈥檛 going to be much different, so I鈥檓 not sure it鈥檚 going to be far enough.鈥�
